First week on the job

[quilterbcathy 0]

I am making it through my first week. Had the old Act. Director for two days, then she was off to her new job. She told the Administrator as she was leaving Weds. that she would not be back. Got her dream job teaching in a lovely school, there was no way she should have jepardized that. She is a month behind on daily logging, and I don't like the system, it is a complicated one that we used when I first started my old job, we had trouble keeping up on it too. But she says he won't change... I may try eventually once I get more familiar with everything. Our residents here are alot higher functioning than at my old place, which is really a nice change. At my old place the administrator gave us the freedom as if we were Imagineers at Disney (WHY did I walk away from that!) :hammer: ... this guy is a little more of a stick in the mud, but it is a good education, I will learn tons from the residents and learn so much about the workings of being a Director... and eventually I will work my own personality in so maybe this administrator may soften up a bit... if not, and if it drives me crazy, some day I will have the experience to move on if it's what I want... I was getting tired of stapling things on walls so very much of the time, but it was sure fun for our residents to see change, now I am not allowed to staple or tape, so the walls are empty, eventually I would like to figure something out to brighten it up, bring out some personality! We did get a trained Assistance Dog this week. I guess I am to make it an Activity to groom him, it was fun the first day but I am still figuring things out, yesterday we did a cooking activity and it just didn't work out to groom him too. A lot on my plate, our administrator (also corporate owner whose office is on-site) will have to be patient, and if he's not, oh well.

Good to find you all.

Cathy

[Mandyatscr 0]

was getting tired of stapling things on walls so very much of the time, but it was sure fun for our residents to see change, now I am not allowed to staple or tape, so the walls are empty, eventually I would like to figure something out to brighten it up, bring out some personality!

 

 

We are not allowed to tape or staple here either. We use the poster tack ( sticky stuff is what we call it here) to hold up our wall decorations. We also hang a lot of things from the ceilings on fishing line. Right now the residents here are doing a magazine scavenger hunt and the pictures they find will become collages. We then attach the collages to a board that we hang and change monthly or every ohter month.

 

I took over this position about 6 months ago and have realized slowly adding things in seems to be the best way to deal with a stick in the mud administrator. His wife use to be the AD but has since retired and he wants things back to the way they were when she was here. He even made a comment about me holding a Rock and Roll week because the era of our residents is big band music, but when we have bowling they all dance along with the R'n roll so I dont worry about it.

[BartMan 0]

Good Luck Cathy , Hang in there , you sound strong willed !! BartMan

[Guest Guest_Amy]

I just completed my first week at a new facility as well!! I am blessed with an administrator who is very open to new ideas. The change to more aware residents must be nice. i have the opposite - I am more familiar with higher functoning residents than I have at my new job so it's tough. Good luck to you!!

Amy

[Guest Lo]

I will be starting my new job Jan 22. I have been an assistant for 8 years at my old SNF. I am now going to be the Director. The new SNF is less attractive for sure, smaller and yes, the Residents seem for the most part lower functioning. I am trying to convince myself that I am not coming from the "frying pan" into the "fire"! I was used to being a very "hands on" assistant , creating and implementing programs on our "quasi" dementia unit. I was hardly ever in the office.

 

I guess I am trying to find suggestions on how to conduct myself the first month or so. I really don't want to change anything right away. I want to LISTEN more than anything, to staff and residents. I guess I am conflicted in terms of how much time I spend at the desk as opposed to being up on the floors getting to know Residents and observing my staff implement programming. It sounds like the Director that I am replacing was more of a "desk/ paperwork/planner/delegator/ phone/ meetings"style dept head. Just not sure what my style will be. I'm sure over time, a style will evolve. I guess my question is how many programs per week do most Rec. dept heads actually lead/facillitate/implement per week??????

In the first month or so, do you do frequent 1:1's for a "getting to know you " period or do you involve yourself more with formal group programming????????? HELP..................!!!!!!!

