I refuse to ever work in LTC again. They treat their staff with absolutely no respect. The amount of work expected for nurses to complete in the allotted time is unrealistic and unsafe. I first started off as a nurse working as a LPN. In my first job ever, I was only given two days orientation. I had 40 residents on my floor. I had to give them all medications, and administer treatments. More than half of them had pressure ulcers. Some pts had 3 ulcers. B/l heels and sacrum. It was a nightmare. And to top things off management then had the audacity to ask why are you leaving late daily? Its not like they were paying me for it. I worked 8 hour shifts and got paid for 7 hours. It didn't matter if i stayed 1-2 hours extra. I wasn't getting paid so idk what the problem was. Its not like I wanted to stay late. Its just that it was impossible to me to complete all of that work in the given time. I never even took breaks. And out of those 40 residents, so many had GTs, JTs, eye drops, suppositories, nebs. So many needed BP and HR checked. Half the time the BP machine was MIA or not even working. I started bringing my own manual BP cuff and pulse ox. Everytime atleast 1 tube was already clogged when I went to give meds and feedings. It took forever to unclog them. Sometimes they didn't even unclog and the pt had to be sent to the ED. Ugh it was such a mess. LTC is a joke. I honestly applaud anyone that can work there for so long. I worked in LTC for about 2.5 years on a part time basis (2days/week) and completely lost my mind. No idea how people do it on a full time basis and for 10+ years. I'd shoot myself.
