IamGold

Yup. Being a nurse used to mean caring and being the advocate for patient with bedside manner that the Dr. Didn't provide. Unfortunately, we have been made to work as factory workers on a production line.

I'm curious to know what the typical nurse to patient ratio is in a subacute/ rehab facility. I am a new employee to this company and have 20 patients with 2 aides. I at times will have a desk nurse to assist me as well as the other two nurses. We currently do not have a unit manager. I have worked four days on my own and feel very overwhelmed. I barely get my med pass done for morning by noon!!! Crazy but true. I have yet to have time for assessment or education let alone any treatments with constant interruptions to prevent falls or by other staff to include PRN meds( nonstop). Major problem is that the meds are never all available with backtracking for one to all pills. If a person drops a pill( happens often) you have to pull from backup. The meds are packaged in threes with frequenting errors. I thought this would be a great place to gain skill and provide education with great outcomes, instead, I feel like a negligent nurse with poor organization. I feel like the facility has lost the concept of restorative and are treating it like LTC. Though they are fairly stable, they require much more care than LTC to include the high fall risk, confusedpatients constantly setting off alarms requiring stopping med pass. Any support or words of encouragement, advice would be great.