Today was my first day at the skilled nursing facility. I was nervous, but that's not unusual. I'm nervous about all first events in my life. I knew today I would be slow, just learning where things go and who people are, but I was so slow. My productivity goal is 85%; I was 59% today. It's not like the hospital where you can expect people to be in their rooms, so I spent a good portion of the day running around looking for patients in the dining rooms, by the nurses' desk, and at physical and occupational therapies. I also spent plenty of time making sure I was doing the paperwork correctly, a very important thing for Medicare reimbursement.
I know it will get better, and the first day is always the hardest, but goodness, it's not quite as fun as I thought it would be. I had two patients refuse to participate, really frustrating. How can you refuse!? What happened to good manners and a goal of working to go home? No such luck. I miss my students and playing go fish. I do have to say, though, that the staff is quite friendly and really very helpful. Thanks to Debbie and Tiffany for getting me through the day.
3 comments:
Ha! Yep, that sounds about right! I'm sure you'll learn all the tricks of the trade, but some things that helped me get in therapy times included:
* get them early (like before breakfast... and before other therapies)...
* do therapy during their breakfasts and lunches (I ended up feeding many of my swallowing patients, or I would sit with them during meals for therapy)
* people will refuse therapy... they'll lose hope that they'll ever go home again
You're right... things will get easier. Soon, you'll have some good stories to tell :)
If it was easy it wouldn't be called work. Hang in there, it is always tough to be "the new guy". Once you learn you way around, it will get easier.
Thanks for the encouragement everyone! I'm sure tomorrow will be better. It needs to be because I'm working 5 days this week. I don't suppose I'll get any sympathy from you all who work 5 days a week year round :0)
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