Attitude Adjustment

wow, i can't believe the array of comments. i am new to the forum and think this is a wonderful thing for nurses!
i agree with almost everyone has posted. yes there are good aides and bad aides, just as there are good nurses and bad nurses. we need to work together. i find that on my floor some of the nurses think that the aide is their personal assistant. i constantly remind myself that while i have 4-9 patients they have the whole floor to care for and are being pulled in different directions by all of the nurses on the floor that shift. when i ask them to do something, it is usually something that i really need help with. and usually i offer to do the work with them. i find it also helps to ask the other nurses what they need...an example would be if something is needed from central supply like a gomco or a late dinner tray. ask your fellow nurses if they need anything from those places, this will cut down the amount of time that the aides spend off of the floor and hopefully increase their productivity while they are on the floor.
hope this helped...happy nursing to all!!

My situation has improved--not because the NA's have gotten any better, but because I'm on 7p-7a and don't need their help as much! On nights, the RN's have a little more time to help one another and we don't rely as heavily on assistants. During the day, when you have doctors and families in the unit, and you're sending people for tests or surgery, it gets way hairy when you're trying to do it all. We generally don't have that at night, so I get along just fine.

The night nurses seem to do a better job functioning as a team--ie, not minding being asked for help--which I'm sure is a function of how busy we are. We're still busy, and we still work our butts off, but its a different kind of busy than you get during the day.

Thanks,
not-nancy

Not-Nancy:

No, you don't need an attitude adjustment. You have every right to expect things to be done that you ask of a nursing assistant, and if they aren't done, you should expect a valid reason.

That being said. Before I became nurse, I was a nursing assistant for three years. I often found that nurses had an unreasonable expectation of what could be done in what amount of time. Look into what you're asking the nursing assistants to do. Remember, too, that just because you can delegate, doesn't necessarly mean that you should. Especially in an ICU setting, I would never delegate something like vital signs.

Try to see yourself, too, from their point of view. Are you reading magazines or making small talk in your down time? Charting is of course necessary, but are you spending more time talking than writing? I remember one unit I was in as an NA where the nurses would do nothing about complain about how busy they were, while reading magazines!

Remember to be diplomatic, but firm. Let the people you're working with know that you expect either results, or an explaination.