slower paced nursing in long term care?

[pepsi115]

I'm 50+ years old and just started nursing after getting laid off 4 years ago and not being able to find a job. I just started working in a hospital in an area that I am told is the best place to work in the hospital. Unfortunately, the pace is too fast for me and at this stage in my life I am just interested in a steady job until I retire. I am not interested in working codes, giving blood, or anything remotely risky or invasive and want something with low stress and slower pace. Is long term care a better fit for me? Please help. I'm at my wits end and dread going to work every day.

[evolvingrn, BSN, RN]

what about a phone nurse, a lot of older nurses do that around here to get off the floor. The pay isn't as great but definitely slower paced. Care manager would be another option...stressful but in a different way.

[lusa]

What about private duty nursing, it is low stress and slow pace. I left my LTC job because I was sick and tired of running all shift with no meal break, no time to go to the bathroom and disrespectiful families. I like my PDN job a lot!

[seizetheday]

I'd love to sit and watch TV with my residents. But I don't have the time. That might be specific to where your grandmother is but where I work we fuss over the pace, resident acuity, politics, CNAs, and staffing every night. lol

When one thing hits the fan in LTC, everything else follows. Last night had 2 residents to send out to the hospital, thankfully they were both stable and not 911s, but that doesn't mean I can sit and play Angry Birds while getting everything ready for transport. I still had 25 patients who all get 4:30pm meds, fingersticks to be done before dinner which was rapidly approaching in 10 minutes, 5 of them wanted a pain pill, this one cant breathe, this one is going to throw up, this one has a bruise that wasn't there yesterday, this one is refusing care.

I've said this before in another post and I don't mean to be snotty but, 'Don't judge until you've walked in our shoes."

Perhaps you could identify where I judged? If you are going to be snotty at least tell me what judgemental statements you are calling me out for. I shared my experience. It was different than yours. That isn't judging.

[mazy]

Perhaps you could identify where I judged? If you are going to be snotty at least tell me what judgemental statements you are calling me out for. I shared my experience. It was different than yours. That isn't judging.

It is a constant source of frustration among ltc nurses that the public, and other nurses, feel that ltc is an easy job -- the original post is indication of that. You made a comment about an enormously difficult job, for which the nurses doing it receive no validation, that was very specific to your specific experience and completely different from what the majority of ltc nurses deal with.

I'm sure your intentions were good, but you touched a nerve. I think that instead of jumping to the defensive because a poster pointed that out to you, maybe you should just let this go.

Your grandmother is lucky to be in a facility like that. My feeling is that either the nurses are not doing as good a job as you think they are, or, they are doing such a fantastic job that you don't even realize how difficult they have it.

Or, your grandmother is living in some kind of parallel universe where people are actually treated with kindness and respect. If so, point me in that direction.:)

[llyonya]

Nursing is overwhelming if you follow all rules. To be a successful nurse you need to know what you have to do all the time and what rules you may egnore from time to time silently, without discussing it with coworkers.

[TriciaJ, RN]

I did some LTC through agency briefly. One place was usually doable (except the time I got 3 admits on a Sunday afternoon and had no clue what I was doing), another place was busier but more people available to help me and one place that was a total pit. I just pushed the med cart around for the entire shift trying to get everyone what they were supposed to have, when they were supposed to have it. After 5 shifts and sleepless nights, I told the agency I wouldn't be going back to that facility.

Find out all you can about prospective employers. There can be a world of difference between them.

[caliotter3]

I would not suggest long term care for a low stress environment, but instead, extended care home health. You will only be responsible for one patient for your shift, with the documentation for only that one patient. If you really want low stress, try to get a case where you basically watch a stable baby sleep during the night shift. You are paid nurse wages for a low stress job. Can't get much better than that, especially if they have a rocking chair.

[CapeCodMermaid, RN]

At the risk of getting flamed, please don't apply at my facility. I need nurses who can think on their feet, multiple task, do a head to toe assessment in a few minutes, handle a code almost single handedly, manage CNAs and irate families.....

I do NOT need a nurse who wants to work ( and I use the term loosely) out their career doing mostly nothing. Long term care/skilled nursing is not for sissies.

[Cthulhu]

I worked LTC for a number of years. As for it being slow paced, let's put it this way; I was lucky to get a lunch break once a month. Sometimes I could not even take a pee break without being interrupted. That goes for the 2 to 3 hour morning med pass. There were frequent interruptions that made it even longer. I would say it is a different pace from a hospital, but not a slower one. I can only speak for the facility I worked for, others may have had different experiences as stated above.

[itsmejuli]

I don't want the pace of acute care either, LTC was crazy in a different way. I'm now working in skilled/rehab and its just right for me.

[xtxrn, ASN, RN]

The med carts weigh about 200 lbs on a good day. Shoving it down the hall, and being able to stop it on a dime because Mr. Nifty-Knickers is streaking down the hall towards the visitors entrance can be a bit taxing on knees and backs.

For the nurses who have been there a long time, they have become accustomed to it (and I'd hate to p*** one off in a dark alley...they have some MUSCLE !!!

[tishluvnc]

GoD, I'm a 33 year old who don't want the fast past thing either, so I understand! I don't know if I should attempt nursing or not. im a cna I wondering if I should go into nursing or Medical and Public health social work. Do any of you nurses know how their hours are and employment growth in hospitals etc..... I have always seen myself working in a clinic, public health, or doctors office setting, but I know they are hard to come by.