mandaleigh

1. What size is your LTC facility? Four floors- 150 total 2. What is the nursing to patient ratio? 1 LPN or RN per LTC unit, approx 38 residents, 2 nurses per rehab unit 30ish residents per nurse. My floor- days 7-3 or evenings 3-11: 1 nurse, 4 CNAs, and 1 med aide who gives all PO meds including narcs. 3. What is the CNA to patient ratio? My floor- LTC- Days and evenings 4 CNAs to 38 residents, on nights 2 CNAs to 38 residents 4. Do you feel you are able to provide quality nursing care to your residents? Generally speaking, yes 5. Is your facility doing computer charting? Yes. 6. Are you subject to mandated overtime? No. 7. How long have you been nursing in the LTC setting? Almost 8 years 8. Do you feel that you are able to keep your various residents safe? For the most part. 9. Does your LTC home have a mixture of residents? Yes, rehab, dementia in locked unit, high functioning A/O x3, dementia mixed in with non-dementia, generally divided by floor. 10. What is your hourly wage (ballpark) and do you feel you are underpaid for the work you are doing? $ 27.50 per hour for days, 30.50 per hour evenings and 32.50 per hour weekends, holiday pay, and double-time if staff is needed badly. No, I don't feel underpaid. 11. What state are you practicing in? Maryland

Thank you you for the laugh!

I'm an LPN, six years experience, work in Maryland in a LTC facility and make $ 29/hr.

We are not allowed to give meds during meals....who THINKS up these rules?!

First of all, congrats on your first job!! I think everyone is nervous at first. Two weeks is a short orientation, maybe see how it goes and request some more time to get your feet wet. As for being short staffed, welcome to the world of LTC.

I have been in this LTC facility for about 9 months. This gentleman was 90+, VERY hard of hearing, and, oh, did I mention this is an advanced Alzheimers unit? Due to having such a hearing deficit, he talked VERY loudly and sort of high-pitched. Most days we would have a ritual of me taking him his pills, handing him the cup, him looking in the cup then up at me with a shocked look on his face and saying, " what?!!, all these?!!". Then he would laugh and pop down the pills. One day, not too long after I had started on my own, the CNA came and told me that he was very agitated and demanded to get dressed for work. I told her to help him get dressed and let him just mosey around in his wheelchair like he always does. After getting dressed, he came out of his room , looked at me and asked where the elevator was.(This facility is only ground level.) I wasn't sure what to tell him (I SAID I was new at this) so I just pointed down the hall and told him "down there". He went on and a few minutes later came back by me asking the same question, to which I pointed down the other hall and said "maybe down there". He went on and , yes, you guessed it, came back by and again asked where the elevator was. I was a little stressed with the med pass so I told him I didn't know. He gave me a disgusted look and said," if you don't know, how the HELL did you get up here?". I am going to miss him a lot. Thanks for 'listening'.

Lots of times family members don't like the drugs used for PRN due to things they may have heard. Why did the son have the MD get rid of all PRN meds?

Thanks for all of your help! I am still trying to decide what I really want out of my 'career'. I truly enjoy 'total care', so I may look into hospital work. To me, getting to know your patients/residents is a large part of nursing. You are treating the whole person!

*Deep breath* I am a new LPN. I took a part-time job at a respected LTC facility. I was hired to take over for the nurse on maternity leave. The unit I work in is AACU, ADVANCED Alzheimers Care Unit. I work the 7-3 shift, have 32 or so residents. The LPN is responsible for all treatments, all meds, serving meals (CNA's serve the snacks), new orders, incident reports, etc...! I am still orienting but am feeling like a robot at times. How in the world do I get to know the residents and what may or may not be 'normal' for them when all I do is kill myself to get meds out on time- (2 hour window), (which NEVER happens with ANY of the nurses that I have talked to). There are supposed to be 3 CNAs on my shift but often someone calls in sick or is a no-show. Then there is the issue of not being allowed to do certain things in 'public' places like eye drops, insulin... We cannot pass them their meds if they are doing an activity, or eating or ?.... How can I EVER get organized? Often I have to 'look' for the resident to give meds. I keep hearing, "oh, you'll get the hang of it". Pardon me, but there is NO WAY these residents get the attention that they need from nursing. Any thoughts?

Hey! I am 45, am finishing my LPN program in December. I started college at 42 with 2 kids grown and 2 still in HS. My husband gave me the best piece of advice 2 1/2 years ago, "the next 2 years are going to go by whether you go to school or not." I'm glad I went!! Trust me, I am NOT the oldest in my class!!! I have done a lot better than most of the younger ones!!

Why is the beginning so far away?

Wow!! I've read about some of these things in books and some of them we were doing in class recently! As far as the toe pleat, we were shown how and why. I find that it makes the pt's feet more comfortable rather than being 'smooshed' to the side. It's the little things.....

Hey Maryruth, I think your reasons for wanting to work in geriatrics are valid reasons. You sound like you know yourself well. I, too, feel the way you do in how elders are treated a lot of the time. In the LTC facility I am in right now for clinicals, the CNAs say things like, "what did you go and make a mess like that for? you are stinking up the whole hall!" I have heard it more than once and THAT breaks my heart. There are lots of really good LTC places out there that care about the residents' needs, physical AND psychological, take your time and check some out. Good luck in your endeavors!!

At the LTC facility where I am doing my geri clinicals, they use both of these. I do realize what the pros are for using them but most of the residents hate them and a few have remarked that it makes them feel like an animal. A couple of elderly gentlemen have said that they are scared of them.

