Nursing Assistants Responsibilities-I Need Help!!

Nurses General Nursing

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I had an event happen at work and would like some feedback or advice from all of you. I have been a nurse now for just over 5 yrs and during that time have worked critical care right from the start. I had two out of three of my patients the other day needing a lot of attention including a spastic family member. I went to one room to check a blood pressure when I needed to be in another room at the same time I am sure you get the picture. While I was in there she asked for the bedpan (which she had been on several times and not having a BM) I was so busy I ask that she put the light on for help from a nursing assistant, apparently the patient complained and I was remrimanded and told I should have taken care of it that it took just as much time to put her on the bed pan as it would take for an assistant to come in. I was so frustrated I said I have two critically ill patients what do you want me to do? Was not a good conversation with an assistant manager. Later I asked the assistant about it and she replied well if you were in the room you should have taken care of it. My reply was I always help you when you need it and she agreed, I said I really wish you guys could walk a day in our shoes to truly understand what we are up against. She is an excellent assistant but I did her job at one time and it does not compare to the reponsibility a nurse has. What do you think?

Specializes in Med/Surg.

I can understand where you are coming from, however, i believe that nursing is a team approach. I have been a cna for (going for lpn) 4 years, and i have had as much as 50 people to myself on a floor with a nurse who slept at the nurses stateion (i worked nights in a ltc center). i realize you had 2 critical patients, which is understandable. however, put yourself in the patient's shoes. you need to go NOW, and you have someone telling you to wait. that would kind of piss you off wouldnt it? now i have another question, was the other critical patient stable? if not, then well, i believe you acted under your best judgement. next time try documenting the situation, this way you can show your supervisor the facts of what happened. if it was someone you thought you coul dput on the bedpan yourself, then put them on and tell the aide to get them off.

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Specializes in Med/Surg.
Hey!

I have been on both sides of the coin.A CNA and now a LPN for 17 years. I am a traveling nurse now and heres what iv'e noticed in many states..CNA's rule the roost..It sucks that I get out of report and have to put out fires just to start my night.After report I'm checking charts for new orders that have gone unoted,faxing pharmacy for the meds from the unoted orders and trying to update my MARs to avoid a med error..and have CNAs coming to me telling me my pt needs pain meds(which they only know from answering a lousy call light from the desk).Can any of those "chores" be delegated to a CNA..NO!!

Once I get through the first 10 minutes of hell..I look over and see the CNA's still sitting @ the desk. Why aren't they taking pt's to the BTR,getting ice water, giving coffee and blankets out before heading down the hall for 8pm vitals?

I finally find the next few minutes to give the pain meds,introduce myself to pt's and finally start my "routine". When CNA's are trained they should be taught to hit the floor and check on pt's find out what they need and get it! To be told by a CNA "i'm getting vitals now,I'll get it in a few" infuriates me! I am expected to drop what I'm doing and provide pt care on a regular basis..why shouldn't the CNA's be expected to do the same? I pass HS meds and spend the majority of my time being asked for ice water or help to the BTR.Get real! I will be lucky to pass all my meds inside the window..not to mention if assessments aren't done before the HS med pass you have to wake them up or god forbid something was missed that was serious.CNA's need to do their own job! I do mine and help readily with turning pts(some places pt's are only turned if you go get the CNA and HELP her),BTR runs,bedpans,HS snacks because I provide good care.I do believe in and practice Team Nursing, but come'on it's getting ridiculous when a nurse is called to a managers office for not putting a pt on a bedpan..if there are CNAs they should work as hard as everyone else or go to school so they can be overworked and underpaid as a nurse.I'm tired of having to check my own HS glucoses,pass my HS snacks and get ice water.I will do this occasionally but I will go to the CNA and remind her she is also part of the team. If you let them slide and do their job then you are either to meek for confrontation and will be doing their job forever..until you lose your license for not doing YOUR job.Is "I was a putting a pt on a bedpan an acceptable excuse in a courtcase? CNA's need to do there share and I will help but I will not be taken advantage of..or reprimanded for not doing their job. I am a good nurse and have satisfied pt's..I provide quality care even if I have to confront and "delegate" to slow moving,inflexible CNA's. Just my thoughts

