The First Month

I have officially been at my job for one month today and I have to say that I am absolutely LOVING it! Our facility is 124 beds so there are two social workers (CT requires 1 Full-time social worker per 120 beds); Kayla works 10 hours a week. We have mostly long-term residents nut about 15-20 are short-term and they are my primary responsibility-setting up community resources including visiting nurses once they are ready to go home. Also having meetings to discuss whether it is realistic for them to go home.

When I tell people I am a social worker in a nursing home, inevitably someone asks what it is that I do. I spend my days doing any number of things. Some of the things I have done this week:
-arranged a transfer to another nursing home so the gentleman can be with his wife
-set up visiting nurses for a resident returning home
-set up out-patient physical therapy for a resident going home next week
-spoke with a family member who's grandfather is actively dying
-spoke with family member who's mother needed to change rooms due to difficulties with her roommate
-completed assessments on residents (when they are covered by Medicare, we have to assess them at 5 days, 14 days, 21 days, 30 days, 60 days, 90 days and then every 90 days after that.)
-had a discharge planning meeting for a gentleman returning home Saturday
-met with a resident and his daughter-in-law to discuss his plans to return home on Monday
-met with two new residents to complete my initial admission paperwork (I have to ask their education, work history, religion, etc, as well as find out how much if any support they have from family/friends and what their placement status is-are they short-term, long-term, uncertain.)
-reviewed all Medicare and Managed-Care residents with interdisciplinary team to discuss their current status, plans for discharge, if any
-faxed paperwork to doctors for their signatures
-met to discuss plans for National Nursing Home Week in May
-had 2 resident care conferences (we have to meet within 14 days of a new admission and every 90 days on long-term residents)

So there you have it---just a small idea of what I do! I am really enjoying working with the residents. It can be frantic at times but I enjoy the fast pace.