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Discussion

Someone help:(

Hi everyone I need some feedback please. I'm a very new nurse I just got my license and my first job at a SNF. At this facility I'm in charge of 30-50 patients a shift which is extremely overwhelming but surprising doable. The patient care part I can handle and even charting on my patients but this facility has us also doing Admissions and Discharges and putting new MD orders in on top of an already overwhelming workload. I wind up staying hours after my shift is over barried in paper work. I fell as if I'm not getting the chance to be nurse I wanted to be because I'm so rushed and it's really scaring me. What I'd like to know from you all is...Is all nursing like this where the paperwork keeps 4-5 hrs after your shift is over and you hate your job because of it.

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    • Featured Replies

    Simple answer is....NO.

    But for some facilities a 30-50 pt case load is normal, so the extra hours of paperwork is to be expected. In Oklahoma, the normal pt load is 12-15 90% of the time, paperwork and end of shift duties would have you out of there MAYBE 30 minutes after your shift is over...If you want to get out at a decent time and save some sanity I would recommend looking for a new position with less patients.

    just my 2 cents

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    Welcome to the real world, so sorry this happened to you. I would try to migrate to a field where you work one on one with patients

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    Welcome to the real world, so sorry this happened to you. I would try to migrate to a field where you work one on one with patients

    Wow, this is pretty nasty. Excuse the OP for being overwhelmed by an insane workload. Just because that ratio may be normal doesn't make it right.

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    Wow, this is pretty nasty. Excuse the OP for being overwhelmed by an insane workload. Just because that ratio may be normal doesn't make it right.

    How is this nasty? I'm giving sound real world advice. The only nastiness I see here is your unfair treatment of my post.

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    LTC can be brutal. All I can say is make sure you protect your license.

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    • Author

    Thank you everyone for the comments. I really appreciate them.

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    The patient/resident ratio you describe is not unusual where I am.

    Does every other nurse stay over that much, or is it just because you're new?

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    • Author

    Even the nurses who have been there for years have to stay very late. I think they have us overloaded. We would still have to stay after a little bit later to chart on our patients but the admissions are killing us! When we get a new admit we have to stop our pt care do a series of assessments and put sometimes 7-8 pages of orders which takes sometimes 2 hrs in before we can continue w/ our pt care mind 30-50 pt and many of them skilled then after our shift we have finish all of the rest of the admission paperwork at least 2 hrs and then chart on our 30-50 pt and put in their new orders and labs. I'm very overwhelmed and don't see how I can keep this up and maintain my sanity. I work the evening shift 2-10 after 5 I'm not only a nurse I'm a receptionist, admissions nurse and if something critical happens I also have figure that out by myself with no one to help. The last shift I had a pt fell and sustained a compound fracture to her hand and I had to send her out which meant I had to do a discharge and read nut when she returned on too of my new admission and my other pts w no one to consult for help and many times when I come on shift the previous nurse and nursing manager dumped all the stuff they didn't finish on me. It's terrible:(

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    • Author

    I realize my previous post is a little jumbled and hard to understand. It's difficult to type that much from an iPhone

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    • Experts

    It might be normal but it's still wrong. They're using you and anyone else who stays hours off the clock to get all the work done. Of course you're overwhelmed. This pace is not sustainable. It will eventually cause you health problems. You do not need a position with 1:1 ratios (although it would be attractive). You just need better than 30-50 pts to be responsible for. There's a lot of room in between.

    So. no, you're not somehow deficient for being overwhelmed. You've fallen into a predatory work environment. Part of the reason they even exist is that nurses are notorious for being willing to put up with such nonsense. You're encouraged to question your own abilities if you can't keep up. With or without unions, we need to get better at advocating for ourselves as a profession. As a fairly new nurse, your best bet is to start looking for the exits. You now have some good experience to bank on. Good luck to you!

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    • Author

    Thank you TriciaJ I am!

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    Are you still on the clock when you stay? Here that is typical, I should say staying 3 hours is typical but we're still on the clock. We have no unit managers or receptionist so we wear those hats too.i

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