Spooky

I'm glad you found something! Good luck with your new job!

Hi! I'm in the same boat! I just sent you a PM.

Nailed it on the head! I agree.

Hey, there. ? Thank you for your reply. That's exciting (and scary) to start something new, but it's a change! Change is good! I would definitely take the home health gig to try. I have personally never worked HH, but it was a interest of mine after dealing with my first SNF experience. I had moved to a different state/bigger city (an additional 65,000 estimated population from my small town!) from home and I was nervous to do HH. Driving around in a bigger area scared me and I wasn't adjusting well being away from home, so starting something completely new wrecked my nerves. I just started my second (maybe last) SNF there. Well, obviously it wasn't any better in most cases... Also, I have no idea if they're allowing family members in the SNFs now. Last I heard from a nurse buddy (beginning of April) in my area near DFW Texas, they're not allowing visitors. Temp checks of all employees clocking-in/out, locked doors, no dining room services (all room trays). I can't remember what else, but I feel so bad for the residents and their families. We've had cases in our local SNFs where I stay. ☹️ Anyway, I wish you lots of luck on a new job of your choosing and hope the change is better for you! ? Stay safe! Oh! By the way, I have never tried agency/staff nursing, but just because they pay significantly higher than regular hourly pay, I would be cautious about it, especially during this time. You never know what you'll sign-up for just for higher pay. I'd rather not completely stress myself out for high pay. Quality of life comes first. If I can help it, I just "do" without all the money and stress!

The burnout is real. LTC for 4 1/2 years and I don't ever want to go back. I went to a clinic and actually enjoyed it better. The hours were on weekdays only, weekends off, holidays off, no stress of in-patient care, I had my own clinic space/office. Every now and then there were emergencies, but the schedule was pretty strict on appointment-only basis. The only thing was the significant pay difference and I ended up having a burnout as well. 5pm was no longer the norm after a while. It was 8-whenever if I was behind. I'm talking 8-7pm at least one day out of the week. Change. That's the beauty of nursing. Find a different specialty and learn about it. If you get burned out again, leave and go somewhere else. Change is what we need every now and then!

2011 grad here. Well, I started at $18.50/hour ($0.50 shift differential for evening). Made it up to $20/hour in 2015. Moved to a different state and started at $18.50/hour again in 2016. Went to a clinic in 2016, had the "beautiful" 8-5pm job (not really beautiful to me) and got around $15.50/hour. ? Just depends on where you go, what convenience of hours are worked, etc., etc... I found LTC to be challenging compared to the clinic, of course.

WOW! ?

Do your damn hardest in the LPN-BSN program! CONGRATS and good luck to you! ?

Texas here! Well, left my last SNF around 2015 at 1:28 residents. Pay was $20/hour. I didn't care for that. Left a Louisiana SNF (2016) when I had 31 residents... Yeah... NOPE. Pay was $18.50/hour. The norm seems around 1:30. I had mixed halls of skilled residents with long-term for both facilities. Home health is constantly hiring. Our booming cities are San Antonio, Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston (probably the best in medicine). Maybe avoid those and find a place outside of them if anything. There's plenty of rural towns and you can always travel to the city when you're in need of fun. I love my Texas! Good luck and happy travels when you're ready! ?

When I started in 2011, my max was 23 residents for the hall with an average of 18-20 most of the time. Changes happened around 2015. Nurses and CNAs fired purposely (nit-picking paper trails), they refused to hire anymore staff and state "low census" was the reason. Gave me the keys and now I had 28 residents. The other hall had maybe 32. We didn't adjust well since we hardly ever cared for more than 20 residents at a time. Next SNF, I was given 26 (still not easy for me). The last straw was 31. I pledged to not ever go back to LTC even though I miss it. I felt the same way about their care. There was never enough time to care for all of them properly. Sometimes (probably more than sometimes) a CNA didn't show up. Either I had to help on top of my work or luckily they would find help from other halls. The thing is, I know we're not supposed to complain about "CNA work" and there's "no such thing as CNA work" in the nursing world, but what is the reality of that? The CNAs would clock-out right on time and just head home. I was stuck finishing up paperwork that I didn't get to do. My shift would end by 10pm and I didn't finish up till midnight most rotations. And there goes management... "What were you doing?! Why are you staying so late?! That's a write-up if you keep doing this." Blah, blah, blah... Enough was enough. Good experience, but not worth it in my opinion. I never found the "golden egg" of a nursing home where staff ratios are beautifully 1:15-20. Don't stress yourself out. Make sure to find out about ratios and staff availability before hiring on.

Dang... ? Well, it's just a matter of time when we'll find out the same thing with our school district.

We are all human. Wonderful article. Thank you. ❤️

Awe! ?? Kind words from you! You remind me of my old nursing instructor with that tough love! I've enjoyed reading this thread and learning from y'all by helping OP. ?

That's what I'm worried about. Delays if anything. Sucks.

My RN Bridge program starts in June and we have three hospital orientations lined up ahead of time. Official orientation to my program is next month and I'm assuming we'll hear more about what to expect concerning cancellations or classroom closures. As of now, my community college extended their Spring Break holiday. My only solution would be simulation lab days to substitute for clinical hours. Poke and prod each other? ?‍♀️ LOL. I have no idea...

