I was a charge nurse for a LTC facility as a brand new LPN, before I became an RN. I took care of 50 residents by myself, with the help of a med tech and 4-5 CNAs. Luckily, most of the people I worked with were wonderful...as a charge nurse, if you have an extra few minutes, help out your CNAs. It will pay off, trust me. But overall, it was hard. I did all of the treatments, charting residents in/out, ordering medications/lab draws, communicating with the doctor/wound team/pharmacy/residents family/etc, setting up appointments, skin assessments...I was also responsible for certain things that med techs are not able to do, such as lovenox shots and hanging IV antibiotics. Our med techs were certified to do insulin and handle narcotics, but some facilities don't allow that, you would have to check with yours. Also, the charting could be ridiculous. You would have to chart the same thing in like four different places. However, it really was all doable unless something unexpected happened...like a fall, death, hospital transfer, etc. It was SO rewarding too, though. You get to know them so well (over years, instead of days) and it becomes pretty easy to tell when someone isn't acting like their usual. LTC is a place where you really do feel like you can make a difference and I loved that. I hope you the best with whatever you decide! LTC can really make for a wonderful career!
