shannon5555

Correction to my post: It is aanac.org, not aanac.com. Sorry! click on the "discussion group" link near the top right. That will prompt you to enter your email address and then click "subscribe." Simple!

HI! I just joined this group last night. I am a MDS Coordinator in OH and have been doing MDSs for one year. aanac.com has a free case mix discussion group email list serve which I have been getting for free for most of the past year. Just go to aanac.com. You do not have to be a member of aanac. It is free. You give your email address and get all the emails posted to the list serve. I get about 100 in a 24 hour period. I delete the ones with subjects that do not interest me, and read the ones that do. When I have a question or need a resource or advice I sent an email to the group. There is an MDS expert that is in charge of monitoring the site and she corrects people when they send incorrect info or advise. She doesn't monitor it 24/7, but I think she does at least once a day. There are also numerous experts and experienced professionals responding to the emails. The best ones always include reference to the RAI manual or a link to a CMS website or something like that to support their advise. Something else related to this thread... in Ohio we use the MPAF for all quarterlies in addition to the PPS assessments. We only have to use the long form for Initial Admissions and annuals! This just started several months ago and is so nice! It is a state thing.

You will be fine. Lots of people do it! I just think it is harder when people see you as an aid and then "boop!" you are now a nurse. There is some jealousy and there can be some lack of respect, but it is probably just based on some underlying jealousy. Tricky stuff!

That is horrible that your misery is due to a instructor with a bad attitude! I hope that you will report this! And I hope that your program will have better instructors for you in the future! That will probably determine if "it gets better" or not. I din't care for the nursing home setting much at first. The different departments of the hospital were much more exciting! But wouldn't you know that I ended up the opposite reguarding long term vs. acute care. I didn't know it though until I tried them both! Long term care is my calling. I love the memories that I carry in my heart from the experiences I get from repeated contact with the geriatric res. in their home.... the nursing home. Acute care broke my heart due to the fact that I had to meet new people, care for them for a day or two or maybe a week or two and then they were gone forever. I enjoyed acute care during clinicals, but after working in LTC for two years and then going to the med/surg floor at the hosp. I was certain that LTC was my calling. I went back to it after only 3 months in the hospital.

It did help me to be a better RN! Some nurses won't lift or provide any personal care. That is not the nurse I want to be! I am glad that I learned to do the lifting and the personal care. I am also glad that I had to learn how to treat patients in order to get them to be cooperative with care. Aids see things that nurses may not see. They deserve our respect and we need their input! You will see their side of nursing and you will understand them better if you do work as an aid! It really has helped me to supervise them, teach them, and work with them! I have said, "I know when I was an aid..." so many times to communicate effectively with a Nusing Assistant. My advise would be to work as an aid at one place and then as an RN at a different location or on another floor or department. Otherwise there can be some lack of respect from coworkers.. they may always see you as an aid.

What do you hate about it? RN or LPN program? My first clinicals were also in a LTC facility, but I don't remember hating any part of them. We were just learning to do vital signs, baths, pericare, straight caths, foley cath care, Finger stick blood sugars, etc. Do you like geriatrics? What kind of nursing do you want to practice?