@Nrdsb4 spot on! D#5 heading to Nursing School in the Fall and I intend to pick your brain a lot. Hope you won’t mind.
You did exactly what you should do–take care of your dad. If somebody takes offense then it’s their problem.
As to a LPN being in charge…a gazillion years ago a woman was hired as director of nursing at our hospital. She was great! Straightened out the department, got people in line, improved morale–fired the worst and promoted the best. She was tough and ran a tight ship. Nursing improved under her direction. She was there about a year.
Then she got on a plane one morning and just didn’t appear at work. Turns out she didn’t have ANY credentials–at all. Not sure she even had a college degree. Just a talented scam artist posing as a nurse with a lot of reqs for the job. But she was a great organizer obviously with good people working for her which is why she got away with it.
The nursing you need to worry about is direct care–not the boss.
wis75 while I do appreciate your wisdom …I do not agree in this case… you never want to hurt a person’s ego even in this setting. it is a legit question and should be of concern , I know OP did not intentionally disrespect the woman but it happened non the less. the issue is you do not want your parent getting sub standard care as the result of an angry person.
Update - folks are getting good care in the new community. I am still not a fan of the Director of Nursing but that has nothing to do with her credentials and everything to do with her attitude and customer service skills. She doesn’t really have patient care so we don’t interact nor do my parents.
Anyway, I filed a Long Term Care claim in June, shortly after they moved in. In August I asked for a status and the LTC company said they needed an updated plan of care from the facility. I followed up.
Long story short, the same thing happened twice more. Finally the business manager called the LTC company. Turns out, they kept rejecting the submitted plan of care because it was signed by the Director of Nursing as an LPN. Their policy is only to accept an MD or RN signature!
The facility had to get one of the RNs on staff to sign it to appease the LTC co. It was a little embarrassing for them.
11 you can disagree but I stand by my post. There is no "hurting someone's ego" in any professional setting. There is no "disrespect" involved. If a professional does poor work because of questions that person should be fired. Egos have no place on the job, especially when taking care of patients.
Be blunt, be honest and forget those so called, dishonest, niceties. Your job as a family member is not to be afraid of questioning how things work. The good director will not be at all offended, s/he will expect questions and have confidence in doing a good job. The insecure director is already questioning her ability and may not be doing the job.
NEVER accept poor work out of fear of hurting someone’s feelings. Separate social graces from business behavior.
I might be concerned that an LPN is in charge. In MA, the LPN is a 10-12 month course and doesn’t touch on any of the advanced nursing techniques that even a 2 year RN student learns. More importantly, it is my experience that the majority of LPNs in LTC facilities have been there for a very long time and are not educated in more current nursing procedures or in rare instances are younger nurses bridging to RNs and working while going to school. The LPNs I work with are still here because they do not have the skills to work elsewhere; ie., emergency clinics or the local community hospitals. That being said, there’s a lot more to being a Director of Nursing than nursing skills per se, they usually have to be good at people management and cost controls, so its a package of sorts. As far as hurting someones ego or a faux pas, this person knows it is rare for a LPN to be a DON and should not be the least bit surprised when inquiries are made.