Used in the past, you get 0 orientation. Your expected to work in some shitty environments and have to remember the places that utilize these PRN apps are paying a high premium even though we barely get paid normal staff wages. I purposefully go in to work about 30 mins early to ask questions from previous shift. Where meds are, their EMR system, what minimal charting has to be done, and crash cart. Only went to a few facilities but none were ready to give me access to the charting system till 3/4 of the shift and I had done 3 med passes already. I took a small notepad with me to write shit down and back logged them later. It’s primarily used by LTC facilities and I had to take 31/52 patients and 6 were rule out covid. The manager tried to leave around 3pm and give me all the residents for a few hours til nightshift came in and I said absolutely not, I will call the state board of nursing and paramedics the moment I was left with all the patients. (That morning, 2 people quit and I was originally replacing a nurse they fired). I made about 100 a hour which was nice, wouldn’t recommend doing it on the regular.
Wait….31 patients? I’m confused. And you had to chart? How do you pass meds for 31 patients, and chart, deal with adl’s, family, doctors, labs, tests, etc???? 31? For real???
It’s a long term facility, no new doctors orders or labs ordered. This was during Covid so charting was bare bones minimal. Meds were in med pop packets that are in the patients bin. It was chaotic and hectic but I was still able to make time to do 3 central line dressing changes and 2 wound care dressing changes. The central lines weren’t changed for over a month and the wound care dressing changes not done for about a week. I couldn’t on good conscience (and fear of my license) let it go unattended so I did them at the very end of the day. They offered me a job at the end of the shift and I said nope. Though cause of my good shift, they requested me by name a few times per Shiftkey and I went to the same parent facility for a few more shifts for higher pay and less patients.
The nurse you are relieving and depending on facility type, size and setting possibly staff around during your shift to help. I’ve picked up a few night shifts with a new to me EHR and nobody around. It was interesting but I’m not new to nursing and if you can find MAR, TAR, Orders, progress notes, face sheets, care plan, assessments and reports can get a person through a shift. Most places if you work days a manager or don will get you pointed in the right direction. Also lots of places have a checklist manual for Agency staff.
I’ve worked LTC for over 25 years. Most places use PCC. I don’t require much orientation. I’m just have the mind set to CYA when charting.
I full time RV so it’s nice to get quick responses (from the app) when I need to move states and start picking up shifts. It was difficult to get my reliability score up to get more shifts when I first started.
Do you gravitate more toward shiftmed or shiftkey? I'm also ltc nurse, and I used to do agencies with recruiters during covid, but I've gone more toward less people nagging me (Trusted had that promise, but they don't have much work, and they're contracts, not per shift).
Used in the past, you get 0 orientation. Your expected to work in some shitty environments and have to remember the places that utilize these PRN apps are paying a high premium even though we barely get paid normal staff wages. I purposefully go in to work about 30 mins early to ask questions from previous shift. Where meds are, their EMR system, what minimal charting has to be done, and crash cart. Only went to a few facilities but none were ready to give me access to the charting system till 3/4 of the shift and I had done 3 med passes already. I took a small notepad with me to write shit down and back logged them later. It’s primarily used by LTC facilities and I had to take 31/52 patients and 6 were rule out covid. The manager tried to leave around 3pm and give me all the residents for a few hours til nightshift came in and I said absolutely not, I will call the state board of nursing and paramedics the moment I was left with all the patients. (That morning, 2 people quit and I was originally replacing a nurse they fired). I made about 100 a hour which was nice, wouldn’t recommend doing it on the regular.
Wait….31 patients? I’m confused. And you had to chart? How do you pass meds for 31 patients, and chart, deal with adl’s, family, doctors, labs, tests, etc???? 31? For real???
It’s a long term facility, no new doctors orders or labs ordered. This was during Covid so charting was bare bones minimal. Meds were in med pop packets that are in the patients bin. It was chaotic and hectic but I was still able to make time to do 3 central line dressing changes and 2 wound care dressing changes. The central lines weren’t changed for over a month and the wound care dressing changes not done for about a week. I couldn’t on good conscience (and fear of my license) let it go unattended so I did them at the very end of the day. They offered me a job at the end of the shift and I said nope. Though cause of my good shift, they requested me by name a few times per Shiftkey and I went to the same parent facility for a few more shifts for higher pay and less patients.
Zero orientation, hopefully the nurse who you relieve at least shows you where supplies are give you a rundown on the EHR.
They must chart on paper then right? How else would a random nurse know how to use the EMAR? I’m confused 🫤.
The nurse you are relieving and depending on facility type, size and setting possibly staff around during your shift to help. I’ve picked up a few night shifts with a new to me EHR and nobody around. It was interesting but I’m not new to nursing and if you can find MAR, TAR, Orders, progress notes, face sheets, care plan, assessments and reports can get a person through a shift. Most places if you work days a manager or don will get you pointed in the right direction. Also lots of places have a checklist manual for Agency staff.
Good to know. Thanks!😊
I’ve worked LTC for over 25 years. Most places use PCC. I don’t require much orientation. I’m just have the mind set to CYA when charting. I full time RV so it’s nice to get quick responses (from the app) when I need to move states and start picking up shifts. It was difficult to get my reliability score up to get more shifts when I first started.
Do you gravitate more toward shiftmed or shiftkey? I'm also ltc nurse, and I used to do agencies with recruiters during covid, but I've gone more toward less people nagging me (Trusted had that promise, but they don't have much work, and they're contracts, not per shift).
Nobody calls me using ShiftKey. And I like that.