Disappearing nurse aides

Over the last few weeks, several aides have quit, or were terminated, or otherwise left the schedule. I have to say when this happens it's always upsetting. Nursing homes never have enough aides – no matter what. There are seldom enough to fill in when there is a sudden illness or an accident; let alone, when someone leaves.

This time of the year the aides (most of whom are the working poor) file their income taxes early.. Then some decide to job jump when they get their refunds. I guess I can't say I blame them. But going to another nursing home after becoming just getting used to it doesn't sound appealing to me. Even higher pay as an incentive surprises me. One aide told me she was going to drive 45 minutes to a job to be paid three or four dollars more more an hour.. I told her there is no way that she will net out as much of that increase as she thinks.

I worked about 45 minutes from my home for a while and I put a lot of gas and miles on my van. I liked the job. But working in a town that you don't live in is quite different. I felt separated from everything.

The nurse manager is patching the schedule together. I suppose eventually they were hire aides. Or, they will send housekeepers or dietary aides to nurse aide training classes so they can fill in the spots. This has been the pattern at this nursing home, and I think it's the same at others..

It's too bad that aides have to move around so much. I also think it's a young person phenomena. Young people do it more often. But the working poor do not care much about "resume building". I guess they don't care if a future boss questions why they moved around so much. I guess low-wage job longevity somehow doesn't matter. I always thought that loyalty mattered. I also thought staying in a job, learning it, and toughing it out was important. Young people only think how they feel right now, not how they might feel in a few months.

I know there are some potential nursing home employees who take advantage nursing homes. If they are trained nurse aides, they can easily get a job, work for a year, and then quit. I've seen a lot of it. They move on to something else..At this nursing home, a few aides aides and even a couple of nurses (LPNs) left to go to a factory which pays more. I cannot think that working in a factory would be better. But maybe they feel the job in a nursing home is watching too much heartbreak every day. In that way it might be better to be on a factory line making an appliance or an automobile. Working with inanimate objects might seem like heaven after dealing with complaining residents throughout an 8 or 12 hour shift.

I have gotten very good at saying goodbye to nurse aides. They leave so frequently. And then some of them come back. After all it's much easier hiring someone back who has worked here before and knows the lay of the facility..

Still in all, it reminds me of why I am in this nursing home. I couldn't keep qualified, dependable aides coming into my home to care for me. It just got too difficult. I would hire them, train them, they'd work a while, and leave. Then I would do it all over again, and then do it again, and again. It was like hitting my head against a brick wall.

I wish I knew what the answer was to this situation. Talking to the aides is key. I also think nursing home management should work all three shifts and be available to listen when an aide needs to talk.