[pagandeva2000]

Originally Posted by Tweety

I don't care how little a tech makes, they have a job description and they've accepted the pay and the job. If they don't want to perform at the job description level regardless of the pay, then don't take the job. I don't care if I make $100/hour if it's your job to help me, then I expect you to do your job. How much I make is inconsequential to you doing your job.

However, there are lazy nurses out there that will sit on their butts and when a patient needs a bedpan will look 20 minutes for the tech to do it. So trust me, I know what you're saying.

Nurses and techs should work as a team.

That is a true statement...the description says: "Assistant"...it is not a bad word or a curse, but it does say what a person is supposed to do within that scope of practice. A person determined enough to change this can do so.

I do try my best to give the good ones the respect that they have earned. Many times, they remind me of what I am supposed to do.

[NancyNurse08]

I can see how that might be degrading. When I was an aide, at the beginning of my shifts when I went room to room to check on each patient and introduce myself, I made my role clear to them by telling them that I am the one who brings snacks and warm blankets and helps them to th bathroom. Your nurse brings the medications and takes care of treatments, but I can check with your nurse if you have any questions. I didn't feel degraded at all because I accepted that my role was different from that of the nurse and went out of my way to let the patients know. I didn't feel that wiping butts was beneath me, because that was my JOB. I knew the nurses were too busy to do it, and that's why I was there. The way I see it, the patients have all these people that come and go, and it's hard to keep track of who does what. If I can explain to them at the beginning of my shift and make things easier, then why not?

[pagandeva2000]

Yes, it was degrading. It's unfortunate that we can't express the tone of the comments we share with each other on these forums, because I know the RN that said this to the patient and I know the CNA. I got the story second hand, but heard many of the comments made by this nurse and I know it was said with malice and disgust. Not a nice thing. This is also a person who doesn't call LPNs nurses, either...but we give medications, hang IVs and do treatments. Go figure...

[NancyNurse08]

When I was an aide, I overheard a patient asking the nurse if she could help the patient with their HS care. The nurse said "That's not my job. I'll get an aide to do it.". She then came out of the room and asked me to do it. That felt pretty degrading. At the same time, now that I am nursing, when I'm behind on my med passes and have a zillion things to do, and I go in to give a patient a pill and they want to go to the bathroom, brush their teeth, need a specific amount of ice to water ratio in their pitcher, and a clean gown, etc., when all I went in the room to do was give them one pill so that I could go attend to my other patients, I find myself understanding that nurse a little better. Of course, I have never said that's not my job, and I always stay and help the patient until they're settled, but I'm just saying that I can understand where that nurse was coming from.

Another time, I had a patient explode (poop all over the place) no less than ELEVEN times in my eight hour shift. And I had twelve patients. The final time, as I was coming out of the room with a bag full of soiled linen and washcloths, a nurse stopped me to tell me that so and so in room such and such needed her dentures soaked. I could not believe it. Why, I thought, if you were there, could you not put the dang dentures in a cup????? What do you think I've been doing all night, sitting on my butt?????

I can well understand the CNA's point of view. But what I get now is that that nurse might have had a lot on her plate too, and the few minutes it would have taken to put those dentures in a cup might have been a few minutes that she didn't have, and the other tasks she had on her plate were probably not tasks that she could delegate to a CNA.

[NancyNurse08]

I think, all in all, it will ever be thus. All I can do is be respectful of every coworker, from CNA to lab tech to EKG tech to transport, to house orderly, to MD, to charge nurse, etc. We are all on the same team and need to remember that. Happy New Year, everyone!

[southernbelle319]

I'm new here and just wanted to add in my 2cents . I've been a CNA for almost a year now and while I may gripe about the grillion things I have to do at once, I do my best to not give attitude to the nurse who asked me to do something. I KNOW that the tasks that are given to me have to be done and I do them without complaint (I gripe in my head lol). You don't have to be a nurse to know that nurses are busy even with 4-6 patients. I work with them everyday and they barely take a breath as they're going down the hall to do this that or the other for patient X. And if I truely need assistance from a nurse when another aide isn't available, they come in and help me even though they're busy and I always thank them for their help. And it makes me feel good that when a shift is over, and I'm about to leave, at least one staff nurse thanks me for my help for that day (I'm an agency aide, so I don't work the same floor everyday most of the time).
One of my problems is that if a nurse needs a small task done that would only take a minute, yet she went and searched for me for about 20, then why could she have not done it herself, whether I was busy or not? That's what doesn't make sense to me. If you have time to look for someone for about 20 minutes, then you have time to say put dentures in a cup for a pt. That's my biggest concern. I see how much the nurse has to do during the day and they've got a lot of charting to do, etc and some end up staying almost 2 hours past their shift to work on it. I'm very thankful for the wonderful nurses I get a chance to work with. The majority of them are great! You've got good and some not so good nurses, and you've also got your good and not so good techs/CNAs. Either way, thank you all for the service that y'all do! Sorry if I rambled, it's been a long day.

Have a good new year everyone!!

[Tweety]

Originally Posted by NancyNurse08

The fact is, the aides are there to help the nurses. Period.

Actually, they are there for the patients, not the nurses convenience, which is how some nurses treat their techs. But it is their job description to take direction from the licensed nurse.

Again, teamwork is the key, for the sake of the patient, but not all of us, licensed and unlicensed alike get this.

[Ruby Vee]

Originally Posted by chadash

Lately, I have been wondering about the use of nursing assistants in the hospital setting. Do you think it would benefit patients to have total care from a RN who has a lighter patient load?
.

I've been wondering the same thing. I work in ICU, and we still have a few patient care techs. They seem to spend most of their shift in the break room "on break" and the rest of it hiding, only to emerge every other hour or so to do a set a vital signs and an I & O. They not only get all their breaks EVERY day, but take time to walk to the market to buy their lottery tickets every day that the weather is nice. (That's not break time. They'll take an hour going to the market, then come back and sit down with some food they've purchased and take their break.) We have one tech who actually can be counted on to do some work . . . out of about 8. If I'm working with one of the other 7, I know not to count on them for anything. They'll disappear with no notice.

While making assignments not too long ago, the charge nurse asked me if a particular tech would work with me. "What do you mean?"

"Oh," said the charge nurse. "Prissy only likes certain nurses and if I put her with them she'll do her job. Otherwise she spends the whole shift in the break room complaining about the nurse."

I've worked with some great aides in the past, but at this point I'd just as soon get rid of the lot of them and expect to do my own work. ALL of my own work.

[husker_rn]

I guess I am one of the lucky ones; my CNAS do a great job as a rule. In the beginning I had to earn their respect; we see lazy CNAs but forget sometimes they become bitter working for lazy nurses....and we all know some of those too. I've told my staff that we all have lazy days...we just can't have them everyday. And I help them as I can too. I try to explain why I want what I want. Some things we'll talk about now, some things we'll talk about later and some things we don't talk about at all. Now they come with good questions about our clients health issues; and I enjoy teaching them.

[perfectbluebuildings]

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