i am a new grad. i am looking to work part time at a hospital med-surg floor and have another part time or per diem position at a nursing home. i know how it will be working at a hospital, but how is it working in a nursing home? what's the typical routine at a nursing home for an RN at 3-11p or 11p-7a shift?
and any new yorkers here? what are some good nursing homes in new york (manhattan, queens, brooklyn preferably)
As a new grad, I'd suggest night shift or day shift.
Night shift is a constant busy pace but with no visitors, no administration, no meals it is just a different busy.
Day shift you can get help from someone due to day shift is the highest staffed shift.
I tend to work evenings, the staffing is about half of days and I don't know about everyone's faxing policy but in my neck of the woods day shift spends alot of time faxing MDs. So at 5pm you have multiple faxed orders and calls to the facility with MD orders. I have, and this isn't a joke, noted off over 20 new orders from day shift faxing continuously all shift.
We are talking meds, txs, therapy and labs.
I wouldn't advise evenings for a new grad, ever. Not even for my worst enemy.
LTC is good experience, for the charting alone. You will chart, chart and chart some more. As we say around here, if they fart~ you chart. They want you to chart each and every procedure and intervention/response you have on your shift in addition to pertinent charting, MDS, Medicare, weekly summaries and skin assessments.
You may want to stock up on pens unless of course you are lucky and electronic chart.
Haha! Too funny! I would be sure to ask what the normal staffing is and how many patients you will be responsible for. It's a hard job for a new grad. You will have a lot of responsibility. Usually different shifts have different responsibilities. At my place the night shift is responsible for obtaining specimens and making sure all orders are being transcribed. They also do our weekly supply order so ask what special responsibilities you will have. Good luck!
I'm a brand new RN and landed a 3-11 shift at a LTC facility. I can sum it up in a few words: I HATE IT. Everyplace wants experience around my area so I took whatever job I could get.
I had orientation on 7-3 shift and didn't think it was so bad. Just was often packed with people--social workers, doctors, etc. Their med pass wasn't super huge since 11-7 shift covered the 0600 pass.
3-11 shift I feel like I have no time to myself. They taught me how to pass the meds on their old system, but switched to a new "faster" one about a week and a half ago. It is more of a pain the in the butt than the previous system. It doesn't save me any time.
I feel so rushed right when I get to work. I have to scramble around getting people's finger sticks in so I can give them their insulin before they're shipped off to the dining room at 4pm. Aids sometimes will not ask me if people have been given their meds so I am so rushed around supper time. Then I have to stop what I'm doing at 5:15pm so I can go to the dining hall and watch over the residents. I'm supposed to be there for 15 min, but I'm lucky if I get out of there on time. Yesterday I didn't get out of there til 6pm! This cut into my med pass so I had to rush finishing up the med pass and get some treatments in. I was ever so lucky to get a resident back on the floor fromt he hospital yesterday around the time I had to go to the dining hall so I had to make sure I filled out the total head to toe body assessment on her. I'm not talented enough to do all the paperwork so my supervisor filled it out otherwise I probably would've been at work til past 12am.
It is ridiculous. There is a nasty cold going around so residents have been acting more needy than ever. They expect me to know when their PRN meds are to be given. One wanted her dressing changed again even though I had done it an hour before... so guess what my unpaid 30min supper break consisted of? Doing her treatment.
Oh, and I'm supposed to be a mind reader too. i got into big trouble yesterday over a miscommunication with my supervisor the other day. I'm being punished by being suspended for one day without pay. You'd think tehy would've sent me home that very day yesterday, but she's supposed to call to tell me when. I'm hoping it's Friday so I can have a nice 5 day weekend.
Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful to have a job. I enjoy the residents. What I don't enjoy is how I was given a poor orientation and expected to know how to do things even though I wasn't shown properly. Things get twisted around and I don't even know how to write orders properly. Some supervisors are excellent whereas others are terrible. I feel like I'm on a sinking ship when I walk on the hall. One thing happens and everything turns to crap. I'm often there past 12am even though I'm supposed to be gone by 11:30pm... but have to do my charting and enter in I and O's on the computer! Stinks cause we don't get paid for overtime.
I feel so rushed right when I get to work. I have to scramble around getting people's finger sticks in so I can give them their insulin before they're shipped off to the dining room at 4pm. Aids sometimes will not ask me if people have been given their meds so I am so rushed around supper time. Then I have to stop what I'm doing at 5:15pm so I can go to the dining hall and watch over the residents. I'm supposed to be there for 15 min, but I'm lucky if I get out of there on time. Yesterday I didn't get out of there til 6pm! This cut into my med pass so I had to rush finishing up the med pass and get some treatments in. I was ever so lucky to get a resident back on the floor fromt he hospital yesterday around the time I had to go to the dining hall so I had to make sure I filled out the total head to toe body assessment on her. I'm not talented enough to do all the paperwork so my supervisor filled it out otherwise I probably would've been at work til past 12am.
It is ridiculous. There is a nasty cold going around so residents have been acting more needy than ever. They expect me to know when their PRN meds are to be given. One wanted her dressing changed again even though I had done it an hour before... so guess what my unpaid 30min supper break consisted of? Doing her treatment.
I do the residents with fingersticks first.. and those that like their meds before dinner, if I have time I squeeze a few more in. I would say about half the residents don't get their 4:30pm meds until after dinner. If we were allowed to pass meds in the dining room then it would get done by 6pm. But we have to stop when the trays arrive. And we resume after dinner.. obviously they are late but theres no way of getting around that since 3-11 loses a good chunk of the "hour before" and the "hour after" is dinner time.
I could go on a year long ramble about the med pass.
INLPN93
148 Posts
As a new grad, I'd suggest night shift or day shift.
Night shift is a constant busy pace but with no visitors, no administration, no meals it is just a different busy.
Day shift you can get help from someone due to day shift is the highest staffed shift.
I tend to work evenings, the staffing is about half of days and I don't know about everyone's faxing policy but in my neck of the woods day shift spends alot of time faxing MDs. So at 5pm you have multiple faxed orders and calls to the facility with MD orders. I have, and this isn't a joke, noted off over 20 new orders from day shift faxing continuously all shift.
We are talking meds, txs, therapy and labs.
I wouldn't advise evenings for a new grad, ever. Not even for my worst enemy.
LTC is good experience, for the charting alone. You will chart, chart and chart some more. As we say around here, if they fart~ you chart. They want you to chart each and every procedure and intervention/response you have on your shift in addition to pertinent charting, MDS, Medicare, weekly summaries and skin assessments.
You may want to stock up on pens unless of course you are lucky and electronic chart.
Good Luck with the job situation :)