As someone who recently finished nursing school (take my N-Clex in 2 days) and did close to 90 clinicals at 5 different nursing homes and the VA (amongst other facilities) I can honestly say that there are some great CNA’s, LPN’s, and RN’s at these places. But there are just as many that are only there to get a paycheck.
The VA had great people. But they are SEVERELY understaffed. There’s only so much you can do without staff members and with time constraints. It’s not fair and our veterans deserve better. And even if the staff reports something, there’s no guarantee that administration will do anything about it. And if you want to keep your job and be able to continue to care for these people, you don’t buck administrators. It’s a catch 22 because we’re supposed to be patient advocates. But you can’t be an advocate or care for these residents that you truly come to care about and develop relationships with, when you’re unemployed.