ltclovnrn

ohhh how awful! that is so scary. it scares me a lot having so many LPN's and CNA's working under me. everyone is so quick to say that in ltc every nurse is the same, whether lpn or rn... but i've learned that if there is any way for someone to save their own butt, they'll throw you under the bus. i HATE that about nursing. people are sooo triffling!

thanks for all your comments! we have had our annual survey this week, been very very busy! but we did better this year than last year and that's always the hope, right?! i'm glad to know that we are not the only ltc facility without an AED. it stressed me out at first. but now i realize i'm not alone!

i am an administrative RN at a ltc facility. i'm still a fairly new nurse... had clinical at a huge level 1 trauma center... saw codes all the time there. well at my ltc facility, our crash cart consists of an O2 tank, some tubing, an oral airway, suction machine with suction catheters, a backboard, etc. it is my understanding that in my state there must be a difibrillator anywhere that cardiac arrest may occur once a year or something like that. clearly, we have residents arrest several times a year, so why don't we have one? what's your crash cart like at your facility? also - how to you check the code status without running back to the nurses station. if my patient is a full code, i have to run back to the nurses station which is at least a 2 minute RUN back and forth. that's valuable time! and on night shift, we only have 3 nurses working, you're lucky to even get help. i'm terrified of a code on 11-7. luckily all the ones i've had have been during the day when lots of us were there.

ohhh i love the idea of a CNA that would specifically do showers. i know know know that our showers don't get done. they do bed baths. but i might see 2-3 CNAs take a patient to the shower in a shower chair/stretcher a week. granted i'm not on the floor 24/7. Our census is already low and the CNA's complain constantly about how they have too much work. so taking a CNA away to specifically do showers would really put them in a tizzy i think. i've learned that no matter what you do they always want one more! always!