Being understaffed is a problem everywhere from hospitals to rehabilitation centers to nursing homes worldwide.

Re: Nursing Homes
Hi SarahBeth and everyone, I used to work in an under-staffed nursing home as an Activity Therapist and left 2 summers ago to work at home as a Meedical Transcriptionist. Often miss some of the staff and residents, but seldom see or hear from anyone from the 7+ years I worked there part-time, high turnover in staff is what I recall. Happy nursing week to you, as I recall that was observed in May, at the facility for which I worked. By the way if anyone recognizes my name in reading this post, from said facility, please give the folks my regards. Generally doing well and busy qwith family life and profession. Thanks for indulging me.
Smiles from David

I work in a nursing home as the staffing coord. I can tell you that even when you are staffed, You really arent staffed. Meaning that usually you have your good CNA's and Nurses....and then the warm bodies you put in there so people will stop gripping. Its very stressfull because if you hire 10 usually only 2 pan out and the good CNA's you have are burned out by this time so you usually lose 2 of them:shock:

hello all
i work in western ohio as an STNA. I love the people there. The pay is about 8.50 / hour; unless you work 2nd, then you get 9.25 / hour.
there are STNAs that care, and there are ones who just answer call lights when it is convient for them.
i have been there 5 months and the STNAs that i work with now are not the same people as when i was hired in. with the exception of one lady. there is a revolving door up front when it comes to hiring.
The general attitude is very negative-- even backstabbing--among the staff. the nursing home is within mins of my living quarters, it offers great health insurance, they are flexible with my college schedule changes and it keeps a regular paycheck coming while i continue to persue RN.
But it is excruitiating painfully stressful. there is never enough help---except during a visit from the state for evaluation. and the higher ups expect it all to be done and done with excellence -- even if i dont have the help or time to do it so.
on a normal day, i have 22 - 25 patients to keep. on a abnormal good day--15-18, the state law is a ratio of 1:15, i believe.
if we have the staff that has been scheduled, that is not normal. call offs are the norm. there is a HUGE communication problem among the staff.
serious communication problems. and it terrifys me to think, if there were an emergency--i would have a problem because i cant find the nurse. i have to hunt them down.
and i feel sorry for the residents that have to live here with the staff that are supposed to be taking care of them.
and it has proned me to think, i wont be putting my loved ones in a nursing home, if i can physically / financially do it myself.
God bless the nursing homes and God help us to get them properly operating / staffed !!
thanx nurses for all you do every day.
It is more about what you do to help the pts get better than the money we can earn. so, off i go to the nursing home to try and be a positive influence and make a difference.
thanks for what you nurses do !!
rascal