sick and tired of defending working in geriatrics..

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I get the..well what does a nurse do there? The patients are not sick, not complicated.. do you have doctor rounds? I.v´s ? Isn´t it boring? Maybe you are not able to handle a real med/surgfloor..GRRRGHH.

My patients are complex, I am a damn good nurse, love my job and do the same thing every other nurse do. Geriatrics are not for evreyone but no need to look down at me! Do you find that you have to defend where you work and what do you tell people, to get rid of the myths about working in this specialty??

Sorry just needed to vent. I am of ( happily) to work now;-)

I worked LTC for a few years in a beautiful facility, great staff, and I loved the residents and their families. I was on my feet most of day, busy, but not frantic. Those were the good old days. Every day residents and families told us how much they appreciated us. Most of those residents have passed on by now and I feel them smiling down on me. Good LTC facilities do exist, but getting harder to find, sad to say. Outsiders sometimes think the nurses are no good, when in fact it's the management that's no good. I've been there in other places working my butt off, short staffed, level of care is poor no matter how much you run around. And then disrespected for working in a "nursing home." It isn't fun.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
Long Term Care residents are depressed a lot more and you have to deal with dementia, incontinence, falls, residents attitudes, lots of paperwork for the state etc.
Not to mention the abusive family members who make thinly-veiled threats during every visit, and truly believe that all nursing home staff members are purposely aiming to harm Grandma.
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Not to mention the abusive family members who make thinly-veiled threats during every visit, and truly believe that all nursing home staff members are purposely aiming to harm Grandma.

Thank goodness not all family members are like this. Some of those attorney ads make nursing homes sound like torture chambers!:angryfire I think that's where some of these family members get their ideas. I've seen many people that have come from HOME, that look a lot worse than any nursing home pt! :o

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Specializes in LTC, Hospice, Case Management.
Not to mention the abusive family members who make thinly-veiled threats during every visit, and truly believe that all nursing home staff members are purposely aiming to harm Grandma.

Thinly veiled - ha ha. We have a current resident (sweetest little thing too) who's grandson is POA. He ends every conversation with any nurse "And just a reminder that I am a malpractice attorney". I so badly want to tell him to stick it in his ear or somewhere else where the sun don't shine.:trout:

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Specializes in LTC, Hospice, Tele, ICU.
I don't work in Long term Care.

I work a Med-Surg/Hem/Onc renal Unit. The vast majority of our patients come from Nsg Homes & are Geriatrics. We have all Private Rooms on our floor, thus we get a great many Isolation pts.

I have worked nites for over 30 yrs & during much of that time worked days in Home Health, besides.

Most of my pts in Home Health were geriatrics.

I have a GREAT deal RESPECT for anyone who works with Long Term Care pt's.

I don't think I could, personally.

I think it takes a VERY SPECIAL personality to work that field.

I'm so sorry you all have to be made to feel this way.

I don't know why as nurses, we can't just all respect everyone else's

specialties. Each one is different & each one has it's good & bad points.

No matter where you work there are difficult days & easier days.

We really need to unite & respect each other as professionals & then maybe the rest of the world will catch on and also respect each & every one of us for what we do.

Amen Sister! I'm tired of defending myself and my choice, especially as an RN, to be in LTC.

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I don't defend myself.

I know what I do, and I know that I'm good at it. When I see a smile or get a pat on the hand and an "I'm glad you're here tonight.", that's all the defending I need.

God bless you and all that WE do in long term care.

{{{HUGS******

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God Bless all you longterm care nurses! I miss longterm care. My skills became fine tuned there, and I am ever so glad for the experience of it.

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Specializes in geriatric & childrens psych, rehab, woun.

I have had many of my hospital employed cronies say I have the easy job, it is glorified babysitting, until one of them get one of my happy wanders then i get the phone call "how the he## do you keep. her in bed. she's just pulled out the i v for the umteenth time" and you kept one in for 72 hours without restraints, I love working with geriatrics especially the confused. they keep you on your toes. and test you daily. i have never bored. have had load of laughs and a few scares.

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Specializes in LTC, Hospice, Tele, ICU.

Yesterday I worked with a nurse who had just started with a different agency than mine. She is a hospital nurse and for some unknown reason they threw her into a LTC facility without ANY orientation. I can't believe she agreed to pick up the shift. Anyway, my point - she was SOOO overwhelmed. She couldn't believe she had 30 people to be responsible for. She passed meds all day. She came to me at 2 p.m. and said I just finished the meds, how do I do the accuchecks? She couldn't believe the CNA's didn't take vitals, get accuchecks, etc. Earlier in the day she had a little lady spike a temp of 102.1, resp 48. You should have seen the look on her face "what, no doc down the hall?" We all helped her get through the day and are wondering if she'll ever come back.

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.
I don't defend myself.

I know what I do, and I know that I'm good at it. When I see a smile or get a pat on the hand and an "I'm glad you're here tonight.", that's all the defending I need.

God bless you and all that WE do in long term care.

{{{HUGS******

You said it best, grammyj!:yeah:

As far as I'm concerned, LTC nurses don't have ANYTHING to apologize for. Instead, we should proudly hold up our heads for persevering in a hard, often thankless job where we have more rules, are responsible for more patients, and receive less pay than almost anywhere else in nursing. I refuse to be labeled "inferior" because of my career choice, and I don't tolerate disrespect from MDs, EMTs, or even other nurses who seem to think we know nothing. We geriatric nurses have chosen to work with members of our Greatest Generation.......how anyone can look down their noses at us is beyond me.

:icon_roll

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I have worked in both settings, hospital and LTC. LTC is more stressful and much more rewarding. In the hospital, you deal with the acute situation then send them home, or back to the LTC facility. It makes a big difference when you have taken care of someone for several years, watched them go from walking the halls to being bedridden and then sit with the family while they are dying. You try hard not to get attached, but it is impossible. I have no desire to anything else but work LTC. I work 12 hour shifts and it is non-stop all day.

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Yes, we've all felt that. Some of it comes from the misconception that they're not really sick. They're just "old". And back many years ago, that may have been the case. But SNF today are almost like step down units. You get post surgical needs and acuities of all kinds.

Another thing I've noticed is that how "good" a nurse is seems to be somehow linked to how many pieces of equipment the patient she cares for is hooked up to? No equipment= patient not sick. A simple NS peripheral IV= still easy, PICC Line or Central Line= getting harder, etc. Now if you're lucky enough to have a patient hooked up to IV ABT , blood products, and TPN via there central line, while also maintaining their chest tube and drainage tube and NG suctioning, then you are the absolute epitomy of nursing! Nurses that work the ICU or ER with all those bells and whistles are like the gods of nursing!

It does not matter if the nurse has not a clue what any of the above is for, it's simply if she knows how to administer them. None of this has to do with the skills of the nurse. Skills are easily learned, but nursing, truly nursing a patient, holistically, is a gift. Not to knock the above nurses, I was one of them at one time. But I feel I have helped and nursed my patients far more at the end of the day now than I ever did then.

It's sad there are so many posts on here like this, even posted some myself, but I'm truly learning not to care. Take care of your elderly patients, and give yourself a great big hug for the wonderful job you do that most could not!

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