To the RN I just had hospital orientation with today....

Nurses General Nursing

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Specializes in ED.

I realize that you are a recent graduate of a great RN program and you are flying high and feeling pretty proud of yourself. I am hoping to have those same feelings a year from now when I have my BSN.

Your elated feelings, however, do not give you carte blanc to already be talking smack about the "techs". You see, I'm in orientation with you today as "just a tech" but next year I could be your colleague. A few years from now I could very well be your charge nurse. Saying things like, "oh, the techs do that" or "I'm so glad I don't have to THAT anymore" when we are talking about bed baths, turning patients, etc. will get you no points from any tech I've worked with.

And just FYI... not every unit in our fine hospital even employs patient care techs and you are in for a rude awakening when you have to change your patient's soiled diaper or have to give a bed bath. Further, we are PATIENT care technicians, not nurse care technicians. We are here for the patient, not you. Oh, and guess what? When you need help on the floor, I think I'll be busy that day.

Sincerely,

Just the Tech

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Just The Tech,

I used to be you and understand. I treat everyone with respect-no matter their role or job title-unless they give me a reason to NOT like them. Did she forget that we are all part of a team???

otessa

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Specializes in ICU.

Goodness, this makes me so sad. I'm so glad I'm not a med/surg staff CNA anymore - not because of the sometimes unsavory aide duties or workload, but because of the nurse/aide animosity. It's ridiculous.

A good healthcare team involves several people with different assigned duties, working together to provide excellent patient care.

I've seen so many nurses bully new aides into doing things they were not comfortable with without offering to demonstrate the first time or assist the aide...and so many aides taking the easy way out of helping with the good old "that's not my patient" excuse. :( The coworker drama on my med-surg floors makes me never want to work med-surg again. ICU has their own drama, I'm sure, but at least there there's no nurse vs. aide drama (our 1 ICU aide almost always gets pulled to the floors), and no RN vs. LPN drama.

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Specializes in COS-C, Risk Management.

To the New Tech Who Oriented With Me Today:

I've only been an RN for less than a year and I'm still uncomfortable with all that I am supposed to know. Sometimes I miss the days when I "only" took vitals and gave bed baths all day and didn't carry the ultimate responsibility for a patient's life, but I can't admit that here. I have to at least look like I know what I'm talking about and what I'm doing, lest anyone think that I don't have what it takes. It's overwhelming, all the drugs, procedures, and pathophysiology and I can't yet speak intelligently on those subjects, but I don't want anyone to know that I'm still learning. Sometimes I talk smack about the techs because it wasn't so long ago that I was in that role and I worked so hard to be a real RN that I really want people to recognize that. Hopefully, in a few short years you will be in the same boat and you will realize how very hard it is to be where I am now--a nurse, but far from a seasoned pro. Please forgive my attitude, but know that it's from fear, not malice.

Sincerely,

Your New Grad RN Preceptor

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Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.

I'm sorry you were treated that way. I LOVE my techs they are my eyes, my ears and some days my brain! :D

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Specializes in Forensics, Trauma, Pediatrics,.

This definately makes me angry- I feel your pain, sister! I have been working as a CNA for three years now and it still amazes me the nerve *some* RNs have. Never in my career will I disrespect an aide/tech the way I was disrespected during my time in the field. No matter what I am doing, I have promised myself to always be the nurse that the aides are not afraid to come to and ask for help, they deserve it.

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You can always tell the nurses who were techs before they became nurses vs. those who were not...

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You can always tell the nurses who were techs before they became nurses vs. those who were not...

Not necessarily. I'm the only nurse in my facility who will do "tech" work, including those who were techs before.

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You can always tell the nurses who were techs before they became nurses vs. those who were not...

I agree that "not necessarily." I never worked as a tech, but I have always been an RN who will mop up a spill, help someone to the BR, change a diaper or bed, etc., rather than just telling someone else to do it. There's nothing that happens on my unit that's "not my job." Sometimes a particular task is not the most effective use of my time or not the highest priority for me at that particular time, but that doesn't mean I'm too good, or too smart, or too important to do it. And I don't believe (as much as anyone can know this about themselves :)) that I've ever treated the techs I've worked with disrespectfully or dismissively (in fact, at my current job, I hear back from many of the techs that most of the techs prefer working with me to working with most of the other RNs in the facility -- being assigned to work with me is considered a treat :)).

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Specializes in Psych, Onco, ED, Tele, Med/Surg.
You can always tell the nurses who were techs before they became nurses vs. those who were not...

That's what I'm told at work. I answer my own lights, potty my own people and do my own accuchecks when at all possible. There is one of me to four patients. There is one of you to 13-15 patients. I remember all too well what it was like to scramble the whole shift and have people look down on me. I promise I have never done that. Being a PCA/STNA/CNA for me was the basis of the philosophy on why I am now a nurse. Sorry you had a crappy day. Come work with me ;)

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You can always tell the nurses who were techs before they became nurses vs. those who were not...

Sorry, but I don't buy that either. You don't have to be a tech before you were a nurse to treat each other with kindness, compassion and respect.

(But I do get that I will never know what it is like to walk in those shoes because I haven't.)

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I love the NAs (as we call them) on my unit! They rock, they help with my total care patients when they know I'm busy. They save my orifice in emergencies by knowing exactly what I need and getting it without being asked. They are absolute pleasures to work with and I could not be the nurse I am each day without the amazing support of the NAs! And you know what, I will never be too good to give a bed bath or clean up incontinence because I am a nurse, not a med passer. Big thanks to the NAs that make my day easier and OUR patients' days better and brighter.

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