Published Mar 21, 2010
SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN
10,263 Posts
Yeah, parts of it bite, but I really love my old ones, and the younger ones who are stuck with us, the demented ones, the incontinent ones, the cranky ones, the MRs who love everyone, the quiet LOLs who string beads -
I help make people happier. I can't fix them but I can heal some hurts.
You go.
CT Pixie, BSN, RN
3,723 Posts
No, Sue, I'm also a glutton for punishment..my heart lies with LTC :)
Mell Bell
71 Posts
You're not the only one! I'm finishing up a clinical rotation at a LTC facility right now, and I can't believe how sad I am to leave. The first day I almost cried I hated it so much, I got so depressed. But now I look forward to going and seeing all the patients, doing whatever I can to make them feel more comfortable. It took me a while to warm up, but LTC is definitely somewhere I would think about working once I'm out of school. :)
hope3456, ASN, RN
1,263 Posts
I recently started working LTC again after working 2 yrs in a hospital m/s floor. I can't believe how much happier I am - the m/s floor really kicked my butt. Not that I minded the work or the patients, but the backstabbing coworkers, bad mgmt, and the frequent calls asking me to work xtra or getting called off d/t low census. At least LTC I work 2-10 and occasionally they ask me to work extra, but i don't get called off. Yes some LTC's are horrible as are some hospital units, guess it all depends on the mgmt, staffing, ect.
BedsideNurse
171 Posts
I wouldn't hate LTC but every experience I've had with it has been miserable. How do you take care of like 25 patients??? God bless nurses who can do a good job with that. It's overwhelming to me. I like working with old folks. Just couldn't handle the workload. Couldn't pay me $100 an hour to have 2 dozen or more patients. Yikes!
chellelynn25
57 Posts
I'm a LTC lover as well. Even though I have my days when i would like to run screaming from the building. I'm on vacation days now and have wondered how my residents are doing. lol One of them keeps asking a friend of mine when I'm coming back! I've become quite attached to a few of them.
skipaway
502 Posts
Where do you all work? Hopefully you'll still be there when I need LTC....
Music in My Heart
1 Article; 4,111 Posts
We get the occasional SNFer on our floor... ugh.
All I can say is, bless you Sue - and the others like you. I have enormous respect for you and your work... it's beyond my capability to do it well.
VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN
22 Articles; 9,996 Posts
I'm so glad to see other nurses who love LTC the way I do. I started out in nursing school intending to become a labor-and-delivery nurse, but fell in love with the old folks during my first semester of clinicals. I've worked in good facilities and bad; the nursing home I work for now is the best one I've ever worked in, and I have no plans to leave there unless/until the right Hospice position opens up. The pay is not the greatest, but at my stage of life it's not about the money anymore, anyway. Now it's about being content with my job and able to handle my workload, having a schedule that allows adequate downtime, and of course loving my residents and being able to live with the management structure. All of which I have in my current position.........I'd be an idiot even to consider going anywhere else unless my dream job becomes available.
pca_85
424 Posts
I can't think of anywhere else I'd rather work.
Why ugh? Seriously.
Fngrpntsnotasin
55 Posts
Not the only one! I couldnt imagine being any where else. I laugh, I cry, I fuss...I work my butt off. I appreicate every single moment I get to spend with my residents and co-workers, they push me and teach me continously things I never knew about myself. I don't know who said this, but I think it goes along with the vibe :
"How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these."