Typical 7-3 shift in LTC

[scrublifenurse10, LPN]

What's a typical 7-3 shift like for an LPN in LTC?

[CT Pixie, BSN, RN]

In a word.....BUSY.

2 heavy and 1 lighter med pass, blood sugars & coverage insulin if needed before 2 meals...a ton of charting, chasing residents to give meds or treatments before PT/OT or rec dept take them off the floor. Making and receiving phone calls to/from doctors, families. Setting up appointments (for consults, etc). Dealing with issues that arise. Making sure patients are feed, dressed, meds given etc before they leave the facility for doc appointments, dialysis etc.

Busiest shift in my opinion (I've done all 3) but you have the most support as well..more nurses in house, other departments in house, administration and management in house, docs are around more.

[amoLucia]

Two meals; breakfast is usually with pts in their rooms, but lunch is usually in the main dining room. It's the main meal of the day. Admissions (but 3-11 usually gets slammed big-time) and discharges with all the paperwork is usually a 7-3 chore.

There may also be those mandatory inservices and/or meetings.

[BSNbeauty, BSN, RN]

Busy, chaotic, all of the above. I love 7-3 shift because it literally zooms by. Before you know you are clocking out and walking out the door.

[eggyweggy, MSN, RN]

Yep, busy! One huge med pass, one slightly smaller med pass, blood sugars and insulins before two meals, creams/patches/treatments/dressing changes if it's a BID (QD dressings get scheduled on PM shift), getting people up, laying people down after lunch, updating docs, updating families, the other half of the admission paperwork (new admits typically come between 3-5), charting and vitals on some residents, discharges, and whatever else gets thrown my way! I'm never bored on the AM shift. There are usually a lot more people available to help when things get too chaotic -- therapy will often help get one or two people dressed and up for the day, managers at my facility will also jump in and help with a treatment or two if I get tied up with other unexpected tasks.