I feel for ya!! The advice that Lizz gave was excellent!! Good luck !!

In our clinicals, the rules are very specific about the kind of jewelry that we can wear. My sweet husband went and bought me a plain gold band so I don't have to worry about my 'good' ones. I'm not 'germophobic' but the idea of the spaces between the stones.....eww.

Hey! My clinical instructor gave a student some, (I thought), excellent advice yesterday. She, the student, was upset because of some things that she perceived that she did incorrectly. The instructor said to ask yourself if the patient is more comfortable than when you arrived, in this case, the pt. was MUCH better. I am going to try and remember that piece of advice. Hope it helps you, too!!

http://www.allnurses.com qh qd :balloons: YES, YES, YES!! I want one of each!!

Here in central Indiana, schools have almost totally phased out the LPN programs. The school I attend, a community college, is about the only one. There are 70 in my class, due to complete in December. To get accepted, you have to take the PSB and have really good grades in your pre-reqs. There were approx. 300 applicants for the 70 slots, of those 300, only the highest scores on the PSB even are allowed to apply to the program, if your scores are acceptable, they send you an application. That said, the RN program only accepts 40 per year, you want to talk competition?? You'd better have a 4.0 or you can hang it up. The courses are hard, also. I was showing some of my stuff to a friend who is an RN, she was amazed at the difficulty of the coursework we have. There are quite a few transition to RN programs around, though.

I did mine last week. I thought it was kind of boring, too. If I had been an active participant, it might have been different. Generally, I like my patients awake.:)

OHMYGOSH!! I thought I was the only one!!! Especially the eye twitching..that is DEFINITELY stress!! I haven't had anything else except nearly passing out at clinicals last week because I was doing homework until 11 the night before, (forgot supper, I NEVER do that), went to the hospital at 6:30 without anything but coffee........DUHHHHH. Can you say low blood sugar??? My instructor and the nurses on duty were VERY nice about it, one got me a banana and some orange juice. 10 minutes later, I was fine. My biggest problem is hypchondria!!!!!

I am in the middle of clinicals and had my OR observation day today. It was more relaxed than I expected. The circulating nurses were awesome!! Available for questions during the surgeries and FRIENDLY!!!! The surgeons were relatively friendly, but I honestly didn't even expect them to acknowledge our presence. A few of the scrub nurses just acted like we weren't there which was okay with me. They didn't give a lot of 'dos and don'ts', basically we could stand anywhere that wasn't directly in the way, where we could see, and not contaminate. It was interesting BUT, I don't think that is the nursing for me. I really am better at the bedside nursing, dealing with the patient's everyday needs; physical and emotional. For those who love it, that's great!!

I have four children , all over the age of 16. In those four births, I have had three nurses that happened to be male. They were WONDERFUL!!! They were SO considerate of my feelings, my husband's feelings.... On the other hand, I have had some female nurses that I thought were the rudest, most b&^&&y women!!! In my clinicals, the female nurses are the WORST!!! I really don't care WHY they are being that way, dealing with patients is NO place for it. My OB, whom I LOVE dearly, is a male, there has NEVER been a nurse, male OR female in with him doing an exam. When my husband was in the military, I had a female Dr once, didn't care for her personally but not because of her gender. By the way, none of our kids were born while he was in the Marines Corp, lest anyone think that the male nurses were the military ones. I just think it is hypocritical for women to want to be 'equal' with so much but turn the tables and they don't like it. They should be allowed to be doctors, but men shouldn't be nurses??!! Even in L&D?? With some of the morbidly obese OB pts we've had, I'm glad there are some nice big men around to help move them, saves my back.:chuckle Also, if a woman is having a baby and is so concerned about who is viewing, maybe she should consider a home birth.

I am starting clinicals on Thursday and am wondering what the smokers in our group are going to do, 5 of them out of 10. This hospital is a completely non-smoking campus. You would have a good walk to get to be able to smoke. Time will tell. Smoking continues to be referred to in this thread as a "legal activity". THERE is where the change will be; sooner or later. My 85 year old aunt said that she NEVER would have thought to see the day when you couldn't smoke wherever you pleased, including a hospital. Btw, I am an ex-smoker, clean(:chuckle ) for 14 years now, but I have zero tolerance for the smell. Makes me gag! Hey! I DO have an idea, those of us who don't take smoke breaks should get to take computer breaks!!!!

My school is a state/community college, fully accredited. If you have any credits from another college or university, those can probably be transferred, if they are within the last 10 years. Everyone takes a placement test just to be a student at the school. Then, depending how well you score on the math and english parts of the test, you register for the recommended math/and or english classes. I did really well on the english portion, even after being out of high school for over 20 years, so I did not have to take any kind of english lit class, everyone takes an english composition class. My math skills were somewhat lacking and I needed a refresher algebra class. Those had to be taken in order to take any of the REAL pre-reqs. Those were: Psychology, choice of Speech or Interpersonal Communication and THEN Anatomy and Physiology I and II (ANP I and II are each one semester). Once you get those finished or during the last ones, you take a computerized entrance test for the LPN program. If you score higher than 25% in all of the categories of the entrance test, the school sends you an application for the LPN school. In re-reading this, it sounds MUCH more difficult than it really is. I can remember just starting to take the beginning test to get into the college, thinking it was going to be FOREVER before I got to nursing school. I can NOT believe that was nearly 2 years ago!!!! The time has FLOWN by!!! If you really want to do it, you can. If I can, haha, just about anyone can!