shlay51

Working in LTC the ladies go to "beauty shop" every Wednesday. On resident "had" to get a perm and due to this missed a breathing treatment that couldn't be given because her next scheduled one was about 2 hours after she returned. Fax was sent to MD notifying him of why she didn't receive it. His response "Well I hope she's breathing okay.....and that she is beautiful."

You can and will come across combative patients in almost all areas. I currently work in LTC and we have a few residents that are known to be combative. I had one resident, who is now somewhere else, beat the crap out of me one morning. I was trying to keep her from hitting her arms on the bed rails and in trying to protect her I took a fist to the face twice and multiple slaps to the face. I still have no idea what set her off and was extremely happy when she was discharged. She did this frequently. We also have/had residents that would bite. They would get near you, grab your arm and bite. Unfortunately for us not much has been done to help protect staff. The DON has said on more than one occasion that it's us that need to modify things, not the residents. I think that's a load of crap, but hey what do I know, I'm only the one getting hit, bit, and everything else while she sits in her office. I agree with the other poster, take the training, learn from it and remember it if you are ever in a situation that isn't safe. Most employers do their best to protect their employees and make sure they don't get hurt. As with any career choice, it isn't always rainbows and sunshine. :)

I've had decent luck applying through multiple routes but the best responses have come from jobs I've applied for through hospital sites. It's a big waiting game when you are applying out of state. It can become very time consuming and if the hospital doesn't want to fly you there but wants you to you to fly in for an interview, etc it can become very expensive. Be patient and the right opportunity will come along. Best of luck!

I actually didn't apply for the MDS position I currently have. I interviewed for a floor nurse position. When they offered the MDS position to me instead the difference in pay I think was $2-$3 more than a floor nurse. I do still work the floor at least once a week as well. However the MDS aspect of my job was only supposed to be part time. Well the other person who is supposed to be doing it the rest of the time hasn't done anything with it in months. I don't even bother telling her what needs to be done when I'm off. The last time I did her response was "who do we have next week?" I told her and then she said "oh well I'm not going to do it then." So instead of her doing something on the Friday and Monday I was gone she did absolutely nothing and I had to rush through it on Tuesday when I returned. I stopped asking after that. And I know she's making WAY more than I am. I'm currently looking to change jobs. It's a small facility so it isn't always busy and I get bored easily. Plus I'm tired of being treated like crap and used while someone else takes the credit.

$44/HR?! I would love that! In in WI and only make just over $28/hr.

I had the DON point out that a resident is on PRN Compazine and was questioning why we haven't done a TD screen on him. When I took over my position from the previous person I was told only one resident required a TD screen d/t a medication she was on. Compazine is on the list of those requiring the TD screen, but he has not taken it since I started, which was in November 2015. I have tried to find the answer to this question by asking others and searching online, but I am unable to find it. Does anyone know if it is required if he hasn't taken it and it is just a PRN order or if it has to be done if he were to start taking it. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!

I'm new to MDS, only been doing it since November. The administrator wants to completely revamp our restorative program. I'm not sure if I would even call what we have a program. I would be playing a big part in this revamp and I'm looking for any advice or some direction. It's a small facility, only 30 beds total. We also don't have any restorative aids and the caregivers are expected to do the restoratives. I question frequently how well, if at all they are being done. This is why we are looking to revamp the entire program.

I'm not sure what you consider safe transportation to any job when you have multiple layers of freezing rain and snow. And if someone has never driven in that type of weather it can be pretty scary. I've lived in it my whole life and it still scares me to drive in ****** winter weather at times.

South FL is truly a world all it's own. Been there a few times and have some friends from there. I think it boils down to what you think is best for you, neither move will be easy, but sometimes we have to do some tough and uncomfortable crap to get ahead. I'm sure you will find the right place and best opportunity. :)

I'm currently in WI, hoping to move to SW FL. I understand your struggle. I live in a small town with limited options unless I want to drive 45+ miles and in the winter that isn't always ideal. I started in LTC went to home health and now I'm doing LTC floor nursing as well as MDS Coordinator. The job is okay, almost all my coworkers are great, but it's just not what I want. I want more and I'm considering getting an informatics certification. All that being said, I don't know a lot about Texas, but I know winters in Illinois aren't always pretty and coming from south FL that adjustment along with a completely different culture could be a hard adjustment. I wish you the best of luck. Interested to see what you decide to do.

