“It’s a very fast-paced environment. It’s just a matter of being able to adjust to meet their needs, and everyone’s are different. It starts with staffing, clear to the residents. So, I think the hardest part of the job is just making sure everyone has what they need, when they need it and trying to make sure everyone is on the same page, same level, and keep everyone happy.”
— April Rhodes, RN, Director of Nursing, Dunnet Roads Manor, Oakland, MD
“Managing regulatory and how you are able to match resident-specific care to the paper side of the regulatory issue. How do you check all of the boxes to be in compliance and not have a survey issue, but still facilitate that very specific resident care?”
—Jeanne Gerstenkorn, Senior VP for Health and Wellness Services, Presbyterian Manors of Mid-America, Wichita, KS
“If we find an area of issue, we’re focused on that one. Then some other area falls down or falls off, and you’ll run to focus on that one, when something else may fall off. Staffing is also a problem, but I feel that the number of regulations to keep up with is harder.”
—Valarie Jarvis, RN, Director of Nursing, Parkview Healthcare and Rehab, Chapel Hill, NC
“Making sure that all of the clinical staff are aware of, and knowledgeable about, the new rules of participation and helping them all move toward patient-centered care goals. We have to get everybody educated and moving in the same direction at the same time.”
—Delores Darnell, Chief Clinical Officer, Commonwealth Care of Roanoke, Glen Allen, VA
“The changing regulations. You can’t keep up, especially with the given amount of time that you have to comply. That’s the hardest part. And staffing is a pain. I’m the director of nursing and I don’t have a staffing coordinator, so that’s hard. Maybe it’s because there are few nurses who want to work in long-term care. They want to work in the hospital, rather than the long-term care facilities.”
—Maria Cressida David, RN, Director of Nursing, The Jefferson-Sunrise Senior Living, Ashburn, VA
“I’ve worked as a CNA, a staff nurse, hospice nurse, and then weekend supervisor. Now I am the director of nursing. I’ve developed a lot of personal relationships. It’s the differentiation once you’re in a different setting, as their direct manager, instead of being their coworker. That is very difficult. Also, staffing and hiring are really huge because people interview well and then they get on board and it could be a different ball game.”
—Mary Ann Gross, RN, Director of Nursing, Foulkeways at Gwynedd, Gwynedd, PA
From the November 2018 Issue of McKnight's Long-Term Care News
