Stressed at snf/nursing home

[Vernie08]

I am an rn who has been working at a snf/nursing home for about 6 months as the supervisor and it is h.e. Double hockey sticks. i work 3-11 shift (or should i say 3 to 3 or 4 in the am). It is a 12o bed facility that i am responsible for on top of my own med cart or carts depending on staffing. The med pass itself henders me from spending the time i need with my patients. On top of that i am slammed with admissions which is sometimes 3 to 4. Also i have to be in charge of the cnas (whom are excellent and my heart goes out to them) and if i'm lucky i have 2 lpns on the unit with me on the 60 bed unit. There are 2 units. The paperwork is neverending. If i only have one lpn with me we have to split a cart which means i have to pass meds to skilled and ltc pts. The unit i work on is half skilled and half ltc. In the middle of trying to asses my patients and doing blood sugars i have to chase down patients that are trying to elope. (dementia patients). The only thing management cares about is unauthorized overtime and that their paperwork is up to par. I later found out that that's how they get their huge bonuses. The patients are never the issue but the families are impossible. They want you to stop taking care of patient a to go and attend to their loved ones. Supplies are either not there or they are malfunctioned. I really want to leave this place and i'm trying to get to a hospital. not to say that they don't work hard in the hospital because my friends are nurses in a hospital and they work very ,very hard. I just need the support that they are receiving. If something happens on either unit everyone turns to me and i have no one to turn to. It really scares me and i just don't feel like it is safe to have all of this on one person's shoulders. I have to deal with call outs, staff going home sick, assess the admissions on both units on top of my own med pass, admissions, paperwork and so on and so on. I really needed to vent here and thanks in advance for reading this thread. P.s. Please do not give me a lecture on taking care of the elderly. I noticed that on here when someone expresses how they are stressed with working in a nursing home, they are bombarded with comments on how rewarding it is working with the elderly and how it is so sad that they don't appreciate working with the elderly. In my case it has nothing to do with working with the elderly, i love spending time with the elderly if there is ever time to. It is the way my place of employment functions and what the managment's main focus is. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Havin' A Party!, ASN, RN]

Agree with ya. LTC is very often like that.

And being a sup and running a cart simultaneously is totally the pits. Ridiculous IMHO. You can't do either job well.

No pep talk... frankly, it just stinks.

Obviously, management doesn't truly care... no matter what baloney they mouth.

Suggest you change to a position you have a reasonable chance to successfully perform. And enjoy your professional role.

Good luck!

[MedChica]

You guys don't have med aides? I understand how some feel about them but I wouldn't be able to do my job without them.

I have no tips for you. Not sure what to tell you but you seem like you do a lot. If it makes you feel better, I wish you were the RN on my shift.

Our charge is a hot mess. She half-a## does her wound care. Piddles around all shift long. Does her shift report and leaves. LOL

It's me, my coworker (lvn) and 3-6 aides. Not counting the charge (and we don't).

We, the lvns, handle the call-outs, the meals, the report, perform the treatments, the majority of the wound care and the REAL paperwork/charting.

My Charge is, like, the 'Passive-Aggressive Clueless Dad' of the nursing home: She doesn't know where anything is. She never knows what the hell's going on. She doesn't even know who the residents are...still! She can't even handle the med cart without f---ing it up. Whenever she trains someone, you're never quite sure who... is training whom.

You ask her a question and you might as well look it up. You ask her to do something? You might as well do it yourself. Once I made the mistake of asking her to get towels for a pt's family member because I was tied up with a resident and she wasn't doing anything? 15 min later, I'm trying to do my MAR and the family member comes to me, still needing towels!

The charge, meanwhile, had up and disappeared like a fart in the wind! LOL The family member was in the room with the towels and I was seated, doing my charting when the charge comes around the corner. I think she'd forgotten all about the towels. LOL

Upon inquiry, she stated that she 'didn't know where the towels were'. I'm thinking to myself, "Uh... the shower room? How about the laundry room where they clean the towels? Are you serious? Did you take your Namenda, today?"

I don't say crap at work. I don't undermine her. But she IS dead-weight on the floor.

[PeacockMaiden]

Hey Vernie, your workplace sounds just like mine!

I adore working with the elderly, but the most contact I get with my residents is pushing pills on them as fast as they 'll take them because there's too much for one person to handle.

And management doesn't care. If you can't do the job, then they will find someone else and cut your hours until you quit.

I am the only nurse in the building at night, and it is not safe. I have trachs and IVs to manage, residents with severe dementia, people falling when they try to get out of bed at night, etc.

I have been there 11 months now. I have turned in applications for other nursing jobs and even went on a few interviews. I am a RN with a MSN degree, but yet no other job offers.

I am trying to stick it out as long as I can.

Good luck to anyone in this similar situation.

[ptrad]

Good luck!

[shesanurse]

I am in a similar situation.... You are not alone

[vintagemother, BSN, CNA, LVN, RN]

I don't think a nursing supervisor should also be passing meds. That's probably way too much for 1 person to do. I've never worked at a place that required this, except on NOCs, when there was no "scheduled" med pass, just tons of PRNs.