Questions about D.O.N

[bmcstudentnurse]

I am fairly new to the LTC world. I have been private practice most of my medical career and want to get back into that after completing my RN. I have only worked for one LTC, I have been here going on my second month. I love my job as a CNA and love my patients dearly my question is, Is it normal for a facility to go through 3 DON in since I have been here. And what does a DON do? I am not meaning that rudely I just want to understand their position so I am well informed. The first one who hired me was total hands on was always at the facility and was always picking up shifts if someone called out. she even believed in doing CNA orientation herself. She trained me and was right there next to me the whole time. She became ill and we lost her. The second one lasted about two weeks???? and was demoted to charge nurse and left. The third one that I am working with seems to just want to deal with paper work. I am not saying that any of this is bad. I assume it is just management styles and personalities, but we all know what happens when we assume.

[CoffeeRTC, BSN, RN]

I am fairly new to the LTC world. I have been private practice most of my medical career and want to get back into that after completing my RN. I have only worked for one LTC, I have been here going on my second month. I love my job as a CNA and love my patients dearly my question is, Is it normal for a facility to go through 3 DON in since I have been here. And what does a DON do? I am not meaning that rudely I just want to understand their position so I am well informed. The first one who hired me was total hands on was always at the facility and was always picking up shifts if someone called out. she even believed in doing CNA orientation herself. She trained me and was right there next to me the whole time. She became ill and we lost her. The second one lasted about two weeks???? and was demoted to charge nurse and left. The third one that I am working with seems to just want to deal with paper work. I am not saying that any of this is bad. I assume it is just management styles and personalities, but we all know what happens when we assume.

The first DON sounded like a keeper, to bad she took ill. Sounds like the second one wasn't a good fit and as for the third...probably has a mound of paperwork to catch up on and get organized due to the recent turnovers. The DON has a huge amount of papework etc that needs to be done and othe staff doesn't even realize it. They are not just sitting in the office staring at the computers.

If you read thru some of the threads on this and the LTC forum, you will find some excellent examples of DONS.

[NurseGuyBri]

I think one of the issues you may be seeing is that the DON must fit with the facility. Not all DON's would be great for all facilities. I agree with the previous post- 1st one was a keeper, second one probably had bad timing, and third may be overwhelmed. I think it is normal for a facility to through a few before finding the right one. There's a lot of dynamics between the Administrator and the DON and then the DON with other disciplines. It's hard to explain- fostering a work environment with so many different personalities is very difficult. The major duties for me as a DON in SNF-LTC is lots of QA and budgeting- reporting to corporate, making decisions that affect every thing down to the departments I dont even work in. I absolutely LOVE my job. I get to teach, train, learn, assist, talk with patients, families, and get things done. It is the most difficult thing I've ever done. Don't get me wrong, some times it's so difficult to make everyone happy and sometimes you can't- but the joy in being a DON is when you do bring about change and positive results. You can email me if you'd like @ [email protected] if you would like to chat abotu some of the duties or have questions.

[ms.greyrn]

I think one of the issues you may be seeing is that the DON must fit with the facility. Not all DON's would be great for all facilities. I agree with the previous post- 1st one was a keeper, second one probably had bad timing, and third may be overwhelmed. I think it is normal for a facility to through a few before finding the right one. There's a lot of dynamics between the Administrator and the DON and then the DON with other disciplines. It's hard to explain- fostering a work environment with so many different personalities is very difficult. The major duties for me as a DON in SNF-LTC is lots of QA and budgeting- reporting to corporate, making decisions that affect every thing down to the departments I dont even work in. I absolutely LOVE my job. I get to teach, train, learn, assist, talk with patients, families, and get things done. It is the most difficult thing I've ever done. Don't get me wrong, some times it's so difficult to make everyone happy and sometimes you can't- but the joy in being a DON is when you do bring about change and positive results. You can email me if you'd like @ [email protected] if you would like to chat abotu some of the duties or have questions.

What are the duties of a DON? and what do you need to become a DON? do you need to have any experience on the floor to become one?

[CapeCodMermaid, RN]

What are the duties of a DON? and what do you need to become a DON? do you need to have any experience on the floor to become one?

You need to be an RN and people with no experience working on the floor have no business applying for a position as a DNS....Just my opinion but I've been in the business for 30 years and the best directors have worked their way up. The worst have come from the hospital which is totally different from what we do or were at the right place when the job needed to be filled so the company took any body it could.