Hey, amo! Man, I have no idea what kind of carts they're using now?? It used to be some miniature version of the med carts that had a key. Are they different now? Every now and then I would stock our treatment cart, but we thankfully had a wound care nurse most of the time. It was rare we did any treatments/dressing changes as floor nurses. I remember all the individual packets! Wound care pretty much took care of their cart. Hopefully. ? Also, yes! Change of tubing and labs! Night had to change all tubing (including Foley caths) and do specimens! Yes, I would complain about that... it's night time, seriously?! And yup, no other shift would collect urine or change the Foley caths while everyone was awake! ?

I'm definitely a nerd. ??

Well, you'll become "mustlovecoffee". ? I LOVE nightshift! I worked mainly evenings 2-10pm, but I really enjoyed the 10-6am or 6-6pm. Coffee will help. I'm not sure if you enjoy it, but I got to admit it was a pleasant routine to take a cup to work by 6pm and have a small cup around 12-2am when I'm chart checking or charting. That's another thing... check charts/new orders EVERY night and check the eMAR if they're entered in properly. Depending on med pass/rounds, you may hit the floor running as soon as you receive report. Bedtime meds/blood glucose checks can be a killer depending on how many residents you'll be taking care of. Most likely you'll check a crash cart to make sure all supplies and oxygen are there. Glucometer calibration may be another job duty. Properly lock away or dispose of discontinued or expired meds per facility protocol. I would go through OTC meds. You'll probably need another night nurse to do this/document with you for locking away or disposing meds. Restock supplemental formula (PO or g-tube). Check/document refrigerator temperature and refrigerated meds for expired dates. What else am I missing?? I had maybe 3 med rounds for sure. Bedtime, midnight and 5am meds. Sometimes I had a couple of IVs going. SLEEP... my bedtime was 9am and rise n' shine by 4pm! Get home, shower, eat and sleep. Wake up, eat/prepare lunch for work, grab coffee and GO! Good luck at night! ? I sure love and miss night shift!

What kind of crap is that?! That doesn't make sense.

I'm sorry to hear that! That's really awful! It was a hard lesson learned that wasn't even all your fault! I agree with the other replies. That is not right. Maybe see what you can do about continuing some other time or an appeal? I wish you all the best on continuing your education. Keep that optimism! ?

Urology is a PAIN... ?? I feel terrible for our poor patients when emergencies arise! Good list!

Possibly for resume purposes, if anything. If they want to pursue a job higher than an instructor, such as program director, I assume the teaching experience will be a gold star on their record, no matter how well or horrible they did in their teaching job... I've experienced first hand, not just to me, but to others that if the instructor just simply "doesn't like you", it's downhill from there. Sad to say, but mostly true. I say "mostly", just in case anyone jumps on me. I realize not everyone has had a bad experience in school like we have, Ashes. I'm just glad there are students who are willing to vent and bring light of what can be experienced in nursing school to this day. Anyway, I hope the best with your investigation!

? Dang! This is so REAL! I'm screaming and cheering you on for this one! I agree with your posts, JKL. Yes, of course we hear about the "oh, but there's two sides of the story!" But let's be honest... instructors can fail students for anything and especially over "hearsay". This happens more often than not for what I've experienced. If it's not a complete fail, they will be berated to no end. It's not supportive. I was lucky to have ONE friend out of maybe 30 for my class. Truth? I did not trust anybody, stuck mostly to myself and that same one friend who steered clear from the others and kept my mouth SHUT. It was my second rodeo in a program and I was doing things different all because of a negative impact from my first experience. I cannot say my second time was all great and supportive either. I just happened to keep quiet and just endure the BS, roll with punches... kind of like the jobs I've done! Ha! Anyway, long reply! Good day to you! ?

Notice the comment was back in 2010... I started my first job at a nursing home in 2011, had anywhere from 17-21 residents for my hall with a max of 23. I averaged about 20 residents most of the time. Something dramatic changed in my facility in 2015. All of a sudden nurses where being fired for random crap. MAs were hired to make up for the nurse being fired and help the remaining nurse of the wing (no longer "hall"). I then had around 26-28 residents for my wing out of nowhere. We had a low census at that time, but it never mattered before. I could barely handle 28 even though I had an MA half of the time. I started my second job in another nursing home in a different state in 2016. Automatic 26 residents max. Okay, got into the swing of things without an MA and was still stressing out most of the time. All of a sudden the DON wanted us to switch halls periodically, about every 3 months, to get rid of the "comfortable" feeling we all had. Uh, yeah... It would take me about a month and a half to just get a damn med time routine down and an extra month and a half to actually know my residents, their illnesses, habits, family members, etc. just to be switched to another hall? Yeah, got my other hall and BAM! 31 residents... I was DONE. I handled that for a couple of months and bounced. It's crazy. It's abuse to handle that workload to me. Abusive to the nurse and residents. Oh, it was an 8-hour shift, by the way. You know, the 8-hour shift that really should be a 12-hour shift... I usually left at midnight AFTER my shift was over/handed off to the night nurse at 10pm. Plus, I'm known to be a very organized (some might say PITA) co-worker. I would purchase binders, water pitchers and one time a damn KEYBOARD for my wing. I bought a label maker and labeled everything nicely so we knew exactly what was what at my nurses station. I basically got myself comfortable doing this at all my jobs and my DON always noticed and praised me for it... So, yeah I was moved from time to time just to "sort" crap out. From my second job with the 31 residents, apparently they never switched halls before. It made me wonder why all of a sudden we were switching around. That DON loved my organization from the med cart to the paperwork. It took me lots of time in between everything to just be switched around to clean up somebody else's crap. I had it. We switched and I looked for another job immediately. Anyway, sorry for the long comment! I could go on and on...

???