speckleddove

that is an excellent point. the only time you hear about us is on a tv special when a nightmare of a facility makes the news. and then it's us nurses and cnas that take the blame, no one even thinks about the corporate individuals that created these places and conditions. just once i'd like to see the media put them in the hot seat right along with the state agencies that do absolutely nothing to improve conditions nor protect patients. public safety, my rear end; the state simply wants to save money for the politicians and hand out fines. fines are monies that should be put toward hiring more staff, getting patient supplies, new equipment (like working beds) not some state agencies vaccation funds.

your soooo right you are, exactly my sentiments too.

My mother was done the same way. I started going with her on every visit and started demanding certain tests, x-rays, etc. be done. I had my fill of every new Dr. always wanting to playing with her prednisolone, just to see what happened. She had Sarcoidosis. She had been on steroids for years and every new Dr. wanted to see how and if lessions developed within her lungs as fast as they had heard about. She couldn't breath at all without her prednisolone. I put a stop to those games real fast. I hate it when people disrespect the elders but for new Dr.s to play games at a patients expence, I turn into a you know what real fast. Every older adult had something to do with how our own lives, pleasures,coping mechanisms and teachings came about. We have reaped the rewards from everyone, even the mean ones teach us something, even if it is only teaching us how not to be. More people need to remember that fact.

Now, after reading your words; I want to work with you. That is exactly the way all of should feel and be proud of our skills.

it is a very simple explanation as to why they don't respect us. because they have no clue as to all the duties and patient loads we are faced with daily. yes, i too have had that experience. i applied for a nusing position on a med/surg. floor in a local hospital. they had my resume and believe me resumes are not my strong suit. i detailed every duty and tiltle i held in ltc. they called me in for an interview. man was i insulted and angry, so angry i had to clench my jaws. after all the detailed lisiting in my resume. she asked if i had tube feeding experience, cather insertion, ng tube experience and i knew at that second, she had not even looked at my resume! she made some snotty comment about making a ltc nurse a real nurse and chuckled. and sneered her nose up and said in med / surg.or in any hospital setting, we need people with experience in these skills and that won't cry about a patient load of 8. she said, just what do you ltc nurses do all day? talk about blowing my top. i firmly filled her in on the fact that every ltc nurses skills were equal to what hospital nurses do and then some. i also made it very clear that i took offense to her having requested me to give long drawn out detailed job descriptions in a resume and her having not even bothering to read it. i said if you want to cry about patient loads, how about giving them 50 + patient per nurse, every dang day for their entire shift! man was i p off. i rattled off all the duties we ltc nurses do every day. and when i finally took a breath, i said i'm sorry but i just don't think your educated enough to interview ltc nurses or cnas and you need to change your attitude! i left steaming for weeks over that. i did not yell, scream or say nasty things to her but it still wasn't the best way to handle that. my cousin also a ltc nurse was scheduled to interview with her the same day. my cousin over heard her telling another woman she didn't think ltc staff could do their job. so my cousin got up and left without even doing an interview. after calming down. i realized it is partly our nursing educators fault. they place hospitals on this pedestal to nursing students and ignore ltc facilities. i think everyone is left with the feeling that only the best nurses can work in a hospital and embed that into our psychy while were in nursing school. so i think ltc nurses and ltc cnas need to create public awareness of just what it takes to fill these giant shoes we all fill. we need to work to ensure we no longer go un-noticed and un-respected. we need a ltc organization with local branches and hang out together and toot our own horns a little. set up a little friendly competition between hospital and ltc nurses. teach them that we are their equals. but i hate the organizations that seem to only want money out of nurses! they put on heirs yet do nothing for the nurses and usually begin turning their noses up when any nurse really needs some form of support or guidance. it should be free and by donations only. having a nursing license of any title should be welcomed and enough of a qualification to join. if we want to do things or hand out phamplets, we should work together doing bake sales, arts n crafts, horse shoes, etc. not asking each other to shell money we can't really afford. god knows we shell out enough cash for our license, ceus and uniforms. it should be casual dress, no acting as if your above anyone. it should be just a group of nursing friends making new nursing friends. sharing what we all have in common, health care. not a group of some greedy, egomaniacs trying to impress the public. if we cared as much about each other in nursing they way we care about our patients, we would have such a wonderful life working with each other. we spend our lives with each other at work, we need to act like the family that we actually are. no one seems to have a clue about what we do. i spoke with friends and co-workers and strangers about what they thought ltc nurses did. only one or two had even a slight idea of what we do. and it seems that the general publics opinion of us, is far much more respecting of ltc nurses than our fellow nurses.