[quilterbcathy 0]

Your place sounds like mine, Lo, except a few more of my residents are a little bit higher functioning than at the old place. I am also used to running on the floor, not much time in the office. I don't have much assistance at this new place, only a 21 yr old who is paid for about 4 hours a week, and she does volunteer often otherwise, and she is quite good, but she is not on regular hours. So what it boils down to is that I will have to do both, be on the floor doing activities and make sure the paperwork gets done, until I have more help otherwise. The one thing I want to concentrate on this first month, besides just making sure the activities carry on, is setting a goal of each day reaching a number of residents to make my own assessments on, so that I can know who they are and what their needs are. So by the end of the month, maybe sooner, I will have at least met everyone and have my own notes, hopefully avoiding having anyone fall through the cracks, especially the bed bound patients and the dementia patients. Should be a little easier with this being a smaller facility, but still seems daunting at the moment. What a responsibility! I also have to learn how to do care plans and assessments according to regulation... so it will be quite the challenge, I especially want to just get in the habit of staying on top of it. Then I want to really work on room visits, while I am assessing them I guess! Learn to make them good and fun and helpful, but for now, it's just getting acquainted. Honestly this weekend I have had to pep talk myself, I miss my old friends and residents so, even though I know I can do this and it will be wonderful experience...we are short staffed across the board, other dept heads are doing more than one job, so no-one will be fussing much over me...so I am open to any ideas too, hey, we know how to fly by the seat of our pants, right?!

Cathy

[turtle 0]

You sound like you are off to a great start! I have been the Ad for two years at a facility where our private owner's daughter was the director before me. Talk about a daunting task...Anyway, I think that best way to introduce change is a little at a time. It is easier for the administration to accept as well as the residents. Remember that we can often confuse our residents when we implement too much change at once. I can also sympathize with your split desire to work one on one with the residents and complete all that paperwork. What works for me is to have a basic scheudule that I follow everyday which allows me to spend time with the residents and do the paperwork. I usually spend the mornings, which seem to be when i think the most clearly, doing paperwork and the afternoons interacting with the residents. You just have to find a system that works for you. (By the way, I work at a 173 bed facility with 4 full time assistants.) Hang in there-you will find your balance. good luck!

[Guest Lo]

Dear Quilter,

 

OK, so you have been on the job as a new AD for a couple of weeks. Do you have any tips/"do's and don'ts. I am starting this Monday. My initial plan: LISTEN, LISTEN AND THEN LISTEN. Still not sure whether my focus should be "getting to know the Residents" or concentrating on the infastructure of new policies and proceedures, new computer software navigation.....paperwork protocol that is specific to this new facility..etc etc. When is it appropriate to put your "spin", signature style in introducing new ideas. The last thing I want to see happening is the typical incessant "brainstorming of new ideas" which can lead to "talking the talk yet not walking the walk" I guess I want to stay clear of unrealistic expectations, but knowing me I can get entangled in all that! Any advice?

[quilterbcathy 0]

Lo,

Good morning! Just saw your post and wanted to reply. After two weeks I am beginning to feel as though I am getting a feel for things. Advice for you... um...I am still taking one thing at a time. Someone advised me not to hurry to change things (brainstorming included!) too quickly. So I am going along with the calendar as it is until February when I plan to introduce some new things I've enjoyed with the residents at my old facility. It just takes time to get to know the residents, I went around the first week or so meeting them, asking questions, etc, but now I am getting to know their personalities a bit more and that will come more and more. I am coming in so new that I have to learn how to do the paperwork, such as care plans and assessments, so what I am concentrating on basically when I ask questions is how I do it right so that we get through State survey... also I am looking for residents that State might target, such as someone who is tube fed and bedridden. As far as brainstorming and putting my personality in, it is coming bit by bit. The other facility I was at was huge on brainstorming with big personalities and I really have had to adjust! Our administrator/owner is on site, his mother in law is a resident, we are doing Eden with re-decorating and he has declared NOTHING is to be put on walls... so I have to get creative as to how I can brighten up the place and inject my own personality. I make a to-do list everyday, it helps me to write it down, otherwise I worry over things. They want me to do a newsletter right away but the program (Microsoft Publisher)is giving me fits and honestly, it is low on my list until I get to know the people and routine of being a director.

So I guess what it boils down it is just give yourself some time, take it one thing at a time, after a few weeks you will look around and see you are starting to find your fit with the folks, have fun with them when you can (I only have a part time assistant so I have to figure out how to do activities and make the meetings, paperwork, etc...)

Take care, we can do this! If you need someone to brainstorm with just holler, I know I miss not having someone to bounce things off of, that's why I like this site.

Cathy