Your Work Environment

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I'm getting really fed up with the nursing home where I work and I'm thinking about applying at another facility. Since my current workplace is the only nursing home I have ever worked in, I'm not sure if the grass is actually greener on the other side or not. I figured I would ask on here to try and find out of my experience is typical or not. I don't want to bother leaving all the people and residents I actually do enjoy working with to go through training/hazing at another facility only to find out that the downfalls are the same at every facility.

I could go on and on forever, but for the sake of brevity, mainly what I'm wondering is; do you feel like higher-ups are riding on people all the time, so that no matter how hard you work or how good you are at your job, nothing is ever good enough? Or can you just come in, do your job, and go home? I feel like my facility uses guilt and shame as a motivator for good work and right now I would trade the higher workload you get at some (not ALL, as my facility would have you believe) for not being hassled and criticized.

I am so glad you found something better, fuzzy. I am brand new, but I knew from being on allnurses for so long that my co-workers are better than most. The teamwork at my assisted living is amazing. We have walkie-talkie's and are in regular communication with one another seeing who needs help and assisting with transfers into/out of bed, shower, chair, anywhere! And even just to pull someone up in the bed with a draw sheet, is no problem, cna's come to help each other. Often if a res is not acting themselves for their regular cna, we might "trade" people for a shift or just a certain care, to see if the newer person can get the results. Anyway, it has been a very good situation.

The down side is that when someone calls in sick often no one else wants to pick up the extra shift. And working 5-6 extra persons just puts me over the top and even the experienced ones are stressed. I would not want to pick up an extra shift because my body is tired and needs the break so I can go back in feeling refreshed. My years of doing doubles, etc. are long over!

As far as I can see, people have gotten fired if there have been too many complaints from the residents, and one lady for getting drunk on her shift. IOW, common sense stuff. I have not felt any stress from management whatsoever.

Pay sure could be better, but that is pretty universal I am sure!

On my hall I have 19 residents. The other 2 aids on my hall have 14 residents, and I am the new one. I know I have 2 of the res that no one wants to go help. I think it is how they break in the newbies: by giving us the difficult hall!! Anyway, I am OK with my res as long as we have the regular number of cna's (5) the shift is actually very comfortable.

We do not do anything except care. If I restock rooms, etc, or do laundry it is only to lend a helping hand and stay busy.

It helps to hear others' thoughts on this subject anyway. We all wonder about the facility down the road so to speak!

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I don't know; I think my workplace is much safer to work in than my clinical site. The two places were owned by the same company, so I guess that should've been a red flag for me.

On the outside, my facility looks really upscale and fancy. It's got a really nice lobby with a grand piano and whatnot. The skilled nursing unit, where I usually work, is fine. The workload there is manageable (usually), and patients are relatively satisfied with their stay.

However, I float to the long-term side occasionally, and that is where my problems lie. I always feel so guilty because I know these people pay tons of money to stay there and sometimes I'm so overworked that I can't provide the level of care I would like to give. I feel that if I don't give them exactly what they paid for, I'm helping the administration lie to them and deceive them into coming to live here.

When I got hired, the DON had just jumped ship and left for another facility because the higher-ups at my place are really delusional. My place is going to convert to 100% skilled nursing once our current residents all pass; corporate greed truly breaks my heart.

Maybe the grass is greener, but maybe it's just turf.

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Specializes in Med-surg Telemetry, Leadership, Education.

When I worked for an LTC, I worked for a "bad" facility. It was a tough place, primarily due to the total care needs and acuity of the residents. However, I felt the workload was realistic, and that the residents got good care. Each facility is probably quite individual, I guess.

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Have you thought about working at a hospital? I think you'll find a hospital environment a lot easier, with less pettiness and without people constantly making mountains out of molehills. Its obviously less predictable, but the workload is usually less to account for the unexpected, unlike LTC where the unexpected results in everything going to hell lol.

I worked in LTC in a top notch facility that was extremely demanding of the CNAs. I was getting burned out there when I took a hospital med/surg job and eventually worked my way into a full time position. I miss some of the residents and we did have a tight group of aides on my shift that I sometimes miss, but overall I like the hospital and Im learning a lot more. Its also a lot easier on the back. The RNs actually help out with transferring, cleaning and turning patients without bickering about it. If you are really busy they will even do total care on a patient.

I think some aides are scared a hospital will be really stressful and the other staff will continually look down on you, but that hasnt been my experience at all. Its also nice to have patients that will often make a full recovery and return to a normal life, unlike in LTC where its pretty much the end of the road for most people and you see them decline.

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