frustrating

Nursing Students CNA/MA

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i apologize if i have posted about this before but it seems even more true now. Every time i go to my nurse with a change in a resident, she responds with a "oh that is normal". I have had nurses that have filled in for her immediately respond when i say something is wrong but she won't. its frustrating because i notice everything and over the time i have been with my residents i have learned what is and what is not normal, for them and in general. I just feel like why bother? Anything i notice gets dismissed anyway. argh.

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Specializes in cardiac/critical care/ informatics.

That may be normal but you need to report anything that you feel is abnormal. Don't worry about what the nurse says. Just say to her, well I am doing my job by infoming you, what you do with the information is up to you.

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Specializes in ALF, Medical, ER.

I know how you feel. Just keep reporting things that you feel need to be reported regardless of the response you may get. My thought is we are around the resident's/patients more often than an RN so therefore we tend to notice a change in behavior faster than the RN. And reporting such changes is part of our responsibilty as a care giver. I get the feeling sometimes that I annoy the heck out of my supervisor, but I got to the point where I don't care. If I didn't report something because I would be too frustrated with the response I was getting from the supervisor, and something happened to that patient that could have been prevented if I had said something, then I wouldn't be able to forget that. Keep speaking up. Ok..climbing off my soapbox....lol

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.

Even as a licensed practical nurse, I have a hard time telling the RN and physician that something is wrong because they tend to brush me off as well (believe it or not), but I keep reporting it, and because I am a nurse, I have to document who I reported to and what their response was. I keep in mind that it may be me or my family in that bed, and the least a person can do is report it to the next in command. If they do not respond to me as a nurse, I would then contact a supervisor or the house attending.

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Specializes in LTC.

These are the things you have to just keep reporting until someone pays attention or something bad happens. Just if your facility has any written communication for changes fill it out each and every time so there is a paper trail so if something bad does happen it doesn't come back to "Well the CNA didn't report it. I had a lady a couple of years ago who would go for days without sleep until she'd finally fall asleep in exhaustion and sleep for nearly a day. All of the nurses claimed "That's just apart of dementia." So I would fill out communication forms nearly weekly stating "Resident recieved Xamt of sleep last noc. PM and AM shift report that she stays away during their shifts as well. Resident appears tired and very unstable." Eventually the resident took a nasty fall.

Then there are the abnormal normals. I went to empty a catheter on a resident and the urine was brown, thick and chunky. I informed the nurse who said "Yeah she has a bladder infection, thats normal."

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As a licensed nurse I've reported serious situations to my supervisors only to be brushed off or treated as if I was creating a problem. Continue to report as you know you should. If there are any forms where you can document your findings in writing, do so. The remark that jmgrn65 suggested is good too. It is letting the nurse know that you intend to continue doing your job. Keep up the good work. You are the kind of CNA I would like to work with.

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
As a licensed nurse I've reported serious situations to my supervisors only to be brushed off or treated as if I was creating a problem. Continue to report as you know you should. If there are any forms where you can document your findings in writing, do so. The remark that jmgrn65 suggested is good too. It is letting the nurse know that you intend to continue doing your job. Keep up the good work. You are the kind of CNA I would like to work with.

Isn't THAT the truth...I have had physicians blatently ignore me...

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CYA but most importantly YOU are a patient advocate. Just keep doing what you're doing, go to another nurse if the nurse you're reporting to isn't doing their job. Don't make enemies but keep your pts. safe. Oh and BTW document everything you do somewhere.

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hey everyone...i'm just wondering if theres any places here in Killeen Texas that has free cna training?...i was working at a place in Al. but i had to quit before i became a cna.i really loved the work and the people..so i'm trying to get back into it..any help would be great..Thank You:monkeydance:

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Its always nice getting blown off by the nurse isn't it? I had a resident a couple weeks ago and we reported her severe hip pain and request for pain med. The nurse told us we were just new faces and she was playing us. We went in the next day and the resident was in the hospital for guess what? a hip fx, guess she wasnt playing me after all. Some nurses just dont want to hear it from a lowly cna. I can say that my time as a CNA and the way most nurses tend to treat cna's makes me want to skip nursing and stick to my original plan of PA school. Only time will tell, I guess like every profession you have the good and the bad.

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I have the same problem except backwards LOL...if that makes any sense... the regular nurse will listen to the changes and actually relies on the permanent staff(the one that have that station no matter what when we are one)... however the fill in nurse brushes us off or interrupts us to the point that we can't communicate the changes... when the fill in nurse is on I will still report any changes but I will also write it on the 24hr sheet as well as write it in my little book( I keep it to keep me out of trouble :) ) anyway when the regular nurse is back on I give her a list of the things I attempted to let the fill in nurse know and got rudely interupted. the fill in nurse is one that is very focused and methodical and cannot deal with interruptions... I feel bad for her but in this type of setting you have to be able to deal with interruptions because that is part of the job!!!

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Specializes in LTC, Medical Day Care.
CYA but most importantly YOU are a patient advocate. Just keep doing what you're doing, go to another nurse if the nurse you're reporting to isn't doing their job. Don't make enemies but keep your pts. safe. Oh and BTW document everything you do somewhere.

Couldnt agree more!!! Well said!!

What I used to do was approach the senior nurses with the ''inquisitive question"..because I knew if I did it any other way, what I would get.

Basically its..." I need you to come and take a look at this..im not sure what it is..but it looks strange." This way you are asserting yourself w/o seeming dominant or bossy. You are more than likely going to get them to follow you to the patient. Always want to "learn"..you will get the results you are looking for. Good luck!!!;)

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