shy_wolf101

I work nights at a LTC facility, and I think its easier in some aspects like the lack of tray passing and no showers(yay!), but my hall is rarely quiet, the sweet little old ladies of the day turn into demons of the night, lol, and the men decide its fun to pee their names on the floor. But I love night shift, the people I work with are amazing, we are like a tight knit family and its easy to find someone to help you out during nights than it is during any other shift, and we rarely have to deal with a family member. The load is tough because I can have anywhere from 26 to 32 residents, most of which need to be changed several times throughout the night. But all in all sometimes you get anough down time to eat and do your charting, but dont ever leave a call light beeping for more than a few minutes because non-ambulatory people experience a miracle great enought to have them believe that they can walk again....and they cant. Good luck!

1. I hate hate hate when a nurse comes down the hall, tells you that someone(who is not even on your assignment!) needs some assistance, so when you get finished with a resident your supposed to be taking care of and walk across the entire building to see what this other resident wants, it turns out he just wants you to pull his draw sheet over an inch......really...how hard is it for a 24 year old nurse to pitch in a pull a darn sheet? 2. When a resident asks for a straw, and you bring it back, then he asks for a couple cups, so you bring those back, then he asks for a new urinal so you bring that back and ask if theres anything else he needs and he says no, then 10 minutes later when your with another pt. he screams down the hall because he accidentaly dropped his full urnial on the floor......grrrrr.... 3. When you walk down the hall at the beginning of the shift and you can smell ammonia.... 4. When people call early on in the day to find out how many are on the scedule for that night then call off anyway, knowing you are going to work impossibly short.

I work NOC and I have anywhere from 24-32 residents depending on staffing, and lately because we have had so many people call off, get suspended, or terminated that number can go up to over 42. We have five halls, and we are supposed to have 1 CNA per hall, and if thats the case then we are only required to get 2 people up. If we have 4 on the floor we only have to get one up, and anything less than that we dont get anyone up. I know the other shifts think that NOC is easier and that we dont do as much, but we deal with twice the patient load, vitals, changing beds with angry residents in them, passing ice, cleaning and sterilizing all the equipment, changing out the foley bags, changing out the oxygen, stocking the rooms with briefs, cleaning up after the other shifts, its not a walk in the park, and most of the time the minute the sun goes down, everyone goes ******* crazy!

You know your a CNA when your sitting on the couch watching tv, and when the microwave beeps you mentally go through the list of patients on your hall with a g-tube.

Thanks! Everyones words of encouragement has really made me feel better about my decision! And my residents made me feel better as well, I took my usual two days off, but since I have been working them for the extra overtime this was the first time I had ever had two complete full days off, and when I came back my residents were so mad at me for being gone for so long. It was the sweetest thing! I know I'm where I am supposed to be so thank you all so much for the support and encouragement!!:redbeathe

Thanks Everyone!! I just needed to know I'm not crazy. Everyone around me is keeps telling me how crazy and dumb I am for passing up the oppurtunities, but I just feel like my peace of mind and happiness are more important than making an extra couple bucks. I so appreciate the kind words!!:heartbeat

So when I first graduated I applied to the hospitals like crazy, but every place I applied to told me they were looking for someone with more experience, so then I went to the LTC circuit, and got a job I love! I dont get paid as much as at the hospitals, but I have a great routine, I know every one of the residents I care for, and I am allowed to study on my down time between rounds. I love the people I work with, and even though I go home tired, sore, and covered in someones bodily fluids I am genuinely happy where I am at. Well I just got a couple calls from some of the hospitals I applied to and turned down their offers of a new job. I am torn. I so wanted to work in a hospital because I wanted that experience and if were being honest the pay is soo much better, but I keep turning down these offers, and now I am wondering if I am making a mistake. Am I crazy for wanting to stay in LTC? Just looking for words of encouragement. Thanks!!

I work graveyard at a LTC but my shift goes from 10-6, and mostly its a lot of changing, repositioning, and keeping an eye on the wanderers and the smokers. Heres what an average night for me is like: Get in at 9:30pm do a quick walking round with the cna from the previous shift. Do a quick check to make sure everyone is present and accounted for. Get the water and ice passed out. Check vitals. Round: Change all the incontinent, empty foley bags, and reposition. Chart/ Call lights Another round of changing Then by the time I am done with this round Days come in and I do a walking round with them then go home. Its a nice shift, but because its night we tend to have a lot more residents to deal with and sometimes its difficult to handle the alzheimers/dementia residents because the night time confuses them. But all in all its a nice shift to work. Hope you like it, and hope this helps. Good luck!!

I got to work with a different CNA last night, and I finally get it. With the workload you have you have to come up with some system to get it all done, but she showed me how to manipulate the system without sacrificing patient care. She made me feel like I can actually do this. Thank you LatinaVNStudentRN2B and kcochrane! Your right, I will figure it out. I am just glad I got to see that you can do it without sacrificing your self respect.

I know I went in too idealistic. I guess I just thought things were going to be a certain way and when they fell short of my expectations I was disappointed. I do understand the reason and the need to try to go as quickly as possible through your round, I guess my problem is is that when you go through your clinicals and you get to do some seriously cool patient care because your only responsible for maybe two patients, when you get thrust into a situation where you have at least 20 incontinent residents you feel a bit cheated and lied to lol. I will get the hang of this, it will just take me a few days to adjust. I know I was a bit harsh in the beginning, and i now concede that I understand that time is a key player, but I am still going to try to get through my shift without cutting corners. I am hoping that maybe if I am organized enough and plan ahead enough I will be able to deliver the level of care I want to. And if I fail, then at least i know I tried, and I can at least look at myself in the mirror and not hate what I see.

I just started my new job as a CNA for a LTC facility last night, and I dont even know where to begin. So many corners are cut in an effort to save time, and I just dont know what to think. We are taught to do things a certain way, and none of what I was taught is followed at this facility. I work the graveyard shift, and from what I can tell everyone hustles and bustles to get things done so they can sit down, and I just dont think I can do that. I am more of a "Do a job big or small, do it right or not at all" sort of person. And I think if it takes me 8 hours to do my work then it takes me 8 hours. I would rather have clean and well kept residents than run in and do a wham bam thank you ma'am kind of job. Am I being ridiculous? Can you do this job without cutting corners, or am I being set up for failure?

I just took my exam a few weeks ago and it was a piece of cake. The mot important thing to remember is anything that can put a patent at risk, lock the wheelchair, make sure the bed rails are up and the bed is in the lowest position. And if you start going through your scenario and you remember a steo you should have done, tell the tester that you forgot to pull the privacy screen and stop what your doing and pull the privacy screen. They just want to know that you know what your supposed to do. You'll be fine, i know that your still going to be nervous, but as long as you dont forget anything major you'll be all right. ~Steph

i did it!!! i passed! i passed! i passed!! congrats to everyone else who passed their test!! im so excited and exhausted at the same time lol! :hpygrp::dancgrp::dncgbby:

:D:DI did it!! I passed!! It was probably one of the most anxious days I've ever had, but all in all it wasnt that bad, and i did pretty good! Thanks for the words of encouragement they really helped!!

lol thanks! I know deep down I will probably be fine, but the butterflies in my stomach arent as sure haha.