hptogram

Do not stress over this. It takes awhile to get to know the residents. You'll figure out in time how long each resident will take you. It used to take me an hour to do Mrs. H. This includes transferring from bed to chair, chair to toilet, dress, put teeth in, fix her hair, transfer to chair, make her bed (which usually includes changing her linens), clean up whatever stuff got tossed around, put away wipes, desitin and powders, give Mrs. H a hug and saying bye. Now I'm down to 15 minutes if she doesn't need a bed bath. (She doesn't like taking showers and I'm not one to force my people to do anything they don't want to do). Everyone starting out has been where you are. Just be patient. :)

I didn't get into this to get rich. That won't happen. I'm into it totally for my residents. Making them happy and comfortable compensates for the very low pay.

We do that. They still complain. I've got three choices. I can just concentrate on doing my job well and take care of my residents to the best of my ability. I can tender my notice (I'm leaning more that way tonight). Or I can go bananas, cuss them all out, blow up all bridges, call corporate on them, call state on them and be done. This morning when I first posted, I was really angry and leaned more towards going bananas. But after having thought about it all day, it would serve no purpose to report them. They've gotten away with this shananigans for 8 years. Why would some suit care what I have to say? I'm thankful for the opportunity to see what its like to be a nurse of some kind, to take care of people who need me. I'm thankful that I have learned a lot in a short time and know that when it comes to the needs of the resident I can take care of them. I am capable. I do enjoy it. I'm going to write out my resignation letter tonight and hand it in on Tuesday. I'll be pleasant and keep my thoughts and feelings to myself. I'll miss the money, but not the headache. I'll have more time to getting my CNA license. At least its a start. Thanks so much for your words of wisdom. I've been a member here for awhile and gained a lot of useful information. Its good to know I've got this board to turn to for advice and words of encouragement! Thank you all!

Thank you all for the advice and supportive words. I felt a lot better getting all of that off my chest. I've decided I'm going to corporate with what I know. It is a hostile place to work and even the residents know it and know that they aren't getting the care that they are paying for. As far as how they certify, they don't. The only certification I have is to pass meds. I took a 4 hour class provided by the facility so I could pass meds. Training is three days of shadowing, then you're on your own. If I want any other certification, I have to go on my own to get it. I had planned on getting my license, then looking for another job. On the management staff, only one has a CNA license. The rest just happen to be in the right place at the right time. Thanks again for your kind words and advice.

:angryfire I'm breathing fire tonight/morning. Little background, I work 10pm to 6am at an ALF. Our little establishment was bought recently by a nation wide company. I thought things would get better (i.e., better standards, better care for residents, maybe a little bump in pay for us....a girl can dream right?) and they've gotten worse. The girls on our shift (there are 4 of us that work full time.) all get along. Things move smoothly, we all help each other out, there is no gossiping or starting rumors. The other shifts however do not have that luxury. They are constantly gossiping and complaining about everything and everyone including talking nastily about other co-workers families and children! This company does not tolerate rumors or gossip according to their handbook. Yet at the last two mandatory meetings, the executive director has spent the better part of the meeting talking about how to treat each other and stop talking trash (paraphrasing). The last meeting she went as far to say "work it out amongst yourselves, I don't want to hear anymore". The ED is well aware who the main offenders are, but does nothing because its her management staff! People she has worked with for years and years and years. The only rumors that dealt with our shift has been regarding leaving people wet, especially in the locked down unit. My reply is usually, "well of course they're going to be wet. I check and change residents starting at 5 am and if you aren't checking again until several hours later then no friggin' wonder they're wet." Also, we run short staffed constantly and some nights it will be just me and one other CNA in the building. 2 : 75 RESIDENTS. When morning crew comes in they get all upset that residents weren't all dressed. I looked at one lady and said "I'm one person, not superman." I'm going off topic here.........anyway the latest rumor involves me and my supervisor. On some nights, I have brought my lap top to use during my break, on the nights that I know I'm going to get a break. The supervisor sometimes uses it to show me her family photos. I can count the number of times I've brought it with me on one hand. Anyway, the rumor is, we're watching Media movies on it! :angryfire I heard that and LOST MY MIND. The supervisor during the morning shift has been asking the other girls on our shift including a caregiver for another resident, if they've seen me and the supervisor watching Media movies. They all said they said no, that we've looked at family photos or I'll use it during my break. No one has asked me what I'm doing with my machine. Which I'd be more than happy to tell them. There is nothing in the company handbook that prohibits the use of laptops at the job as long as its on your own time. They do prohibit the use of THEIR computers. I'm thinking about calling corporate and singing like a bird. I dread going there every night. I know I'm walking into a mess. We have a meeting on Tuesday that is mandatory. Now people that speak out against the management or the ED's Pets, suddenly disappear. I'm thinking about saying something during the meeting. Something long the lines of "if you, and you know who you are, took half the energy you use gossiping, complaining, moaning and groaning and making up lies about your co-workers, just half the energy, these residents would be getting their meds on time, paperwork would be done, meds would be counted, and the books would be right, among other things." Then further adding to the ED "The company I'm sure has protocal for dealing with gossiping. You know its a problem, what are you going to do to fix it or shall I go higher since you seem unable to do anything?" I HATE THAT PLACE! Please tell me not all facilities are like this. If you read this far, thanks for reading. I just had to get that off my chest.

