Swing Bed Med/Surg?

[kat1822, BSN, RN]

Does anyone have experience at a place like this? I have never heard of it before. 
The way I understand it, it sounds like a place people go if they need more hospital care I.e. long term IV abx.

If you have any experience in a place like this, could you share what a day looks like?

Im considering it as a new-ish grad coming from a stepdown tele unit. I’m guessing it will be less acute than what I’m used to.

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

Swing Bed Medical Coverage:

Social Security Act/Medicare permits certain small, rural hospitals to enter into a swing bed agreement, under which the hospital can use its beds, as needed, to provide either acute or skilled nursing facility (SNF) care.

As defined in the regulations, a swing bed hospital is a hospital or critical access hospital (CAH) participating in Medicare that has CMS approval to provide post-hospital SNF care and meets certain requirements. Medicare Part A (the hospital insurance program) covers post-hospital extended care services furnished in a swing bed hospital.

 

 

[kat1822, BSN, RN]

Thank you for replying! 
That clears it up for me a little bit. Now I’m just wondering what sort of patients might be in that kind of unit? Level of acuity? It sounds intermediate

[MyAimIsTrue, BSN]

This kind of sounds like what my hospital started doing recently. We had lots of long-term patients who needed SNF care, but were having a hard time finding placement. Since the hospital was stuck with them anyway, they opened a "SNF." They were actually discharged from the hospital and admitted to this other unit, even though it was in the same building. They were not acute at all; most didn't even have IV access. Some wound care, lots of psych/homeless, lots of total cares. Vitals Q shift. I only floated there once--it was an easy and boring shift.

[kat1822, BSN, RN]

1 minute ago, MyAimIsTrue said:

This kind of sounds like what my hospital started doing recently. We had lots of long-term patients who needed SNF care, but were having a hard time finding placement. Since the hospital was stuck with them anyway, they opened a "SNF." They were actually discharged from the hospital and admitted to this other unit, even though it was in the same building. They were not acute at all; most didn't even have IV access. Some wound care, lots of psych/homeless, lots of total cares. Vitals Q shift. I only floated there once--it was an easy and boring shift.

You’re right, that sounds a lot like what I’ve been reading about for this swing bed  position I’m looking at.

I always found low acuity boring, too, but I’m thinking this may be actually perfect for me at this point in my life... I’m a new-ish grad, pregnant with #4 and due in September! I worked on a stepdown tele unit last year and was doing well when I had to leave for personal/home issues. I think I could manage on a unit like this. 
Nevertheless, I’m going to do more digging before I accept!

Thanks for taking time to respond ?

[TX.RN.Shannon]

 I worked at a rural hospital that had a Swing bed program on our Med-Surg floor. We always had a couple of patients that were in this program/status. Average stay was 7-14 days.

  The most common diagnoses included: S/P TKA for therapy, persistent/resistant UTI or Pneumonia being treated with IV antibiotics and therapy, post-op total hips, etc. 

  Patients needed less nursing care officially, having vitals done only daily, being encouraged to do more for themselves. However, you still had to do meds, dressing changes, help walk to bathroom. It is nice that they are usually higher-functioning and not as demanding. The goal of getting home often drove them to have a better attitude.

[kat1822, BSN, RN]

7 hours ago, TX.RN.Shannon said:

 I worked at a rural hospital that had a Swing bed program on our Med-Surg floor. We always had a couple of patients that were in this program/status. Average stay was 7-14 days.

  The most common diagnoses included: S/P TKA for therapy, persistent/resistant UTI or Pneumonia being treated with IV antibiotics and therapy, post-op total hips, etc. 

  Patients needed less nursing care officially, having vitals done only daily, being encouraged to do more for themselves. However, you still had to do meds, dressing changes, help walk to bathroom. It is nice that they are usually higher-functioning and not as demanding. The goal of getting home often drove them to have a better attitude.

Very glad to hear all this. I’m hoping the manager is interested in talking to me! Sounds like a manageable position considering I’m pregnant (at least compared to where I worked before)... Thanks so much!