Long-term care ‘the pure form of nursing’
Admin/DOC recommends nurses sharpen assessment skills before coming to long-term care
Monday April 14, 2008 -- Deron Hamel
Mary Lynn Lester says long-term care offers nurses excellent opportunities, however, she recommends that nurses work in other health-care disciplines before coming to long-term care so they can sharpen their assessment skills.

Lester, administrator and director of care (DOC) at West Lake Terrace, says working in a long-term care home requires nurses to have high standards and that caregivers need to be quick on their feet when it comes to assessments.

Working in a long-term care home is very different from working in a hospital, she adds. In hospitals, nurses have the back-up of other practitioners, whereas in long-term care nurses are expected to work more independently.

On the other hand, once nurses have attained valuable assessment skills, long-term care will offer them a career where they can continuously hone their talents for quick assessments.

A compliance adviser once remarked to Lester that long-term care is “the pure form of nursing,” and it’s a phrase she holds true.

“This is nursing where you are working with people, you’re not just dealing with technology and machines,” says Lester.

It’s important to note that long-term care homes still welcome recent nursing grads.

Tracy Dowdall, an RN at West Lake Terrace, says she decided on a career in long-term care because she was attracted to the idea of being able to do hands-on care with the senior population.

Dowdall began her career in long-term care as a 15-year-old student in a co-op program. As part of the program she worked in the dietary department of a home and describes her career in long-term care as a “progression.”

And what advice does Dowdall give to someone considering a career in long-term care?

“They have to be a very compassionate person,” she says.

If nurses who have recently graduated from university or college wish to begin their career in long-term care, Lester advises homes have staff members who can mentor new nurses.

West Lake Terrace has had the benefit of having three doctors over the years who have acted as medical advisers to mentor registered nursing staff, Lester points out. Dowdall, she adds, is a nurse who benefited from the mentorship of others at the home.

As a result of this mentoring, nurses at the Picton long-term care home have “excellent” assessment skills, she says.

“If (nurses) come right out of school and they come to long-term care, they can still be very successful if they have a very, very strong mentor, and that can be a DOC who has good assessment skills or it could be another RN (registered nurse) or it could be a doctor,” she says.

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