I worked for a year in LTC after I graduated then went into private duty/home health. I spent close to 4 years doing that. In August I graduated with my BSN and decided it was time for a change. I missed the social aspect of working with others and my last position I worked with some fairly incompetent case managers and an agency that really didn't care about a whole lot as long as you showed up and sent your paperwork in on time. (I was also sick of drive 30+ minutes to and from work, especially in the winter). So I applied to a couple positions, one being a part time med/surg position and a full time LTC position. I never heard back from the med/surg one and interviewed for the LTC position. I didn't get the position I interviewed for but was offered a MDS Coordinator/Floor nurse position at the LTC. I accepted it partly because I could walk to work, the pay was good, and I looked at the MDS aspect as a new adventure. I enjoy the MDS aspect, but can't see doing this long term. What I don't like is being a floor nurse. I no longer get enjoyment out of it. The residents are great, well most of them, but I dread the two day that I work on the floor. I have a desire to do something else with my career beyond floor nursing, but I don't really know what other options are out there for me that doesn't involve floor nursing. Any suggestions? I've looked a bit at quality assurance nursing and it looks intriguing but I'm wondering what other options are out there for me. I love the idea of being able to implement change and improvements whether in technology or otherwise but I'm unsure of what type of nursing position would do something along those lines. Any thoughts or suggestions would be great. Thanks in advance!

I think I will stay clear of Bayfront in Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda. I was told the other locations weren't bad...Tampa, St. Pete, etc. I'm pretty certain I'm going to have to look a little further than I originally wanted to from Fort Myers. Oh well, things change.

I currently work as a PDN through an agency and prior to working with an agency I was a self employed PDN. i would highly recommend going through an agency. I wasn't too involved in all the paperwork because there was also a case manager working with the same family and she handle that aspect, but billing was awful and because I was billing medicaid directly and getting paid by them taxes weren't taken out so I had to pay in. You do need a tax id #. You also have to get certified by the state in order to be a self employed PDN. this is the site I did all my billing through & got my cert, along with my tax id. https://www.forwardhealth.wi.gov/WIPortal/ it's not the easiest site to navigate unfortunately, but at least there are numbers you can call to help you figure out everything you need to do. Hope this helps.

Go to Nurse.com | Nursing News, Jobs, Continuing Education and you can find the required classes you need for you FL license and as long as you register on the site they will automatically report them to the FL BoN. I'm also from WI and went through the endorsement process to get my FL license 4 years go. Fl requires 24 hours of CE courses during each renewal period so that site is great for doing those also. You don't have to worry about sending anything in to prove you completed your hours because it is automatically done for you.

I'm looking into applying at Bayfront Health in Punta Gorda and/or Port Charlotte. I currently live in WI, but hope to move to FL soon (this winter has really been brutal). I was posting on a different forum and had mentioned that I was thinking about applying at these two locations. Someone that responded said her husband was a RN at the Port Charlotte location and that he was looking for a different job since the recent take over of the health system. She said there were wage cuts and PTO cuts. She came across extremely bitter about the situation and no one else responded to her comments. My question is, does anyone work there or know anyone that works there and how do they feel about the place. I would love to get into a hospital in FL and want to stay fairly close to the Fort Myers area. I've looked into Lee Memorial hospitals but have discovered they don't like to hire those without hospital experience, except into their internship program. Living in WI I don't have much of a shot at getting into that program (I've tried, multiple times). I have 1 year of LTC experience and 2 years home health, neither of which seem to help me much while trying to get into a hospital. So any information on the Bayfront hospitals would be greatly appreciated.