I'm sorry you had a bad experiences with CNA's. Not all cnas are as you descriebed. i take pride in my hard work, and i do my job well thank you. i, LIKE you can't be in 2 places at once, and yes there can be a court case made out of not putting someone on the bedpan. it's called neglect. read up on it. I dont know what state you are in that allows CNAs to do BS. in VA they are not allowed to do so. there are a lot of good hardworking cnas like me who represent the MAJORITY. the "lazy inflexable cnaS represent the MINORITY. were you one of the "lazy inflexable cnas"? be honest with yourself.

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Specializes in Onc/Hem, School/Community.
If I'm in the room, I'll put the patient on the bedpan, then ask the assistant to keep an ear out for when the patient is done while I take care of the other patients.

That has been my experience also.

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Specializes in Onc/Hem, School/Community.
Hey!

I have been on both sides of the coin.A CNA and now a LPN for 17 years. I am a traveling nurse now and heres what iv'e noticed in many states..CNA's rule the roost..It sucks that I get out of report and have to put out fires just to start my night.After report I'm checking charts for new orders that have gone unoted,faxing pharmacy for the meds from the unoted orders and trying to update my MARs to avoid a med error..and have CNAs coming to me telling me my pt needs pain meds(which they only know from answering a lousy call light from the desk).Can any of those "chores" be delegated to a CNA..NO!!

Once I get through the first 10 minutes of hell..I look over and see the CNA's still sitting @ the desk. Why aren't they taking pt's to the BTR,getting ice water, giving coffee and blankets out before heading down the hall for 8pm vitals?

I finally find the next few minutes to give the pain meds,introduce myself to pt's and finally start my "routine". When CNA's are trained they should be taught to hit the floor and check on pt's find out what they need and get it! To be told by a CNA "i'm getting vitals now,I'll get it in a few" infuriates me! I am expected to drop what I'm doing and provide pt care on a regular basis..why shouldn't the CNA's be expected to do the same? I pass HS meds and spend the majority of my time being asked for ice water or help to the BTR.Get real! I will be lucky to pass all my meds inside the window..not to mention if assessments aren't done before the HS med pass you have to wake them up or god forbid something was missed that was serious.CNA's need to do their own job! I do mine and help readily with turning pts(some places pt's are only turned if you go get the CNA and HELP her),BTR runs,bedpans,HS snacks because I provide good care.I do believe in and practice Team Nursing, but come'on it's getting ridiculous when a nurse is called to a managers office for not putting a pt on a bedpan..if there are CNAs they should work as hard as everyone else or go to school so they can be overworked and underpaid as a nurse.I'm tired of having to check my own HS glucoses,pass my HS snacks and get ice water.I will do this occasionally but I will go to the CNA and remind her she is also part of the team. If you let them slide and do their job then you are either to meek for confrontation and will be doing their job forever..until you lose your license for not doing YOUR job.Is "I was a putting a pt on a bedpan an acceptable excuse in a courtcase? CNA's need to do there share and I will help but I will not be taken advantage of..or reprimanded for not doing their job. I am a good nurse and have satisfied pt's..I provide quality care even if I have to confront and "delegate" to slow moving,inflexible CNA's. Just my thoughts

I am a nursing student and have been a CNA for many years. The ONLY time I ever recall sitting at the nurses' station is when I twisted my ankle at work. If you've got nursing assistants hanging around the desk doing nothing, then kick some butt and take some names; but, don't include ALL CNAs under your umbrella of laziness. Thank you.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, ICU, educator.

Where I work, we are not hiring new CNAs and the old ones are being weeded out. Nurses are being told that we need to do team nursing or total pt care (med-surg floor). We are understaffed, and some nights, we just feel like sitting around and crying :crying2: .

