who works in LTC??

[ajaxgirl]

I am thinking of returning to LTC. I did it in 1997 and I am just wondering what it is like. I have heard that pt acuity has increased. Has it changed much? ANY info would be nice. I am wanting to do PT nights. How is the pt load?

[Fiona59]

Really depends on the facility. Some are good and others are worse than the kennel my dog goes to.

Nights are usually 1 LPN and 1 or 2 NA's to about 45 patients. The RN will be responsible for two units. Some facilities have some staff come in around 0600 to help get the am care started but on nights we had the early meds, and were required to get at least five patients ready, on top of cleaning wheelchairs, walkers, commodes, etc, restocking the med carts, checking MARS, dealing with any call bells, 2 hour turns, incontinence changes, managing the ones that don't sleep, phone calls from families (yes, some really do call in the middle of the night....)

The main problem I remember was staff not showing up and being expected to work short on a regular basis.

[linzz]

Fiona 59 is right on the money. Pick your LTC carefully, some are pretty good with staffing ratios etc. and others are awful. I also agree that I wouldn't send my pets to some of them, nevermind my loved ones. Sighh.

[Soon2BPaeds]

The facility where I did my clinical placement was 1 rpn and 1 PCP per floor of 42 residents. There were 2 circulating RN's that covered 5 floors each.