I received my Florida license through endorsement. It took me about 3 months to get through the entire process. The livescan finger prints I had done at my local jail. I ended up having to do it twice because the FL BON said the first ones weren't good enough. It wasn't an overly difficult process, but it just seemed like it took forever with the paperwork, fingerprints, and waiting game. It's been 4 years since I had to go through the endorsement thing so I don't remember all details, but I would be more than happy to help if I can. Also if you go to Nurse.com | Nursing News, Jobs, Continuing Education you can find the medical errors course, plus others that are required for Fl. You do need 24 hours of CE courses for every renewal period. The website I gave is also a good place to do your CE courses because your hours are automatically reported and you don't have to worry about sending anything in when renewing your license.

Like RN_travlr stated above, check out hyperdermic highway's website. They have the top 10 agencies for 2012 listed. Check out any of their sites and I'm sure you will find a good one that can help you find opportunites in NC/SC. Good Luck!

This LTC assignment is in Pierre, SD. But I will make sure to avoid the on is Greenville, SC lol.

Thanks for the information!! I'm currently talking with an agency, at the assignment is LTC. It would be my first assignment if I choose to do it, and essentially all of my experience is in LTC. It's not what I really want to do, but I'm hoping like you said it will lead to other different opportunites. Once again thanks for the advice.

I've had 3 agencies call me (while I'm working of course) and I will be returing their calls today. I will let you know if I find out anything worth while.

I'm curious if any of the nurses out there are traveling nurses or have done traveling nursing. I've recently been looking into it and since my main license is a multi state one I thought maybe it would be fun and a good way to see different place and maybe find some place that I really enjoy to settle down in. Any thoughts or insight would be great. Thanks!

I didn't get a job there. Did get a job somewhere else which was a mistake. The place shall remain nameless. They promised me all kinds of things and then when I moved down there (I'm from WI) they back peddled on 98% of them and also changed where/what I would be doing. Needless to say I wasted a lot of money on a place that had a ton of potential and I was really looking forward to working at.

I'm good at adjusting, so I don't think that is really the issue. I'm also pretty open to trying things a different way. When I say double check the meds, etc I meant once the orders are put in, not every time before the med is given. It's a one time check when a person is admitted. I also don't believe that everything has to be computerized for the care to be good, there can be mistakes even with them. I will be on the floor training starting next Tuesday so right now I can't say if there are quality problems since I've spent the majority of the last 3 days in a room, but just hearing about all the med errors that have occured and the legal action that has been taken on some of them freaks me out a bit.

I just finished my 3rd day of orientation at a new job. It's in a nursing home which I have previous experience in. However, this nursing home doesn't do anything on the computer, which I was okay with up until today. My last place of employment was all computerized, MARS, TARS, nursing notes, etc. This place has none of that. With that being said one would think that there would be all kinds of checks put into place to make sure that meds were written correctly, treatments were written correctly, etc. There aren't. The only check that is done is the nurse calling the MD to verify the med orders before writing them out. So there is still a huge risk of them being written wrong and multiple med errors occurring. At my old facility ALL orders were double checked by two nurses before any treatments were done or meds were given. I'm uncomfortable knowing that there is a risk that I could harm someone unintentionally because orders/meds weren't written right or checked. I feel like I will need to check everything a million and one times just to make sure that everything is okay (and we all know there isn't usually time to do this). The DON has told us a couple stories of things that have gone wrong with meds and that legal action as been taken, which kind of scares me. The facility itself is great, it just that aspect of it really bothers me and I don't know if I want to put myself in a possible bad situation. I'm actually considering looking for a different job because of all of this. I had intended on staying at this job for a year or so because it was my foot in the door to the state that I just moved to. All the hospitals that I applied for in this state told me that once I moved down to reapply. I'm assuming a lot of this had to do with the fact that I was living out of state, which I understand. My question is, do I have valid concerns and would it be a bad idea to try and find a different job that actually implements checks to ensure that orders/meds are put in correctly before my administered? I'm just trying to cover my own ass and I only want the best for the people I am caring for.

Thanks for the advice. I actually found a condo in Clearwater. Driving down next Sunday.