Yea, your right. I actually didn't mean to imply all CNAs are that way. I tried being friends with my CNAs but the nicer I was to the, the more they seemed to resent me. I always tried to educate the ones willing to learn or that asked questions. But some of them took my offerings as an insult when I didn't mean it to come off that way. I finally gave up on trying to be friends with people I worked with. The nicer I was to them the more they thought I was trying to steal their jobs or that I was trying to spy on them. I laughed when a CNA told me another nurse had made the statement that I was trying to make her look bad just because I would help her get wound care done. What could possibly make someone take an act of kindness and team work and twist it into such a crazy thought. Blows me away when people say things like that. I'm danged if I do and Danged if I don't. Steal a job, yea right! The only way anyone could steal a job is by getting more educated, spending more money and time in colllege. I have been in college or some type of training since 1988. I have had my fill of college and training. I like who and what I am. I am very proud or my skills and Title -LVN. I worked hard to earn the right to wear my white uniform and yes even my cap. I grew up admiring my Aunt Loraine, an RN in Michigan. She was my hero, if I ever really had one. I wanted to be like her. Neat, clean, respected and stay busy. I hate sitting still and is why I never wanted to be an RN. Most RN's I see are stuck in paper work or IV's. Not my cup of tea. I am to hyper for that, well was to hyper. This cancer gets me so drug down so suddenly. I feel great for a few hours then boom I'm nearly on the floor. This change of life the drugs are forcing me into is not pleasant at all. I always thought hot flashes were just sensations, I didn't realize you actually pour the sweat and it feels like my neck is so swollen I can barely move. Say that reminds me. Is anyone else on Femara 2.5mg? Does it make your joints ache all the time? It sure does me. However my bone scan came back in good shape though.

Oh, a few staff members made comments to me and said You had better watch your ^$$ on the way to your car tonight, that bad things happen to certain nurses in the parking lot. I got the hint by the words and faces they made at me. I was 45 miles from where I lived and had no clue where to locate a cop in that area if I needed one. It was not a nice area to be in even in the day time. But Money drew me in there. I seen why I was offered so much but nearly too late.

