Our PTA just started a Care Closet. They have donations for personal hygiene supplies and $$ to help keep it stocked. They have coordinated it and plan to do the work of maintaining it. It has been very well received so far.
I've drove over an hour for 2 years and it wasn't too bad. I decided I wasn't going to get upset every day and used the drive to review every day and think about how I could be a better nurse. I would replay emergent events and try to learn from them...
Yes, but our teams are 8 patients and if short on nursing aids our teams are 6 with just an RN and LPN. I love having the extra help and the team approach means that even if one patient is tanking the LPN will keep up with the other patients and even...
Darned sweaty eyeballs! I thought I'd cried that out a long time ago, but obviously I haven't. I hope you're doing all right...according to my psychiatrist, it takes around three years for life to return to some semblance of normalcy. You've got a wa...
This topic hits home with me, my husband died in 2017 and I have had days when I really struggled at work (and at home). I have tried very hard not to use my grief as an excuse not to be a hard worker, in fact, I will try to keep busy when I start t...
Mn nurse 22 replied to Bunnybop's topic in Geriatric
We have an ekit and local pharmacy that we use for the first few doses of meds or we specifically have the md write "when available" if it is something that can wait for a few days. If that doesn't happen we have to call our on call md for an order t...
You can learn a lot as a CNA, and the nurses who you will be working with May be able to show you/teach you things you can only read about in nursing school.
Mn nurse 22 replied to Anne36's topic in Geriatric
We have found that organized activities, even for a few minutes can keep residents busy for a long time after the activity is done. Mating gripper socks, washing tables in the dining room, folding towels or napkins, tossing a beach ball or balloon ar...
Mn nurse 22 replied to gamedoc14's topic in Medications
Our facility is asking the same thing but I guess if someone is telling me they are having 10/10 pain and they have an order for narcotics that I am not going to offer a warm blanket, toilet them, offer a snack, then Tylenol ALL BEFORE providing thei...
All of the rapid drug screen have specific criteria to read the results after 5 minutes but within a certain amount of time the results are no longer valid, AND can often produce false positive results. If you can find the directions for the specific...
Mn nurse 22 replied to CapeCodMermaid's topic in Geriatric
We have a post fall form, plus everyone's favorite the mandatory post fall huddle. Our form asks what the surrounding area looked like, when was resident last observed, last toileted, med changes, condition changes, unusual behaviors 2 hrs prior to ...
Mn nurse 22 replied to EricaRN2015's topic in Medications
Is the facility also investigating why the day nurses are giving scheduled medications long before their earliest possible administration? They are setting you up for failure when they are giving it early and now you are in trouble for not doing that...
Mn nurse 22 replied to Nola009's topic in Geriatric
http://www.cms.gov/Outreach-and-Education/Outreach/NPC/Downloads/2013-01-31-Dementia-Care-presentation.pdf Listening to elderly cuts use of costly medications | Star Tribune
Mn nurse 22 replied to Nola009's topic in Geriatric
I have worked at several LTC facilities with programs for reducing unnecessary psychotropic medications. There is lots of research andI have witnessed many times personally how a resident who wasn't showing typical signs of pain but was medicated fo...
Mn nurse 22 replied to oharnp's topic in Medications
The world health organization has a pain analgesic ladder. It says for mild pain 1-3/10 that a non-narcotic should be used, moderate pain 4-6/10 than non-narcotic plus narcotic, and for severe pain 7-10/10 than strong opioid should be used. They wrot...
Mn nurse 22 replied to LevitateMe's topic in General Nursing
The department of labor and industry has a lot of info about being on call and even specific examples of when employers are supposed to pay you an on call wage. One of their examples is if you are a salaried employee you probably won't get paid to b...
Mn nurse 22 replied to Pat_Pat RN's topic in Geriatric
There have been cases where nurses have taped calcium tablets into Lortab packs or other medications that look like the narcotic. I would never give a med that was taped back in and will always waste it with another nurse.
Mn nurse 22 replied to Flutterby23's topic in General Nursing
That usually means that your urine was too watered down. It can happen innocently like yours might have but a lot if users drink tons if water before their test to water down their urine so it has fewer parts per million of whatever drug they are usi...