Sassafras6

I now leave it home. When doing any sterile procedure, all jewelry must be removed up to the elbow. I have cheap watch that goes in my pocket when doing sterile procedure. I do not want my ring getting lost among the items in my pocket & fall out if I must rush to a pt before putting my ring back on.

That is unreasonable. Find another job then quit. Most, if not all, home health companies have all FT employees rotate call. They are paid a couple of dollars/hour to be on call & the agencies per visit rate for any after hours/weekend visits. Some hospice companies require the nurse case manager to be on call for her/his patients all or most of the time. The reason is you are the nurse the patient & families know the best, & you know the patient & family better than another nurse. However, I believe this is wrong as hospice has the added time that you may put in after hours to be with the patient in his/her final hours. You may be with a small start up company that does not have the nurses to rotate call with? Even so, they should not be accepting patients when they do not have adequate staff. Sounds like this company may not last & when that happens they suddenly stop paying you or your checks begin to bounce.

NurseQT, it has gotten worse, I cut down to 8 hour shifts so I can get done in 12. Pt load increased to 25 patients & amount of paperwork, documentation & filing increased such that it takes at least 4 hours after giving report to finish the day. Yesterday I was lucky & left after 2 1/2 hours of charting, but then I decided not to do the massive amount of filing. I took on a teaching position as an adjunct, but that is not working. I am expected to attend & participate in committee, department, & curriculum meetings that add up to 44 hrs w/o pay/semester. Was told adjuncts only get paid for face to face time w/ students, but must attend mandatory meetings as terms of employment & of course contribute time to prep for class & grade papers. Today I will turn in my resignation to the LTC facility & already told my dean that I will not sign up to teach another semester. I will probably not seek employment & be counted as one of the many under 60 years of age who retire from nursing.

So sorry that happened to you. LTC's have a difficult time maintaining good staff & I would think she would be interested in you succeeding rather than driving you out the door. So many times the nurses are short staffed because they cannot find a nurse to come in when there's a call in or when census is high & staff supply low. If you find this to be a pattern at that facility, start looking elsewhere. I am sure there are other facilities that would welcome you & do their best to help you learn the ropes.

Our administrator keeps staff at the least amount required by law. When our census goes down, CNA's are cut on a regular basis, even sent home right after arriving to work. Nursing does not get cut as much, but when it happens, it is usually by being sent home early & the remaining staff have to divide up the extra patients. The nurse sent home races to finish up. It would be better to keep staff for mandatory education modules so we would not have to use our personal time at home for it. What usually happens is, all of a sudden we get slammed with admissions, then the remaining staff has to work late to finish documentation & know we are going to be chastised for being poor time managers.

Are you an RN or LPN? If you are an LPN jobs outside of LTC & Rehab are slim to none. If you are an RN, you now have close to 2 years experience & can probably transition to another area of nursing. If you do not have your BSN, start working on getting it. It will help open doors for you.

At my facility we do 1 assessment / day, & Qshift for new admits & post incidents x 72 hrs. I work 12-hr day shift & am assigned approx. 16 pts. It is difficult to keep up with 8 assessments, 16 would be impossible.

I am in S. Florida & make $27/hr. as an RN with 38 years experience

I relocated to Florida 1 year ago & took a position in a LTC/Rehab facility. I am scheduled to work 12 1/2 shifts & am lucky if I get out in 14 hrs. None of us have time for the break & if we attempt to get paid for that 30 min. my employer claims it is our fault that the break was not taken. The admissions & discharge documentation is over the top with most of it being the same information inputted into 3-4 different areas. Just 1 admission will guarantee 1 1/2 - 3 hrs overtime w/o pay, imagine 3 with 2-3 discharges & 1 emergency thrown into the mix. I have been in nursing 38 years & always loved my job. I looked forward to returning to elder care as I expected a trend to have occurred in ensuring todays residents are well cared for. I have never worked so hard in my career. In the past, I would feel a sense of satisfaction at the end of my shifts. Now I drive home discouraged, knowing I did not provide the care I should have & conduct the assessments these residents deserve. I hate that I am in a position that makes it impossible to provide competent nursing care. I learned during orientation, that there is no time to do a good head-to-toe assessment, yet we must still chart lung/heart sounds, etc. If we do everything we chart that we do, we would probably be over 4-6 hrs documenting off the clock. This is the norm at my facility & I hear it is typical for LTC nationwide. I have always had a lot of energy & can run circles around those half my age, so I know it is not that I am "too old" or "too slow". I am fortunate that I am in a position in which I do not have to work, but do so because I always enjoyed nursing. I work prn to maintain a decent work/life balance, I cannot imagine having to work FT under these conditions. Early on, I decided to give this a year as every new position feels overwhelming at first. After 1 year, I am considering retiring as I no longer enjoy nursing. I am in fear of my future as I will likely be a resident at some facility one day & I know the work conditions will not improve. Our local hospitals are not much better as the nurse/pt ratio is double compared to what it was at my former facility & the med/surg acuity level is much higher than it was in the past. Higher demands & expectations are placed on nurses & healthcare facilities while reimbursement rates are being reduced & even withheld. The future of medical care looks bleak & unfortunately, that trickles down to the caregivers employed in healthcare.

I am in LTC & am scheduled to work 12 1/2 shifts & 30 min is deducted for "meal break". My employer will deduct 30 min for the break. If I claim to not have had a lunch break, my employer makes it clear that I am not up to speed & there is no reason not to have had a break. If I must stay a few hours to complete my charting, I am told I am not up to speed. I have minimal time to use the toilet, & if I eat anything I do so while standing in the med room pulling meds. This is the norm at my facility & I hear it is typical for LTC.