yes, pt did and the guy in pt is in hot water as well. i had been there 9 days when they told me about the incident. i was hired as an adon for the first time ever. the don caused me to quit when the state came in to investigate a complaint about insulin. the don said 2 things that made me quit. 1. she was yelling at a midnight nurse because the state discovered that there had not been any glucose monitoring done for days. when the state asked the midnight nurse why, she replied the supplies were never delivered and the don knew this but never bought the supplies. the don wanted her fired for telling the truth. 2. the don came to the nurses station the next evening and told all the nurses that if anyone was sent out. we were under no circumstances to send them to a specific hospital. i told her that is against the law. and that if an emt determines that taking a patient to that closer hospital was in the patients best interest, they would be taken to that hosoital. she nor we have any say in the matter. when i asked why she would make such a demand. she informed me about the law suit and pt. with the broken hip. she said that hospital had reported them on that case. and the er dr. was now telling people not to send patients back to our facility. that he also was charging the facility with abuse over that patient. he was advising people never to send patients to this facility and that if they had family there to get them out. then she told me she wanted me to stay over on midnight shift to force a nurse ( the one that told the truth) and involved in that broken hip inccident to take a drug test. the don claimed that nurse had been suspected of being on drugs for awhile but until this inccident they had not pushed for a drug test. i suspected this was their way of trying to discredit that nurse, so if the state asked her anymore questions; she would be dissmissed as a drug addict or a disgruntled employee. no nurse should ever be punished for telling the truth. that same day i also had a cna tell me that the don had left a patient on the floor, until the don finished a medication pass along with another nurse. so apparently, there were 2 nurses (1 was the don) doing one hall med pass but neither nurse went to check on the patient on the floor. she claimed this occured a few months before i started working there and not to trust the don. i took this to the administrator and the don. the cna testified to the admin., in front of the don; that this incident did in fact occur. of course the don denied it, however; the cna had evidence and other witnesses to back up her statements. when asked by the admisistrator, why she had not reported this sooner. the cna replied i did but no one believed me. so after a few days i let it drop because i have kids and i felt i would have been fired because you two are best friends. the cna had enough proof this happened so the don began trying to find an excuse by saying she had the cna stay with the patient and that the patient was said to not have any bleeding, therefore she felt it could wait. excuse me, wait on the floor? i was told to dismiss this cnas story and drop the entire subject. all i knew was i filed the complaint and handed it to the administrator. what happened after that is anyones guess. later that day, i was threatened with the possibility of being physically harmed, once i left the facility at the end of my shift. why, i am not certain. perhaps because i supported the cna and i filed a report. i quit when my shift ended. nursing is not always a safe job in more ways that one. telling the truth can be dangerous. fear in employees, is a big factor in facilities like that not being closed down. then there is the role state inspectors play in the existance of such facilities. stopping admission of new medicare / medicade patients, does nothing to help the patients already in such a facility. fines are the only things those places suffer, big whop! now if those fines entailed a facility having to immediately tranfer and also pay for the resident being transferred and pay for their bill at a safe facility, then perhaps fines would mean somthing. so kid yourself not, the state is at fault as much as the administration in such a facility. most of the neglect or abuse is caused over some jerk wanting to save money to begin with. a fine doesn't put a patient/resident back together, it doesn't heal stage four wounds, it doesn't help in hiring more or better educated staff, it doesn't ensure quality nor improved care. it is a greedy money grubbing deal and the public, the patients, cnas and nursing staff are victims a well. no one will act on reports in a speedy manner, too much paper work, too much time for state agenies, it interfears with their 9 to 5 shift. they bury whistle blowers in mounds of paperwork until you feel defeated enough to give up. most do but not by choice. where do you go if your the good guy trying to clean up a h### hole? go to the news media, that's where! at least families will discover the missery a family member may be suffering and hopefully can afford to get them out. call the state attorney generals office in the state where this crap is going on. remember even state employees have a superior they must answer to. you just have to work very hard to find out who those superiors are. that doesn't mean anything will improve but at least you can look yourself in the mirror the next day knowing you did everything you could to protect everyone involved.

i have been in ltc for 12 years. as far as i have been in ltc, only a nurse can sign in or out narcotics. at assisted living the narcotic laws are broken by some facilities. they demand a nurse sign them in (usually on day shift) but yet they allow cnas on night shifts access to narcotics because they are to cheap to hire a night nurse. however by law i do believe it is unlawful for anyone but a nurse to sign them in or give them out. facilities will lie to nurses. if your name signed them in and a cna gives them out more than likely your butt will be held responsible. at the jobwhere i had all 3 buildings to care for, i refused to give meds or work at the assisted living building because every tech. and cna had the narcotic keys. we all worried about this issue and never, even calling the state boards we never got a direct answer to your question. so all nurses but 1 refused to cover that building. i would call a malpractice lawyer in your state. for someone in your position you better legally find out.