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Specializes in Onc/Hem, School/Community.
Where I work, we are not hiring new CNAs and the old ones are being weeded out. Nurses are being told that we need to do team nursing or total pt care (med-surg floor). We are understaffed, and some nights, we just feel like sitting around and crying :crying2: .

I cannot imagine them doing that to you! My goodness! Well, not unless they kept you at 3 or 4 patients. I'm sorry they are doing that to you. Its ridiculous.:angryfire

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Specializes in ER, PACU.
I'm sorry you had a bad experiences with CNA's. Not all cnas are as you descriebed. i take pride in my hard work, and i do my job well thank you. i, LIKE you can't be in 2 places at once, and yes there can be a court case made out of not putting someone on the bedpan. it's called neglect. read up on it. I dont know what state you are in that allows CNAs to do BS. in VA they are not allowed to do so. there are a lot of good hardworking cnas like me who represent the MAJORITY. the "lazy inflexable cnaS represent the MINORITY. were you one of the "lazy inflexable cnas"? be honest with yourself.

I agree that not all CNA's are lazy, I work with many great CNA's and they are worth thier weight in gold. However you are dead wrong about saying that there would be a lawsuit over a bedpan. When you become a nurse, you will learn about PRIORITIZATION. The PRIORITY is the patient who has life threatening issues. Not being able to go to the bathroom for a few minutes is hardly life threatening. The other patient this nurse has who was critical did have life threatening issues. When you are a nurse you will understand how to prioritize, just like now you have many patients that all need you at the same time, but there are reasons why you attend to one patient before another. You will also learn in nursing school what constitues "neglect". You have to prove in a court of law that your actions caused real harm to the patient. Not giving someone a bedpan for 5 minutes until the CNA got there is hardly going to cause any injury.

This is the whole point of this thread. The CNA's do not understand how to prioritize based on medical need, and they get angry with the nurses. This thread is just one example of that. To this poster..when you go back to nursing school and learn about priority of care, you will change your mind on this.

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I worked in the banking industry for several years prior to becoming a nurse. I feel the atmosphere was like "big brother watching all the time", but in the hospital I work in, the opposite is true. We have no authority figure. There should be someone in charge (not just a charge nurse, which on our unit is our peer) Our Nurse manager says the Rn's are in charge, but look what happens when we try to delegate, we are called lazy, or were not team players, we are bossy, bullies, etc. If we had an authority figure walking around offering help and over seeing others, she could write up the sleeping nurse, or ask the CNA why she sitting behind the desk, she could tell them go see if the patients need anything, don't wait for the call bell to go off. I feel there is always something that could be done, clean up the patients room, organize the med cart, check the supply room, ask anyone else if they need help, there is no reason why anyone should be sitting idle.

Another thing that would help is a list of the top priorities posted for CNA, along with things to do when they have idle time. This would help reiterate to them what exactly their responsibilities are. I feel a lot of our CNA's have the attitude, the nurse can do it just as well as I can. And yes I can, however, can you do my job, NO.

I feel (at least in our hospital) they put too much on the Rn's. I do not want to manage the CNA's and unit clerks. I have no power over them, I don't even have input in their review, and they know this.

I understand that CNA's have a lot of patients, but why is Rn always at fought when you are overwhelmed. Chances are when you are overwhelmed we are too. And most of the time when one Rn is busy we are all busy, we have no one to turn to either. CNA's need to do what the nurse are instructed to do, PRIORITIZE. Leave that bath or bed change for the next shift, most nurses will stand behind you 100%. I find day shift especially is consumed with those types of tasks, forget it. VS, I&O, getting the PT ready for Pt/Ot, toileting, things like this should take priority.

I love being a nurse and enjoy the floor that I work on. The worst part of my job is the hard feeling that seem to exist between the CNA's, units clerk and Rn's, some people spend more type watching others than doing their own job.

I think of the hospital team as a baseball team. You need all the players doing their job to the fullest. I can't be a pitcher if I am constantly covering home base, I will only step in when need be. If I cam constantly doing someone else's job, how can I possible be doing mine. :nurse:

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