Furwillfly

I am an R.N. in LTC. have worked in LTC all my life it seems. Started out as CNA. LTC has bad rap and always will due to people's ignorance. Yes, it's hard work. Yes, the nurse/patient ratio is high. Yes, there are skills I haven't used in awhil...

My father was discharged from the hospital as 'gravely disabled' adult, whom had a psych consult while there, and i found out he had been diagnosed with schizophrenia prior to the admission; don't know when. He has always been a loner/hermit. He was...

As previously mentioned, I know all about HIPPA. I also already said that perhaps she did try to check on him, or he refused to have her in his home. I will give her that one. However, if someone is gravely disabled and you are concerned, you get t...

Thank you for your insight. No, he doesn't believe he is schizophrenic. And the family isn't as much concerned about his schizophrenia, 3 of the 4 kids are nurses...we are a statistic from a dysfunctional home. So we know the illness. My sister a...

I am not at all offended by what you're saying. I appreciated it. And you have a point, I don't know if they tried a home visit and he didn't allow them in. Quite possible, knowing my father. I also work in psych/geriatric in rural community, an...

Thank you for your insight! I don't know if he was asked if he wanted his family called, as I don't yet have priviledge to that information. Like I said I understand HIPPA, but they weren't making sure he was taking care of his needs. They couldn't...

Who that's right they named their girl "Who"

I need some nursing management advice please. I have worked at my facility for 5 years now. For the last two years now, the Administrator and DNS have worked the floor quite often as we are very rural and short staffed. I genuinely like the two ve...

I need some nursing management advice please. I have worked at my facility for 5 years now. For the last two years now, the Administrator and DNS have worked the floor quite often as we are very rural and short staffed. I genuinely like the two very ...

I don't know the r/r of ALF as Im in LTC facility. I do work with these kinds of residents and we do a few things. Being they are forgetful to use a walker we provide them with a Merri walker. It is a form of restraint, but typically in our state ...

I was taught to do this as a standard practice.

I have to say how ASSININE! Ask the pharm. if you need an MD order to wipe their periarea with cleanser too! Sorry.... Get routine standing orders from your MD. Lip balm is part of cares...... Trust me, your MD will get tired of calls for order...

Never stop asking 'why'. An increase in behavior could be a UTI, or pneumonia, or pain, etc. It may not just be a deterioration of their Alzheimers. Be creative with interventions. Your CNA'S are your eyes, ears and backbone; listen and respect t...

We weigh weekly upon admit for 4 weeks, then 2x a month until the dietician and I go over the weights and mutually decide to change to monthly. I am in charge of the weights. What I do to make it easier is split all weights up between day and evenin...

It's hard isn't it. I've been there many times. Remember the good times with the resident. And know in your heart, you gave him the best of you that you could give, and blest his final days with the sharing of your heart and soul. God bless, will...

And some of the more cognitive residents enjoy responsibilities, like " you would be a big help to me if you would brush my dogs fur...or watch him/her for a few minutes in your room for me." it makes them feel important. Of course you need to know...

We have a 10 year old 'facility cat', that was adopted when the resident passed away. We have one other cat that is a residents and we share taking care of it's responsibilities. And we have two dogs that are residents'. We are animal lovers at ou...

Just an FYI, it could be his oral mucosa is dry. So it would just be a natural response to suck on something wet/moist. They make an oral moisturizer that one uses after oral care, to keep the tissue moist, I have found it wonderful! And can tell th...

I agree that residents need continuity and a nurse should be on a wing for a certain amount of time. One can get to know their residents well and are quicker to pick up signs of illness. However, the other side of the coin I can understand complete...

I live in WA and my guess is DAMale works in a hospital or something, because we can't use leather restraints where I work; so lets not stereotype. :) Talking about interventions of this gentleman, have we a behavioral intervention list? Have we att...

I walk on my treadmill too. The question was: has anyone tracked calories burned during a shift at work.

I work in LTC. I have a pedometer, I average 4 miles per day with 650 calories burned during the 8 hour work day.

One nurse to 40 residents? That is insane! I think it differs state to state, but here in Washington I don't think there is a law on the alloted ratio. However, here if you don't feel you can't take care of 40 residents.......don't clock in. Don'...

That's too bad. We can't afford to not do a r/o UA or my staff have the potential risk of getting the c*** beat out of them, or worse another resident. In our eyes this is more important and cost effective than staff time loss or state having to co...

We have standing orders for UA'S/Labs from our COS. We will usually dip it first, and do vitals before calling MD. Our MD doesn't usually do abo's for