Topics About 'Ltc'.

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Found 70 results

  1. TheCommuter

    The Cons of Working in Long Term Care

    I worked as a floor nurse and supervisor in long term care (a.k.a. LTC, nursing homes, or aged care) on and off for six years. Last year I wrote two articles that placed a mostly positive spin on working in the LTC industry. This year I will attempt ...
  2. Talking to your loved ones about long-term care can be a complex topic to approach. It is natural to feel uncomfortable or overwhelmed when discussing this subject; however, having an honest conversation is essential to ensuring that your loved ones ...
  3. Short staffing in nursing homes due to cost-cutting decisions, nurses retiring due to age, or the added stresses of COVID-19, along with increases in patient caseload and complexity have played a pivotal part in the short-staffing crisis. The results...
  4. Admitting a loved one to long-term care is often a difficult decision. The past few months or years have been a struggle. There have been numerous trips and admissions to the hospital. The aging adult, family, and healthcare team have made the decisi...
  5. Nurses and Direct care workers (DCW), such as certified nursing assistants (CNA) or nursing assistance (NA), provide most care in a long-term care facility. They regularly assist the patients with medication administration, wound care, toileting, bat...
  6. VivaLasViejas

    While My Little One Sleeps

    She lies in her narrow nursing-home bed with eyes closed and feet elevated on pillows, looking much like the little girl in the faded black-and-white photographs she showed me that first day in her new apartment. In her pink fleecy oversized pajamas ...
  7. VivaLasViejas

    Nurse, Heal Thyself!

    This year, we got a double whammy: at the same time we were under siege by the norovirus, a nasty little upper-respiratory specimen arrived on the scene that promptly attacked those who hadn't yet contracted the double-ender. So whoever wasn't puking...
  8. Here's some background: graduated nursing school Spring 2020, got a med-surg job at a hospital, was fired after 3 months due to not being able to handle workload, have been unemployed for 3 months now. I received an offer from a LTC facility tod...
  9. VivaLasViejas

    LTC 101: What To Expect

    Not every long-term care nurse chooses LTC as a profession. Sometimes, it chooses us. But no matter how you've arrived at your first job in a nursing facility, there are challenges awaiting you that you didn't anticipate, especially if you're coming ...
  10. During this COVID pandemic, my roles in my facility have switched constantly. Prior to COVID, I was a unit manager for a rehab unit. Once COVID hit, they designated me to manage the COVID unit until we no longer received referrals. During this ti...
  11. What are CNAs? Certified nursing assistants (CNAs) are the backbone of long-term care. They are the eyes and ears of the nurse and fill a critical part of the care continuum that you may not think about often enough. According to Rasmussen Colleg...
  12. Geriatric residents are major fall risks because of forgetfulness and dementia. A syndrome called "Sundowner's" is prevalent when someone is lucid during the daytime hours but as the evening hours progress they act "bonkers". Many a time while respon...
  13. VivaLasViejas

    Elders Say the Darnedest Things!

    Take Ed, our resident Oscar the Grouch. He's a World War II vet who also worked as a train conductor; his manner is gruff, and his language is often as colorful as the Oregon Ducks cap he wears. He enjoys nothing more than to wheel himself about the ...
  14. TheCommuter

    LTC Charting: A Beginner's Guide

    The long term care industry (a.k.a. nursing home industry) employs a large share of new and experienced nurses in the United States. Furthermore, the number of nurses who secure employment in this specialty is projected to increase in the next ten ye...
  15. Where Am I? Where Are My Boys?

    You get out of bed, unsteady, dizzy...where am I? How do I get out...must get out, this door that door? A long dim corridor full of brown doors, where are they, where are they?! Someone coming, someone in white, more white.....talking at me. What is ...
  16. Marvin the Painted Lady

    Our local pharmacy supplied all of our residents with their medication and the pharmacist was a grouchy man, who hated anything to do with our nursing home. The pharmacist had a bad habit of only labeling mediation with the resident's last name and f...
  17. Am I Babysitting or Supervising?

    Working in rural areas has its challenges, especially when working in a long term care facility in the middle of nowhere. I was a new RN grad and full of enthusiasm, even though I was in my late thirties. As I scanned the local job listings and word ...
  18. Head Bugs

    On this particular night my patient, I'll call him Ray, approached the nursing station with his headphones in his ears and his big black glasses on. You know, the kind they give you after you get your pupils dilated. He wore these, with cotton balls ...
  19. But let's not forget the CNA's; they really work hard and do a great job keeping the residents/patients clean, dry, and happy! I feel my time as a CNA was an important part of my nursing experience and enhanced my career. I started as a CNA at age 22...
  20. LTC, COVID-19 & Visits

    Just wondering if any other LTC nurse's have any input on guidance in regards to out-of-facility visits for the residents and Covid. It has been said that we can allow out-of-facility visits if they are "low risk" situations, but how are facilities ...
  21. A Word to New Nurses

    I have recently had several new nurses to orient not only to my facility, but to LTC and nursing in general. This obviously does not apply to all new nurses as some have done well but are some observations that I have made that will help you along wi...
  22. florence2012

    A Glass of Prune Juice

    Sundays are usually pretty good days at my nursing home. Church people come and hold a little service with singing and piano playing. The CAN's don't have showers to give. Someone will usually bring the nursing staff some kind of treat, like doughnut...
  23. Geriatric / long term care nursing is a specialty that involves caring for patients who require an extended level of care due to chronic disease processes and long term disabilities. Long term care nurses manage patient care, perform various nursing ...
  24. No Guarantees

    There are no guarantees in life. No one came into this world with a guarantee of perfect health and ability until the moment we die. Diseases will happen, accidents will happen; and when they do, we can become disabled to the point that we need someo...
  25. Restorative Dining

    Nursing homes are finding this new method of bringing residents to a dining room setting to be very effective in managing weight loss. Part of my supervisory responsibilities on a 3-11 shift was to oversee the dining room, assisting anyone in need, a...