You sure you don't work at my facility? Same thing has happened to me. Been in the locked unit by myself with over 30 residents. Scary situation. Let me tell you though, I do like working that unit. I didn't think I would, but I do. I have one resident who used to be a handy man. Sometimes he'll get up in the night and "fix" something. One morning he pulled the cord in his bathroom. I went in and he was smoothing the wall. He said "see how smooth this wall is, I just finished it." "Beautiful job," I told him "You must be tired from doing all this work, how about we get some rest now?" Every resident is different. I don't talk loudly unless they have a hearing problem. I speak softly and tell them what we are doing or what I am assisting them with. Sometimes they think they are someplace else so I just try to go with the flow and not argue with them.

I do not mind doing whatever the other shift couldn't get finished. I know its crazy some nights and they are beat at the end of their shift. However, the morning shift is another story. If I work the ALF side by myself, they get upset when I don't do extra. God forbid if they can't have their 30 minute break as soon as they walk in the door or if they have to shower or get a resident dressed. Management knows and does not care. But as far as the other shift that I relieve, I'm happy to help them out. When I clock in I'm there to work and if I needed help, I know they would.

Its better just to keep quiet. I go find something else to do or say my beeper went off, gotta go. I do have complaints about the job and other people, but I keep it to myself.

Gosh, sounds like my facility. If it were me, I'd tell them where to stick it. Matter of fact, I did. They wanted me to work tonight (I'm on 11pm to 7am) and I told them no way. I have small children and its my scheduled night off. I ain't coming in and don't call me. I know another nurse who told me something valuable. "With my license, I can walk outta here today and have another job someplace else by the afternoon." I'd find another place of employment.

I've run into this in my short time as a caregiver. The place I work for, they require a mandatory once a month meeting. During the first two meetings, the majority of the meeting was spent with the Excutive Director talking about how the morale is very low, treat each other right, backstabbing and gossiping need to stop, ect. What floored me was she mentioned that she is told everyday about how one manager will not talk to you unless it is to yell at your or say something nasty to you. Her advice for handling this......take it up with that manager. Ask the manager if there's something wrong. She also said she no longer wanted to hear about it and "work it out amongst yourselves". So not only does she do nothing when you come to her with a problem, now she doesn't want to hear about it. What's really sad.....this manager is the KITCHEN MANAGER.......not a Nursing Manager! I've had run in's with her before and my thinking is, I'll treat you the way you treat me. The next meeting I'm sure this topic will come up again by the ED. I've decided that I'm going to say "if you know this is a problem, and you know who it is, then why aren't you dealing with this? It is very difficult to say confront a manager who treats you horribly considering they can have you fired. And if you aren't going to do anything about this situation, then who can we go to about it?" I'm sure I'll be terminated for speaking my mind. As far as how to handle gossiping, I know how those girls are. They're all smilies and as soon as I leave, they talk nasty about me. How sad for them that their lives are so dull they have to talk about me. At first, I got wrapped up in all the talk. I have to keep remembering why I'm doing this job.....for the resident. I don't care what anyone has to say, as long as my residents are happy with my work and happy with me, that's all I need.

If it was me, I would be out of there. Sounds way too disorganized.

I can handle pretty much anything except when the 2nd shift forget to take one of the resident's teeth out to soak overnight. So the next morning when I go to dress her and I have to take her teeth out and clean them and there's all this old food.........yuck! That makes me gag.

Bonus? Not at my little establishment.

What I love about my job, (granted, I'm just a caregiver, no license or title yet, lowest of the low), is the residents. They are fantastic! Everyone has their bad days, so sometimes they can be a handful, but overall, they are great people. Even though management doesn't seem to care at all for the people who work for them, the residents do. They are almost always happy to see me. I get my joy from them.

I think you did the right thing.

You are very nice to think of your aide. The ALF I work at, for the better part of the last three weeks, I've had to keep watch over 35-45 residents by myself. So I've had to answer all the lights because someone either called out or that's just the way they scheduled it. I work 10p to 6a and if its just me and one other aide in the building (she works in the alzheimers unit, by herself, which is to capacity with 25 residents) and my 6a relief does not show up, guess who gets to stay? Me. And get this, I was told by the executive director that if I didn't get permission by my department head, who is the DON, to stay, then I'll be written up! So I called the DON when relief didn't come and I couldn't leave with just one aide and 70 something residents! She told me to clock out anyway, but stay and answer the lights because they don't want overtime. :angryfire Apparently, the ones that show up late, or do no call no show still have a job and clean record, but the ones who stay because they have to, to make sure the residents are taken care of, get penalized, written up and not paid for their time. I do not get why they don't just pay the OT until they get more staff. They can see by the time cards why someone has to stay late. Its just ridiculious. I am beginning to think that Nursing isn't for me. I love doing it and helping the residents, but all this other crap, its just not worth it. Oh I forgot the best part. So the evening nurse, who is an LPN and a great lady, called the DON to tell her that there would be just me and one other aide in the building due to a call out. Her reply, "nothing I can do about it." Isn't that nice?

