MSdeltaPN2012

Good luck... with me 30 residents (give or take a few) with med pass at 9 & 1 as well as accu-checks at 11 using a paper MAR not to mention the countless non emergency calls from the ward clerk is enough to make me pull my hair out. It is almost impossible to do your job efficiently and still have time to pee most days.

I had to learn to say No... bc once you start giving in to OT, you will be the go to everytime. Also, being overly tired and exhausted could lead to errors in judgment. It's your nursing license on the line, not theirs.

I too am having the same problem. It's never about what you as a nurse do right but always what you do wrong to some. There will always be slackers in any facility and any speciality of nursing. I for one, take my job seriously and those slackers make your job extremely hard. At times, it gets to the point to where I question my ability (is this profession right for me). I used to love going to work at this place. Now, I get a headache before I even walk through the door. Nursing is a tough job already in LTC but even tougher without help. Hope things get better for you.

Where I work, we have to chart on acute care resdents. Our acute care consists of those on antibiotics until complete unless the Dr requests new labs. If so, then we chart until labs return showing no evidence of infection remains. Other acute situations are falls x 72°, new meds to ensure no a/r x 72°, any changes in ADL and mental status, med refusal, appts in and out of facility as well as LOA, and those on contact precaution. If documenting on new meds and tx orders for first time order the nurses note has to mirror that of the original Dr order. Also, MDS charting is a must. CYOA... cover your own *$!#... hope this helps.

I agree! I worked at a prison as a guard for 12 years and then as a nurse when I got out of nursing school. The amount of medication that you had to prepare was unimaginable not to mention having to use your own gas to distribute to every unit w/o being compinsated for it. Often, we would work short doubling the strain and stress of trying to get things done in a timely manner. I left after a month and never looked back. I wouldn't recommend correctional nursing to anyone. It's a quick way to get your license snatched. Good Luck!

I'm also a new LPN and 4 months into it. I work at a nursing home and my first day out of orientation was a complete mess. I asked for a few more days of orientation and that helped me a lot. If your not comfortable and feel overwhelmed as I did, ask for a few more days. I'm sure they do not want to see you struggle; they too have been there themselves. Once you get used to the patients/residents where ever you work, you will speed up some. The distractions are what hold me up eventhough I know each one of my 30 residents. Try to stay organized with a note pad or whatever you have to write on so you can keep up in report, giving report, and have times down for charting. I'm still learning the names of medications and what they are for. I promise you will get the hang of it. Good Luck to you!

Thanks for the advice and sorry for the late post. I reached my 90 day period as of January 31. I can truly say that there are going to be good days and bad days as well as slow days and busy days. With constant interruptions, there is no possible way to get meds out on time if the job is to be done correctly. I take pride in doing my job the correct way always but find it extremly hard to keep within that hour before and hour after time frame. I also find that I am losing experience because I donot have time to learn new things or brush up on those skills I learned in nursing school and clinical. I adore all of my residents and I try to take great care of each and everyone. I do get the residents who tend to be more "problamatic" out of the way first. Some residents stay on the call from 7a-3p and the clerk is always calling me to go to their rooms. I just can't be in two places at once. These calls to the desk are not at all emergency's so what do I do? I do alot of walking and from my first post in November to now I have lost 20 pounds which is a good thing :)

I too started a new job at a LTC facility 2 days after you did. Interested to know how it's going for you? As for me, I am overwhelmed. I love being a nurse and I also love all 30 of my residents. My job includes: issuance of meds PO and feeding tube, breathing tx's, 11 am accu-checks, and charting just to name a few. I am familiar with my residents after 3 wks of employment but I am finding it quite stressful that I cannot complete tasks on time. I am constantly interrupted for something, mainly for new resident orders or "so an so needs a laxative". I was taught in nursing school that no one should interrupt you while on med pass bc there is a risk of encountering a med error. Do you or anyone else have this problem?