Not willing to do the dirty work?

[stratus93]

Hi all! I am not sure if I am posting this in the right area of the this site (I am a nub)

But I was talking to my girl friend and apparantly the new RN interns at the hospital dont want to do the basic cna stuff. This includes wiping butts, showering patients etc etc. Thoughts on this? I was pretty annoyed with what she told me. I got my cna and busted my butt off in clinicals ( I was the only male out of a class of 18 so I had to do my best) but its really annoying. According to there logic "There RN's so they SHOULDNT do the jobs that the CNA do"

Like me my gf was astonish by those words. I mean yes at times its disgusting but the job has to be done. My gf's mom is a charge nurse and she helps out her CNA's when they need it.

So what do you think? I personally dont mind wiping/ cleaning. The smells are gut wrenching at times but you do what you got to do.

[blt99]

I agree with and respect everything that has been said, but I would like to add two things that I have had to think about lately.

1. Especially first semester nursing students on their first clinicals - we want to see things, we want to have exciting experiences, we are full of wonder and curiosity. Having to spend an hour cleaning up diarrhea while there's a code down the hall gives us a case of "I wish". A good student will reconcile this and say "there will be another opportunity for me to see that". Personally I don't mind having to do the dirty work, but that's not the whole reason I came to nursing school. I came to learn, and missing out on educational experiences to clean explosive code brown can get you down. My suggestion on this (from the preceptor or educator standpoint) is encouragement and supplemental education - I'm sorry you had to do that, thank you for doing it, now lets talk about that tarry black stool, look at that developing pressure ulcer.

2. The second part is a touchy topic - please. Telling me in a condescending way that I have to clean up, by myself, doesn't make me any more thrilled or thankful to do it. If you ask me politely if I will help you by bathing your patient, I'm more than happy to help out. Please is still the magic word. For the past 2 weeks, on our floor, there have been no PCTs at all. There was a big difference in attitude and willingness when we as students were asked to abandon our normal patient routine and just do the PCT jobs for the day to help the nurses, than there was when we are told by random nurses on the floor that we have to give a bath to their patient. It's not always what you say, it's how you say it.

[mzimmer723]

Let me just say that my "attitude" does NOT need adjusted in any way, shape or form! I have been an aide for a long time. I'm not above or beyond patient care, nor will I ever be! But any of you who are nurses...cannot tell me for ONE MINUTE that you spend your entire day doing PATIENT CARE!! When did you LEARN to be a nurse and not an AIDE?? ALL I am saying is...my clinical experience has been NOTHING BUT BEING AN AIDE! When am I supposed to learn to DO MY JOB AS A NURSE WHEN I GRADUATE FROM WHAT IS SUPPOSED TO BE NURSING SCHOOL??? READ THE FINE PRINT before you tell me to "suck it up!!!"

[Stephalump]

Let me just say that my "attitude" does NOT need adjusted in any way, shape or form! I have been an aide for a long time. I'm not above or beyond patient care, nor will I ever be! But any of you who are nurses...cannot tell me for ONE MINUTE that you spend your entire day doing PATIENT CARE!! When did you LEARN to be a nurse and not an AIDE?? ALL I am saying is...my clinical experience has been NOTHING BUT BEING AN AIDE! When am I supposed to learn to DO MY JOB AS A NURSE WHEN I GRADUATE FROM WHAT IS SUPPOSED TO BE NURSING SCHOOL??? READ THE FINE PRINT before you tell me to "suck it up!!!"

My CI has been very specific about us NOT spending out entire time doing aide work. We're there to learn to be nurses, not aides. Being a nurse involves ADLs when required by your patients, not floating from room to room changing briefs. I have one pt I am responsible for. That includes everything the pt needs that's within my scope. I have no problem helping out with other pt's needed if I'm really needed, but I'm not there to shadow the PCAs or BE a PCA. Every nurse I've worked with has been great about it, but a couple PCAs have been irritated that during down time we're looking up paths/meds instead of manning the call lights nonstop. I

[mzimmer723]

Not my attitude at all. I have never said I'm above doing pt. care. Not one time. What I AM saying is...when I graduate, I will have had little to NO experience doing duties that are assigned to a nurse. I will NOT be confident in my job, nor will I come across as being even CLOSE to knowing what I am doing except for basic patient care. Let me ask you...when your loved one is in a nursing home, would you expect the nurse to be able to administer medications and IV's and treatments to them? Or would you expect them to not know what they are doing except when it comes to giving a bath or cleaning up BM? I went to nursing school to further my career. Not be an aide. I WOULD NEVER NOT clean a patient up, give a bath or assist them to the bathroom! Even as a nurse! I want to be a good nurse. Period. I can't learn to do that while I'm being an aide for free. I've been an aide for a long time. Not above it at all. I don't see many nurses out there giving baths and doing assessments at the same time. Sad to read your pitiful comment.

[AgentBeast, BSN, RN]

That is not the American way!

Yeah that is unfortunate, and probably a big part of why the country is as divided and messed up as it is.

[Pepper The Cat, BSN, RN]

I don't see many nurses out there giving baths and doing assessments at the same time.

Here in Canada we practise total pt care. That means I do baths, etc. And yes, I assess my pt as I bathe them. I look at there skin - any areas of breakdown? skin turgor? dryness? I assess their ROM - is the effected side from a CVA improving? Or are they losing function. I assess their output - are they dehyrated? over hydrated? constipated? I assess their cognitive function by the way they respond to my questions. I assess their mobility as I walk them to the BR. I assess their respiratory status by observing who they breathe as they do things. I can assess their pain level as I help them walk/move. And so forth.

Frankly, I don't know how you can do a full assessment without performing some hands on care.

[Sunnyrah]

I'm a senior in a BSN program (you get your gen. ed and pre-reqs at a college and then "transfer" into the 2-yr nursing program) and they required us to get our CNA license before we could transfer into the nursing program and start clinicals. I also currently work on a med/surg floor as a cna, so I see both sides to this situation.

I definitely think it's important to learn from the ground up and get that ADL experience. I was really offended on my first day off orientation whenfor some reason I couldn't get an oral or axillary temp from a total care patient and when I asked the RN what she recommended, she replied "I don't know what YOU GUYS DO when you can't get a temp!" Uhhh, seriously you never had to get a temp before?!

That said, I think that there's definitely a point where you have mastered that and need to focus on developing your RN, critical-thinking skills. Last spring, my clinical instructor made us provide hygience care, vitals, and blood sugars for every patient on the unit whether or not they were our assigned patient. This fall of our senior year, the clinical instructors said that we were not to provide ADLs/hygiene and that we were not there to be "mini-CNAs" and we needed to develop our critical thinking skills.

[Sunnyrah]

Definitely agree with #1 -- it's not that I don't think it should be done, but that they required us to get CNA license before starting our RN program and I am in the program to learn new things, how to be an RN.

[nguyency77, CNA]

I once worked with this RN who recently came to the US from the Phillipines. She would not come near any vomit, urine, or feces. Even if she was in a room with a patient who needed to toilet, she would rather spend 15 minutes looking for me than just sucking it up and doing it.

Heaven forbid that those people end up being future coworkers.