dotty865

14 years ago when I was 12 weeks pregnant I had to have an emergancy appendectomy , half way though the surgery I woke up crying . Luckily I knew the nurse that was working that night and she came running over and comforted me untill they could get more meds in me. What an experience !!

You are from Ohio if .... You know what has to be knee high by the 4th of July . Answer.... Corn !

The LTC that I work at gives the nurses anywhere from 2-4 % raises. With most of them being 3 %.

The LTC I work at usually gives 2-4% raises each year. Most of the nurses get a 3% raise . The other staff are unionized and in their contract they agreed to a 2.5 % raise the first year (last year ) and a 2 % raise the next 2 years.

21 years ago when I took my state board test ... everyone was in a "barn" at the state fair grounds. one minute late and you couldn't test... 6-8 weekslater was when I found out that I had passed. though at that time you could work as an LPN with a temporary liscense. :monkeydance:

Hi Everyone :) LPN in long term care facility for 21 years Willard ... huron county

I work in LTC . I do not get paid extra for orienting new staff

Does EC have a web site that I can look at ? I'm considering going back for my RN ,i've been an LPN for 21 years . I can't take time off work right now to go to the Community College. College network called me yesterday and according to them i would still have to do clinicals at the CC. My DON at work said that she would help me in any way she can but to get started.... that's the problem .

When I was in nursing school during clinicals in LTC we did mostly nurse aide work to begin with and then advanced to passing meds and charting .

This one nurse, that claims to have been in LTC for about 8 years was trying to convince me that it's better to be "selective" in which events to chart and which not. For example, if someone BS was too low in the am, but you were able to bring it back up by giving them some food and OJ, it's advisable to "omit" charting the first BS, because one could make themselves and the facility much more liable in case something happened later and the chart happened to be investigated and questioned. :uhoh21: Never Never Never do this . nothing should be omitted from your charting . ..... chart your full assessment ! then you won't be :chair: or

Here in Ohio this past winter we had an ice storm that lasted for 4 days . Some were without electric even longer than that . Our DON , ADON and Administrator came in to work and asked several of us if we would stay . As long as we were working we were paid. Everyone that was there worked together as a TEAM !! Anything that needed to be done was done by who ever saw that it was needed . No one said " That's not MY job ."

I think the legal limit is 50 patients to one nurse in Ohio . Might be different in other states .

How did your day go ? I work first shift also and my routine is pretty much the same as was described. busy busy busy

I work in a LTC facility . The last 2 days I worked I found a med error each day . The first one wasn't too drastic but none the less a med error. The doctor faxed an order for a multivit , the paper that was recieved in the fax machine was laid with a bunch of other papers and was not taken care of . For 14 days ! The nurse that was on duty that night 3-11 shift did not take care of the fax when she recieved it and the it was "lost " in the other paper work . The next day , the same nurse was working 3-11 so when I followed her it was 7-3 the following day . I found a syringe of insulin laying in the drawer of the med cart . It was in a specific residents drawer. I asked this resident - alert and oriented - if she had recieved her insulin last night and she stated " Come to think of it no I didn't ." This med error could have had a negative outcome . As it was the residents fsgs was 168 on this morning so everything turned out ok. I did alert the DON on both occasions , she then wrote out a memo about not setting up meds prior to giving them to the residents. I did fill out a med error report . When this nurse saw the memo she asked about it and I told her that I had found the insulin in the drawer . Guess what she said " Well last night I gave her insulin . I know that she had it . " Well it's a different dose than is ordered for the 6 am dose so I know that she didn't get it . But I'm letting the DON take care of it . I did my part by reporting it and filling out the med error and notifying the doctor . I feel that I did the right thing . Now this nurse is upset with me . Sue

My oldest sister was in nursing school when she passed away . I was 6 years old and from that time on I told my parents that I wanted to be a nurse. That I wanted to be like my sister Diane. During my nursing schooling I was the same age of my sister when she died. Needless to say my mom worried alot about me during that year . That was 20 years ago, and I love what I'm doing .

I work in a LTC facility . Can't say that I've seen ghosts per say but .... When I first started I worked the 11-7 shift. The facility was being added to,(another wing added on ) During the night shift only we would see flashlights and hear hammering going on in the addition. Needless to say we called the police a couple times and they couldn't find anything. Once the construction was done the flashlights stopped. I had an elderly female that was passing , she would look toward the foot of her bed and tell me about the angels that she would see. When she started to tell me the names of the angels she would get worse. One time she told me " My sister has come for me " she asked that we say a prayer and we did . She died about 3 minutes after we said the prayer . When my sister passed away at the age of 53 from cancer the entire family was at her bedside. I have another sister that passed away 35 years ago. My dad said to us " Joanne will be ok , Diane is waiting for her ." Diane is my sister that passed away 35 years ago .

Med Aides ? we don't have med aides . It would make getting the meds out on time so much easier. especially with all the bp's that need taken and then don't forget about the interuptions that we have.... families calling , doctors calling ,, doctors making rounds,, not to mention helping the resident .. for which we are there for in the first place. Then to have to get the meds out inbetween therapies and activities.

Yes there is room under our initial for the bp to be written in .

Michelle126, there is a lot of meds that we do vitals for ... just about all the meds that the elderly take will effect the bp, and it needs to be taken before the med is given . our normal for holding a bp med is if the systolic is less than 100 and the diastolic is less than 60 so for a bp of 98/60 we would hold all bp meds . i can't think of them all off hand that we do this for , lisinopril is one ,,, lopresser is another one .

We are looking for state surveyors any time . They have been coming to our facility for a while now . There is one of the team that looks me up everytime they come. Just to talk . Get an update on my kids and how they are doing . Another one used to talk to one of the other nurses about her cats all the time. When they come in though everyone immediatly gets very nervous. There are times that everyone feels like hiding under a chair :chair:

VS. are done qshift for 3 days after admit, readmit,or fall. During AB treatments it is done qshift .If they have a change in condition then it's qshift and inbetween . VS are also done with monthly summaries.

Hi , I was wondering about charting also. But my question is ... How many LTC facilities are using computers for charting ? In fact do hospitals use computers for charting ? I was told by my DON that it is coming soon to our facility . :) I think this would be better. There is always someone that wants the chart at the same that that I need it to do my charting . What does everyone think about this ?

I have had my IV therapy certification for about 1 1/2 years. I always use gloves . But like the rest of you I do all the prep before I put on the gloves.

I live in central Ohio , I've been at the same long term care facility since 1985. I am finally just over $18.00 / hour. I think they start the new hires at $16.00 ,, but it also depends on experience. The local agency starts LPN's out at $19.00 per hour during the week and $21.00 on the weekend.