aloha551

If you walk into a LTC for an interview and it is odoriforous turn around and walk out. Ltc are not supposed to smell..... Some one is falling down on the job... It's an indication that there are too many patients and not enough staff...Old facilities are also not supposed to smell. I have been in many older facilities and it was like walking into any other clean facility. I'll bet if you were to walk into their shower rooms you would find open containers with soiled pads etc. I went into a nursing home where an incontinent patient had wet the bed. The bed was so wet that it went through the mattress and was dripping on the floor. The facility would have made your eyes water. It was obvious to me that they were horribly short staffed. Unfortunately the patient was my father. Needless to say He was out of there inside of 2 hours...I was out of town when the family placed him..I asked the family if they had any indication that this place had a problem. Their answere was it looked pretty good.It was brand new and expensive but it did have a urine odor...They thought all nursing homes smelled like that....

Hi....... I'm a pump user for 15 years..I'm also an RN . I knew the advantages when they were in the trial phase. I started by checking my sugar with the old wash bottle system and was trained in school to boil syringes. When the pump was finally available I got one.So far I've gone through about 8 or 10 pumps. I would never-never go back to injections. This is far superior.Blood sugars are much more stable and once you get used to wearing it you often forget that it's there. Type of pump is an individual choice. Each one has different advantages. Talk to your Doc,call the ADA or a Diabetic supply company. You'll find one that works for you and believe me, after the initial psychological break-in period you'll be fine with it. Good Luck

I just came off an assignment two days ago. I was given 27 patients. Doesn't sound like much but the acuity level was quite high for a nursing home.The entire unit was 54 patients. It was myself an LPN and 4 CNAs. It was one of those days when everything went wrong. I had several intermittent G-tubes. Several insulins. Caths with irrigations and a few very end stage Hospice patients with q 1hr and q2hr Mso4s. At 2 pm on a 7-3 I was still passing meds from the morning med pass.I wasn't able to chart ,do vitals let alone treatments. The shift end was at 2:45 and being Agency I wasn't permitted to stay over. I forgot to mention that there was an RN supervisor at the desk who sat all day and didn't lift a finger to help. I was at the point where I was in the middle of a melt down. I was so out of compliance with the med pass that I felt horribly unsafe and I have never felt that way in my 35 year career.. The sad part of it is that there was nothing I could do about. I got no slack from the RN Sup. just an ass chewing for not haveing all the work completed. Thanks for listening..I needed to get that out with out burdening my family with it. I send love to all my Nursing collegues. Aloha

Thanks to the vicerofblue.....[i will not cross a picket line ever.] I doubt under the circumstances that you would have to but I thank you for your willingness to do so. I come from a town with a long history of Labor Unions. We have over a hundred years of efforts to organize the working class and we are very proud of this. We were the steel center of the World at one time. Thank you again for your commemt. It means a lot to Union brothers and sisters

Nice to hear from one of my cohorts.I remember croup tents. Our capes were navy blue and warm as toast during the cold Pennsylvania winters. Scrubs are so much easier to work inbut we lost something when we lost the mystique. Thanks for reminding me

To Jacks Dad....But would you still go?????

Good for You!!!!!!!!!!

The Atom Bomb of laxitives (MOM and prunejuice) followed by an afternoon in the resident lounge area being entertained. The Bomb relaxes the bowels(not realy) and the entertainment relaxes the resident. Presto everyone is scrambling, wheel chair included to the nearest facility. Never fails to work. Works even faster if she is being entertained by a group of elderly barbershop singers. I have witnesses this happen. Thought I'd add some levity to a very somber issue

Well Ladies and Gents,it's time to hang up my cap.. After too many years in the profession I decided to retire . That was 5 years ago. I missed long term care and my profession so much that 3 months ago I went back to long term care. I am absolutely in awe of the young nurses who have come up. I realized very quickly that they are stronger than me ,faster than me, and know a whole lot more than I do. I always considered my self a damn good nurse,but these kids leave me in the dust. I was given a 32 patient load and it took me 2 and a half hours overtime to pass the meds and I hadn't even started tx. or charting. It took me 2 days to recuperate from the physical exertion of the day.And i felt I couldn't be a Nurse. Didn't have time to sit with a patient or hold a dying residents hand.. What has happened to this nobelest of professions????? I felt like a robot.... I admire all of the Nurses who have chosen long term care. Pleasr don't become that robot...You all have so much to give..As for me I'm moving on to teaching. Seems there is just as much shortage in Nurse Educators. Look out soon to be Nurse Aids, it might just be me teaching you hospital corners.........ALOHA!!!!!!:redbeathe:redbeathe:redbeathe:redbeathe:redbeathe

I observed a senior physician throw a dirty IV bag with needle intact (back before needless systems) at a nurse and strike her because his order wasn't carried out the way he thought it should be. He wasn't even repremanded. Hows that for a bummer ?

Aww ....So sorry you had such a bad day.. Id love to tell you it won't happen again but........it will. In the mean time be good to yourself. Eat right get plenty of rest and exercise...everything you would tell your patient....It's easier to cope with stress when you are healthy but I'm not telling you anything that you don't already know.......HUGS

Come to Pa it's around $22.00 + if your IV certified..And frankly not enough for what an LPN does. And for the physical effort and the hardest job on the planet a CNA is worth a lot more than they are now paid. Considering the life expectancy of their back is 5 years. Love the staff I work with..... What ever you make , it's still not enough....

Part of your admission assessment sould be a complete skin survey.. Check every nook and cranny and move a few things if you have to. Measure everything with a real tape measure don't guestimate. per Cape Cod> Braden Scale is a great tool. Good luck to you

When I get home from work at the appointed time and not two hours past my shift my husband wants to know "You're home early. What happened? Did you get fired?" So goes nursing...comes with the territory. Can't expect a 9-5.

Am I missing something??????? My understanding is that we are obligated to the 5 rights of medication,one of which is right time. Where I practice I can't take it upon myself to arbitrarily change the med times for my convenience. I would first need to go through my DON and then if it is first safe and then approved by the pharmacy it just might be OK .. The the first thing my DON would want to do is counsel me as to why I can't get my meds done on time. It may be my problem and not the schedule and not the patient load. To just change the schedule for me without clearance is a justifiable reason to jeopardise my license. Like I said Did I miss something?:loveya: LTC RN 20+years