Registered Nurses working at a Nursing Home

[treysongzz48]

1. Are there any duties you perform on the job that you did not anticipate you would be required or asked to perform?

2.What part of this job do you personally find most satisfying?

3. What part of this job do you personally find most dissatisfying?

4. Describe an occasion when you had to adapt in the face of a difficult situation.

5. Is there anything that you weren't taught in school, that you should start ahead so that it can prepare you for a nursing career?

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

Welcome to AN!

Are you a nursing student who has been assigned to complete an interview? If so, one thing to keep in mind about asking these questions on an anonymous message board is that you are not guaranteed to be getting responses from a nurse working in the specialty you are asking about. Have you tried calling nursing homes and asking if there would be a nurse willing to bet interviewed? Another thing to keep in mind is that typing out answers requires a lot of work and effort on the person doing you the favor of being interviewed. It is much easier and more considerate of the person giving the interview to verbally respond while you take notes.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

Your thread has been moved to our Geriatric / Long Term Care Nursing forum so it will be more likely to be read by our nursing home nurses. Good luck to you.

[SLS_RN]

[COLOR=#000000]Hi There! I have worked in a SNF for about 8 years now. I was a CNA until I got my RN and have worked as a floor nurse and also in administrative roles. I have also done ER and currently work case management for a primarily geriatric population. You ask some good questions!

1. There are really not any duties I was asked/expected to do that I did not anticipate. I was familiar working as a CNA as to how the facility ran, routines, etc. I was also aware of my state's nurse practice act and was familiar with my scope of practice. I think the biggest thing nurses new to LTC struggle with are the staffing ratios and time management. If at all possible, I encourage you, if you are a student, to get some experience as a CNA if you have an interest in working in this field.

2. Most satisfying part of the job is forming bonds with your residents/patients. You see the patients many times for weeks, months, years even and form friendships and relationships with them. If you are the type that values a working relationship with patients, this may be the field for you. For me, I enjoyed learning my resident's norms, having conversations about their life experiences. I enjoyed taking care of post-surgical patients and watching their rehab progression. It is also an honor to care for those at the end of their life-many times, the SNF nurses is all the patient has. Other times it is caring for not only the patient, but for the family as well.

3. The most dissatisfying part... probably the workload. Time management can only get you so far. There are good days and there are very bad days where nothing goes right.. you have falls with injuries, admissions, discharges, upset family members, send outs to the ER, wandering residents, angry residents. It can get crazy. It can be fun, but crazy and in the moment very stressful.

4. Adapting to a difficult situation... I cannot think of specific example at this time.. but it is not unusual for there to be multiple things going on and you need to prioritize your day. Between the routine-medications, treatments, skin assessments, etc. you also have the variables of the MD coming to round, ER send outs, admissions and discharges..sometimes multiples, upset family members. Being able to coordinate those. Going from sweet talking someone to taking their medications to speaking with an upset family member, to having to make a difficult phone call that a loved one has indeed passed away can take time. It is hard to wear all of the hats. It takes a long time to be able to jump from task to task with different approaches for different people. I hope that is enough of an answer?

5. There is an ocean of information that I was not taught in nursing school. Truthfully, nursing school teaches you enough to be a somewhat safe nurse. For me, it taught me to use my resources, to look things up, to be familiar with what I could and could not do. There is no way to do every single skill or task in nursing school. You will learn every day in practice. Just be honest with yourself with what you do know and what you do not know. If you have questions, ask! it is always better tp be upfront and truthful than to have to come back with your tail between your legs. If you are in doubt, look it up. You will be slow for awhile, you will feel like you know nothing. But you will have that moment of epiphany down the road where things will just click for you.

Just another note too, if you are interested in getting into LTC, there is beginning to be a shift.. at least in my neck of the woods.. away from LTC and towards post-acute care. We are seeing higher acuity patients as hospitals are discharging sooner an there is more of a push and funding for long term patients to stay in their homes longer.

Best of luck to you OP! I have had some of my best nursing experiences in LTC and most certainly have learned a wealth of information! I'm sorry.. this was a quick response and my answers probably are not as good as if I would have sat and thought about things for awhile :) [/COLOR]