What is LTC like?

bluesocks · May 21, 2018

I think it will differ a bit depending on the province and particular facility. Personally, I work in a very small LTC facility, so I am fully involved in personal care. This means dressing, toileting, feeding residents, even though it is the responsibility of the health care aide, the nurse is required to assist as well. I give out the medications, do treatments, vitals and dressing changes. I am in charge when I work, meaning if there is something that happens, like an acute event or an incident like a fall or violent behaviour, I am responsible for responding. We have weekly doctor rounds for non-urgent concerns, and the RN is in charge of discussing with the doctors and processing new orders. The RN is in charge of communicating with family members (if there is a fall, or an incident), and calling the on-call physician if a patient needs orders in more acute situations that can't wait for weekly rounds. We also have certain assessments that need to be done on a regular basis, including but not limited to a falls risk assessment and Braden scale assessment. Based on these assessments, the nurse reviews and modifies care plans. There are a lot of meetings to attend, in my facility each resident has an annual meeting with staff and family where their care and needs are reviewed, and families can also voice their opinions. We also have monthly meetings where staff from every department (nursing, recreation, dietary, etc) discuss any concerns for every single resident. In summary, the RN job in LTC can feel a bit more "administrative", but in some facilities there is also a lot of hands on, direct care of residents. In my facility, RNs and LPNs act in almost the same capacity, but in some places you may see the LPN doing the vitals, medications and treatments and the RN doing the assessments and family and interdisciplinary communication and

Anon101 · Jun 1, 2018

I think it will differ a bit depending on the province and particular facility. Personally, I work in a very small LTC facility, so I am fully involved in personal care. This means dressing, toileting, feeding residents, even though it is the responsibility of the health care aide, the nurse is required to assist as well. I give out the medications, do treatments, vitals and dressing changes. I am in charge when I work, meaning if there is something that happens, like an acute event or an incident like a fall or violent behaviour, I am responsible for responding. We have weekly doctor rounds for non-urgent concerns, and the RN is in charge of discussing with the doctors and processing new orders. The RN is in charge of communicating with family members (if there is a fall, or an incident), and calling the on-call physician if a patient needs orders in more acute situations that can't wait for weekly rounds. We also have certain assessments that need to be done on a regular basis, including but not limited to a falls risk assessment and Braden scale assessment. Based on these assessments, the nurse reviews and modifies care plans. There are a lot of meetings to attend, in my facility each resident has an annual meeting with staff and family where their care and needs are reviewed, and families can also voice their opinions. We also have monthly meetings where staff from every department (nursing, recreation, dietary, etc) discuss any concerns for every single resident. In summary, the RN job in LTC can feel a bit more "administrative", but in some facilities there is also a lot of hands on, direct care of residents. In my facility, RNs and LPNs act in almost the same capacity, but in some places you may see the LPN doing the vitals, medications and treatments and the RN doing the assessments and family and interdisciplinary communication and

Thanks for the response. I recently started working in LTC. It's quite different from a hospital setting for sure, and I do have to give meds but there isn't much personal care as there are PSWs. I'm also the only RN in the facility during my shift and am tasked with overseeing the residents and PSWs. I've been informed by another RN that PSWs may try and take advantage of me (as a fairly new RN), so we'll see how that goes!