I tried looking that up today. I work at an ALF with a Memory Support Unit. Over the last couple of weeks, the two new girls that were hired for nights have taken turns calling off. It usually ends up with me working the ALF side (appox. 35 residents, most do not call, but a few call often, one in particular calls every 20 minutes! And of course, whenever I'm working alone, that's when someone has a seizure or falls or something. MS has 22 residents) alone. Last Saturday night it was just me and my partner. My partner will not work in the MS Unit. I've never been trained for that unit, but I go in there and talk with the night owls. I ended up working in there. I asked the LPN who was leaving for the night if the DON or the Program Director for MS had been called. She said they both said there was nothing they could do and they weren't coming in. So that made me look into ratios of residents vs cna's. I found nothing. Very frustrating.

We could be related. Sounds like my brother. Like the nice person above me said, make sure you have your POA in order.

I'm not sure if this is a "ghost story" but ya'll freaked me out last night so I must share. Last night I worked in the alzheimers unit of our ALF. I have never worked by myself, or even with someone else over there before, but when people call out, you gotta do what you gotta do. Mrs. J came out of her room and I asked her if there was something I could help her with. She said "yes could you get the woman out of my room?" I thought she was talking about one of the residents that I know like to wander. I went to her room with her and saw no one. I said "well J, whoever it was, they're not here now." She replied, rather agitated "What do you mean she's not here? She's still sitting there in MY chair! Now make her leave!" Right away I thought of all the stories I read here. I just said "um, ok J I really need help doing laundry, wanna come?" I relayed this to the CNA coming in to relieve me. She said "oh she sees her all the time. A resident died in that room before she moved in. The chair in there used to be hers and very often, J will tell us that she is in her chair." Totally creeped me out!

To add to this topic I'll share with you what happened to me. I work at a ALF and took a med tech class that was provided by the facility. I have pulled and passed pills on the weekends when the CNA who usually does this is off. It was a Thursday morning and I went into my residents room to give her her pills (they were pulled by the CNA). The next day the resident got very angry with me because I gave her the wrong ones. For that reason, I will not pass any med that I did not pull myself. I triple check the MAR and everything just to be sure I'm doing it right. I've also found other mistakes that the CNA has made (for instance, she's signing for pills that I know she isn't passing). In any event, its a bad idea to pass pills that you didn't pull yourself. And always triple check yourself.

Ok I'll try and answer all your questions. I was rushed this morning so I didn't give a lot of detail. I work 11pm to 7am. So what I saw was mostly her being nasty to him. She initiated the move to separate moves. The day they moved to separate rooms, her husband refused to speak to her. I told her "what did you expect? you made this move without his knowledge. Its like you've left him after 51 years of marriage. He's hurt but I'm sure if you go talk to him, it'll be ok." Well she won't go talk to him because according to her now, it was the son's idea not hers and its not her fault he's angry. I've tried getting her to maybe write him a letter and tell him she misses him. But she just gives excuses on why he won't accept it and that he hates her. Its just an ugly situation, especially at their age. I think he is of more sound mind than she is to refuse meds. The facilities position is "We can't make him take it". I'm not sure if they tried crushing the meds and putting them in food, but seeing as how he isn't eating the food they give him, I'm thinking it doesn't matter either way. This concerns me that he won't eat and won't take his meds because he used to have no problem doing this. I'm not sure if they got him to finally take his meds today or not. I'm hoping they did. Even though they are both difficult residents to deal with, I'd like to see them live a long, happy life. Thanks for the advice. I'll look into ombudsman. :)

Hi! I've been working at an ALF for four months. And like most ALF's I have a cantankarous married couple. They were so grouchy that their son decided to have them moved into separate rooms. Now the husband will not eat and will not take his meds. He hasn't had his medication for 8 days now. The son does not seem to care. The husband and I get along pretty well but he won't even take the meds for me. Any advice from you pro's out there on how to get this man to take his meds? Thanks in advance! Tammy

I'll go weeks without anyone falling on my shift, then all of a sudden I'll find three people on the floor. I think it does run in cycles.

I know its a little late, but try the melatonin. I had a period of adjustment to staying up all night too. I thought 11pm to 7am would be perfect since I've always been a night owl. But it did take getting used to. Especially working another job 9am to 2pm. It took about 6 weeks for my body to get used to that. I'm sure you'll adjust too. Give it some time.

I am sure you've already made up your mind on what to do however I work in an ALF and the term that was given to me by my supervisor is "When in doubt, send them out." Her reasoning was we do not want people that aren't under hospice care to die in the building. So send them out. Just use your best judgement and whoever this boob is can stuff it.