yes, you keep on sending them out!! his butt is not on the line your butt is!! i know that game too well. cover your rear end at all costs. it is unfair to the patient as many need iv drugs when no rn or iv trained nurse is on duty. i know of one nurse that lost her license over that crap. a patient fell ot of bed, the night supervisor told the nurse not to send out & not to order anu xrays. guess what, the male patient had a broken him and suffered 4 days and he even was forced by pt to endure rom exercises even though he was crying and begging them to stop due to pain. how ###### cruel was that! his wife came to vist and checked his complaint of pain & rightfully went balistic. the hospital er dr. filled charges, guess who went to court! she did. no report, no x-rays, no call to his dr. she was that supervisors escape goat, she claimed that nurse never called. phone records proved she called the supervisor but she couldn't prove she had informed them. she paid the price & so did that poor old man. better to get fired for the right thing you did than to end up feeling guilty and ruined for life. tell him to scew himself! send them out. call the emts and then see if he tries to stop them. get your butt covered & nail him.

I worked as a Unit supervisor in LTC for 3 years. My duties were as follows: 1. If any abnormal situation came up I was to settle the problem or issue. 2. I passed Meds to 25 patients on the west wing & as soon as I had them done I had to pass meds to 26 patients on the East wing. 3. I did All wound & Peg tube care on those 51 patients after the med pass. 4. I followed the Dr. on rounds, Recorded , faxed, and Charted all new orders. 5. If an Admission came in I had to do the full body assesment and admission paper work and record it on the MARs myself. 6. I had to Chart on every one of the 51 patients I had that evening. 7. I had to ensure patients were actually offered, encouraged and recorded % of suppliments / snacks and meals. 8. I had to attend dinning room and feed patients. And it was my decission wether or not dinning room was cancelled (usually Never) 9. I also had to monitor that CNAs charted I&Os, BMs, B/Ps and record the amounts / readings before my shift ended. ALL AT THE SAME TIME, I HAD ALL THESE RESPONSIBILITIES. I got paid the same as the nurses that only cared for 1/2 of each wing. I did 1/2 of both wings and the nastiest jobs they refused to do, not a one said thank you. Worst of all I GOT NOT A CENT MORE FOR ALL THAT RESPONSIBILITY - My advice DON'T DO IT.

you are so right on all accounts! i worked midnights too and it seems like day shift wants all the diabetics done on midnights and evening shifts. and tube feeders galore loaded on the midnight crew. i always prefered 3 pm -11 pm shift because of my husbands work schedule. we have less cnas and less nurses on the evening & midnight shifts, yet we get more done than all those overloaded staff day shifts ever do. but do we ever get any pay increases or credit for our extra efficiency, heck no. i worked day shift as prn too and i found more cnas and nurses hiding in patients rooms with the doors closed and i actually caught 2 cnas watching soap operas when the patient was sitting in the bathroom with the er call light on for 10 dang minutes. one was in a chair and the other had the gall to be lying in a bed. i took them to my don and not a dang thing was done!! the don & adon spent most of the day hiding in their office talking about everything but the patients and eating their way to a heart attack, every dang day!

Here in the USA, at least where I worked; they stopped that due to patients friends & famlies reading the nurses and dr. progress notes. Privacy, was the issue. And then a few patients would hide them if they didn't want the new medications or mentally ill pt.s would tear them up or even try to eat the paper.

Yes, I had the unplesant experience of working with such a forced labor group as well. What really Ticked us off was the fact those lazy jerks got paid more that the nurses and CNAs that had never been on welfare. The government kicks in on their pay, so they got better pay then we did. Now if that isn't a load of dirty crap!!

soo true!! i would grab the snacks off the carts and administer the supplements with the meds to ensure patients actually got them. if a cna said a patient refused, i would take it myself to the patient and ask them if they had been offered a snack / suppliment and ask them to drink it or taste it for me. then i got even smarter and i would do a walking round just prior to shift change & check the trash cans. if i found a full unopened carton, i wrote a note to my adon with the name of the patient and they would do an extra weekly weight on that patient. cnas got to the point they hated me. my loyalty is to my patients not to a cna. other nurses soon followed my idea and that crap stopped and weights went up.