What exactly is so bad about LTC??

JenLPN001 · Jun 17, 2012

I have always worked LTC and I enjoy it. Yes it can be stressful and yes we're always understaffed but for the past 4 years I have worked for a family owned facility that specializes in Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia. It is challenging to say the least but also fun. We're all like family here and as a matter of fact, when my mom died last August, my administrator was right there with me. She stayed at the house until 3am and was wonderful. I got messages from the owners saying to take all the time off that I needed and that my job would be waiting when I was ready to return.

The benefits here suck big time but no where else have I felt more appreciated and loved. Sometimes we just get lucky but the key is to never stop searching for that one place you know you belong.

Maremma · Jun 17, 2012

Well I am a new nurse still working towards my "one year" experience. I cannot tell you how it is in any other facility nor how anyone else handled getting their experience in LTC.If you wind up anywhere like me, I can tell you that you will go home crying many nights, you will not sleep well for fear you forgot to do something or did something wrong etc. You will question your own sanity for thinking you were even capable of doing this job. You will lose weight from running your butt off and having no time to eat anything. Your own ethics and morals will be tested on almost a daily basis. You will either become the most patient person in the world or you will crack and lose your mind. You will have to sharpen your "read between the lines" skills to razor sharp or be eaten alive by other nurse's in the facility. You will spend most of your "free time" restudying a lot of what you learned in school or drown once you clock back in the next day. You will be tested beyond anything you even thought you were capable of enduring on every possible level. Physically, mentally, emotionally,spiritually, ethically, morally. Every day you "survive" will feel like a major accomplishment! You climbed Mount Everest and are still standing. What has kept me going is "I have to get to that magic one year mark". Once I get there if it is still this bad I can try to find work in a different arena. You know I have come to the conclusion that the reason we must have that one year experience in LTC is because all other employers figure "If they can survive that then this job will seem like a breeze and they will stay long term here" LOL

Maryam34 · Jul 1, 2012

Yes, this is long term care, as Mareema explained it. This is exactly what Im going through, Thank you for posting!

OnlybyHisgraceRN, ASN, RN · Jul 1, 2012

I have worked in several nursing homes and all except one was decent. The home I worked in that was decent was ran by nuns. They lived there and most of them were nurses. The patients where taken care of so well. The staffing was awesome. If I could I would work there again in a heart beat. Looooved it.

minnymi · Jul 1, 2012

everyone is different. you might love LTC. plus, people often come here to vent. you don't get to hear all the positives. you get to know your patients and they get to know you. sometimes, you're able to actually make a difference as opposed to acute care where the patients are gone just as soon as you remember their names.

i've always had an interest in geriatrics, but as a RN i'm afraid to go to LTC until i have enough hospital experience that it won't matter if i want to transfer back. plus, i'm afraid i'll get stuck with a bunch of paperwork and "delegating" instead of patient care which is what i would want to do. however, it's definitely something i plan to pursue at some point. so, i do think it's funny sometimes when i hear people vent that they want to get a hospital job because i'm thinking, "i would love your job!"

you just have to do it for yourself and see if you like it. don't base your opinion on what you see online.

CapeCodMermaid, RN · Jul 1, 2012

Maybe it's because I live and practice in Massachusetts, but most of the LTCs here are trying to hire more RNs because the people we are taking care of are sicker and we need nurses with excellent assessment skills. So if you think you'll get stuck with the paper work because you're the RN, think again.

BrandonLPN, LPN · Jul 1, 2012

Maybe it's because I live and practice in Massachusetts, but most of the LTCs here are trying to hire more RNs because the people we are taking care of are sicker and we need nurses with excellent assessment skills. So if you think you'll get stuck with the paper work because you're the RN, think again.

Just out of curiosity, have you found there's any real difference between a new grad LPN and a new grad RN when it comes to assessment skills in LTC?

I can totally see a facility preferring RNs in a job market where they can pay desperate new grad RNs at LPN wages. Having a mostly RN staff looks good on paper and probably will impress the family of the residents. So I get the motivation.

But saying a LTC facility (even a relatively high acuity one) "needs" a mostly RN staff seems disingenuous to me.

Let's be honest, you can take a new LPN and a new BSN RN and put them both on the floor in any LTC and their licensing and education will have no bearing on how they perform in doing assessments or anything else. The LPN is totally prepared to care for pts at the LTC acuity level. We all know the RN working as a staff nurse in LTC is performing under the level she was trained for. Which is fine, of course. And RNs pushing a med cart in LTC do a wonderful job and thank goodness they are there to care for the residents. But they are working at a job level that is 100% able to be performed by a lower license. We all know the reason we see more RNs working the floor in LTC is due to the tighter job market, NOT because facilities really need their extra education at this level of care.

CapeCodMermaid, RN · Jul 2, 2012

I disagree. In Massachusetts, LPNs go to school for 10 months. They are ill prepared to do anything. When I said I need RNs, I wasn't being disingenous and frankly I don't care how anything looks on paper. I care about the residents getting excellent care. Ten months...I think hair dressers have to have more practice time than nurses do. New grad RNs don't know how to hit the floor running,but they at least have more education.

CapeCodMermaid, RN · Jul 2, 2012

And one more thing....working on a unit of an LTC is NOT below the education of an RN. It's apparent to me that you have not been in the kinds of facilities I have. We have medically complex residents on every unit. I need more than a med cart pusher.

Lynx25, LPN · Jul 2, 2012

I'm so fed up and furious with this stinking cesspool of idiots and filth that I can't even type anything out right now for fear of a co-worker finding it.

Let's just say I'm job hunting with a vengence, if I don't find something soon I'm just going to drop and run.

BrandonLPN, LPN · Jul 2, 2012

And one more thing....working on a unit of an LTC is NOT below the education of an RN. It's apparent to me that you have not been in the kinds of facilities I have. We have medically complex residents on every unit. I need more than a med cart pusher.

I didn't mean working the floor in LTC is below a RN. I have respect for those who do. But there ARE working in a position that is 100%

within the scope of a LPN. And the reason most (not all but most) do so is because the job market for new grads is what it is.

And I'm not just a med cart pusher either. But, c'mon, that's what all staff nurses in this field spend a lot of their shift doing. I also assess residents, call the doctor, write nursing orders and everything else. No resident under my care has ever had a worse outcome because I'm not a RN. Can you honestly say the residents at your faclity fare worse when they have a LPN as their nurse?