Sick of it!!!

[SouthernLPN2RN]

:angryfire I am desperately trying to get a job in a hospital right now. I just can't stand the NH anymore! Every shift I work, I'm disgusted at the lack of care our residents get. If you get on to the CNA's, they go to the supervisor, who backs them up. I'm sorry, but if you had time to be on the phone every time I saw you during an 8 hour shift, you had time to get that brief out of the floor and/or at least return some of the 20+ resident trays that were left on the unit instead of going back to the kitchen after the meal like they were supposed to. Caked on dried up poop that I have to scrub off to change a dsg, residents left in the bed all weekend that normally are up in a chair qd, g tubes that obviously weren't flushed after meds given. Poop left in the shower floor until all showers are done, gracious the list goes on! Had a very lucid resident tell me that the cna's told him they couldn't put him back to bed because they were short. Excuse me? They were short the first 2 hours of the shift, not the whole thing. Not to mention one group of residents got no care at all for several hours because they had them broken up into 4 groups and the 4th person was coming in late. :angryfire Is it like this everywhere? I've considered applying at other LTC's, but I'm afraid it'll be the same.

[cathy54]

The problem with reporting CNA's at the NH I work at is that 90% of the staff is related!!!!!!!! This also includes the DON, the ADON, the kitchen staff etc.

You learn to grin and heavily suggest that they MIGHT want to do something.

That being said, this situation only includes about 10% of the CNA's, however, if you cross Aunt, Uncle, Cousin, Sister or Brother so/so, the other 80% will turn on you.

I AM looking for other options.

[Harleygirl]

I am so sorry that you had to have this experience. Not all LTC is like that. It doesn't matter what initials you have behind your name, NA, CNA, LPN, RN, DON, ADM, or even DO or MD. Substandard care is substandard care.

And you can't do it all yourself. I have tried and that leaves you frustrated, exhausted, not to mention leaving yourself open for injury.

I am giving up a DON position in a NH to work as a staff nurse in a hospital because I have had it up to my eyeballs with all the regs, paperwork, staffing issues, and how care gets comprimised. Its not worth it.

Harleygirl

[Simba&NalasMom, LPN]

OMG sweetie so sorry you have to work with that. It's so enraging to see residents have to go that and it's facilities like that that put people off LTC nursing. In my short time as a nurse I, too, have dealt with facilities where the aides ran the place; in one, the aides gave really good care, but would give me attitude; in another, some were lazy and I couldn't do a thing about it cause management would not back me up.

However, I have found that there are good NH's out there; they can be hard to find, but you can do it. Also, have you considered a facility that is a NH but also has a skilled unit? The work is more demanding but it also allows you to use more of your nursing skills, and while this isn't always the case, the level of care is better because aides tend to get away with less because the residents tend to be more "with it" and family is present on a more regular basis.

Good luck to you...based on your post, it sounds like you have a wonderful standard of care and a heart that goes out to your residents. It would really be sad for LTC to lose another good nurse because of the BS that goes on in the facilities.

God bless and hang in there.

[Chanceygrl]

i have been a CNA in a NH for 5 years and there are always going to be bad apples you just have to pick them and throw them away. I have witnessed the horrible things you are talking about and you have to get extreme with these people who chose not to do what they get paid to do. The only people truly suffering in the place is the residents put yourself intheir shoes do what is right!