A few months ago I was hired as an activities assistant for a nursing home that also has a rehab program; so we're a rehab and a nursing home. I really do like my work for the most part, the stuff I do for the residents to make them smile or give them something to occupy their time is really cool and fulfilling. The problem is basically everything else. I’m going to try to be semi-vague.
My boss is awful. She's incompetent at her best and outright hostile at her worst. I'm pretty sure some of this is due to the management above her but a lot of it is her attitude in general. She’s the activities director but seems half the time to be disdainful of people having fun. She’s more concerned with getting paperwork filled out properly than actually doing the practicalities of the job, keeping residents entertained and happy.
Another big thing is the medical staff though. They won’t give anyone scheduled meds on time most of the time unless the residents are on their ass about it, and even then they will refuse sometimes. They often disappear, frequently are playing on their phone while multiple call lights are on, and residents have told me they even go to sleep in open beds and chairs in resident’s rooms. The residents are agitated and on sporadic medication, sometimes mental health medication.
The cleaning staff seems to be stealing things. People don’t want to go to the hospital because it’s likely that any number of things could be missing from their room when they get back. Even when they feel they should go to the hospital, the medical staff often ignores them. There was someone who had a fall and broke something. They were left to writhe in pain for several days before one of the non-medical staff did something and the ambulance came.
I’ve also heard some rumblings of certain bugs and even mice but we don't have any full on infestations from what I can tell.
On top of everything, when the residents lash out about the conditions, they are treated as hysterical and like the entire thing was their fault. They have no privacy or even medical consistency. I have watched people’s conditions get worse in our facility. I seem to be expected to stay in my lane (my department and job description) and pretend like nothing is wrong up to and ambiguously including gaslighting them. (I say ambiguously because nobody has used that wording of course)
I’ve started taking on the role of a patient advocate in the facility. I now keep several copies of witness forms and complaint forms in a binder along with the employee handbook and copies of local resident laws I was given upon hiring. I’m going to start going with residents to request care so if they’re denied I can write up a witness report about it. I’m telling the residents that above all they need to start learning the nurses names. A lot of them don’t volunteer their names. The only names everyone knows, including me, are the people who ARE doing their jobs. I think the bad staff is intentionally hiding behind anonymity.
I’m not sure what else I can do and it’s very close to being a toxic work environment but I can’t just leave them behind. I think I can make things a little better here by helping people get the oh-so-important paperwork done and have records of things. I’m also keeping copies of the reports before I turn the original in so if nothing changes after I fill up a binder or two I can give this over to government officials. If you have any other advice, feel free to give it.