NurseSati

I got a job in LTC at the place I worked as a CNA right out of school. I just finished my training a few weeks ago. These past few weeks have been such a surprise!! In school all the clinicals were in hospitals. The nurses at my job just seemed to be on the phone all day or doing paperwork. From what I can tell you over the past few weeks from my experience, there is a lot of assessment. There are a lot of decisions to be made. At my facility there are around 300 residents. There is one nurse on duty to oversee care. Med aides do medication admin. My first day on my own someone fell. Had no pain. I really kind of froze on my assessment. No pain with ROM. Stood him up, his leg went out. Called family, they didn't want us to send him out. I did anyways. Get a call later that he had broken his hip. Often I am approving medication orders to make sure they are transcribed into the mar correctly. Most of the time they are wrong. I do a lot of teaching with families and residents. Ileostomy bag changes and straight cath. Really whats been my biggest hurdle is being by myself. No other nurses on duty to bounce information back with. There is a lot of assessments. A lot of times family or resident does not want to be sent out. It can be really nerve racking when someone has been throwing up for three days. There is a lot of wound care. Tons of little stuff. Some big wounds that don't have home health orders or what not. I feel like I am often running around putting out fires and fixing things. It's a lot different than the hospital. I have learned I have to trust myself. Especially being such a new nurse. I like it, but look forward towards moving into a hospital job.

I never tell until I the opportunity comes and I have too. I have been to the doctors multiple times this last two months, a bunch of different specialists. I have learned that if I say I am a nurse, nothing gets explained to me. They act like I already know everything they are going to say so they don't explain. It's awkward when I then have to keep asking and clarifying. So in general I play dumb. A few times it has been beneficial to say so. And when those times come I will. But I feel like it's better to hold back until you feel like its necessary. Sometimes it has helped me have better conversations with providers. But most of the time, I regret saying anything. I have an endoscopy coming up in a few days as well. :) but I will probably not say anything.