jan7749

Hi, I have a son who was posted to the Everett Naval Station. I live in Arlington which is about a half hour north of everett--unless it is Friday traffic or raining--or they are doing road construction again. Those times can easiliy escalate to 2 hours. It is about an hour north of Everett for Skagit. The same warnings apply. Getting to and from Bellevue looks nice on a map, but is very time consuming. At peak times of day the travel to Bellevue can really get longer yet. So if you can get into the Everett program I would reccomend it. The nurses I have worked with from all the programs seem equally qualified. Good Luck

No suggestions, just an observation. When the staff gets tired or angry or feel that "they" don't care about them or the job they do the the call offs increase.

I have worked in long term care a long time and unfortunately this is not uncommom. The problem is actually two fold as I view it. #1 The person who heard the "dying" comment should be the one to document it. This is due to the nonverbal signals the resident may have given which would have led to a "intention" feeling from the MDS nurse that she did not communicate to you. #2 In order for a resident to get the psych help they need in our state, there has to be a long documented history of what the resident is saying, what behaviors, if there is any illness--uti, pneumonia, pain--that could be impacting. Frequently floor nurses-me too--just don't have the time to document routinely for long enough to get the resident into a psyche unit. Good luck.

Nursing home reform advocacy groups?? Can you point me to one of their sites?? Also how do I find out how many patients one nurse can care for in the state of Washington?? You are all so supportive and it is so wonderful to hear all of your ideas. Thanks so much--

Hi, Please don't feel alone. My facility has been working with 1 night nurse and 3 (or if someone calls in 2) aids. eve's either 2 or 3 nurses and same with days. The cences currently is 75. I was also only a mile away from home. When I got sick-pneumonia (wonder where I got that) I was terminated-so when I go back I will have lost my seniority and the month a year vacation I had finally gotten to. So my feelings now are colored. I feel that when facilities start cutting staff--(cheats the residents) that their treatment of the employees matches up-- I am still recovering, but when able to work agai will look at several options. It is a terrible responsibility. I had to deal with mutiple emergency situations alone--the aids are your best assest, so teach, teach, teach, if you stay there. I also had to 911 myself which left the facility totally without a nurse. Good luck.

sorry, I was not clear--Last year I was only off 10 weeks--all covered by sick time, but I got sick again in September of this year when I was on sick time until October of last year. Yea, I am not clear why they are doing this either, but the forcing extra hours is happening to the entire nursing staff. Not just me. I am also fairly confident they will rehire me when I am well, but I had reached the spot where I got a month of vacation a year, and feel like this is a way to cut that back to the beginning vac. benifit. Anyway, Thank you all

Thank you all for your comments--no I am not management, I am hourly, staff nurse with the extra supervisor duties added in. I just went to our states L&I page after getting the support for all of you and find out it is illegal for the exra forced hours, and will have to speak with them about the termination, as when I was off 1 year ago it was all paid sick leave--they are calling it FMLA which it looks like from L&I that FMLA may be only unpaid. I wish I would have joined this site earlier as I felt--still do--pretty intimidated about it. Thank you all for responding.

I am wondering if any of you are being pressured to work extra hours? How do you respond? I had been only working 4 days a week until I had an accident a year ago. I was out for two and a half months, then after only a month, was forced into 5 days a week--the others on the night shift were already working 5 days a week. Then crises after crises happened to co workers, and all of us were doing extra shifts--so I do understand that the shifts need covered, but I ended up sick again and will be out about 3 months. Many of us are getting older, and I am wondering why nursing administration can't see the longer picture. I had been the night supervisor for eight years, with excellent evaluations and now of course I am terminated for absence. I am trying not to sound bitter, but how do you all handle it when you know you have done all you can, but get forced into doing more? For example I was denied vacation time that had already been scheduled because i wouldn't do a couple of day shifts? Thanks:trout:

Hi, I worked at Samaritan Hospital 30 years ago, so don't have the information you need. Also my Dad was a patient there 2 years ago in the ICU. Had ok care, but complained about the "nurses yelling at him". Good luck. 30 years ago the Hospital was very good and very bad. It was Isolated- especially in bad weather- and probably still is. We had to transfer critical pts to Spokane or Wenatchee. Often had to ride the Ambulance with them--In those days the nuses worked all the areas. Good lucK