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Maybe I am too tough???



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Jun 08, 2008 11:09 AM

Maybe I am too tough???



I am an agency LPN who works many shifts in a local LTC that is associated with a religious denomination.

The quality of many of their staff CNA's leaves a LOT to be desired. Attitudes, poor care and staff who simply are not to be found when callbells are ringing and alarms sounding...

In the past 3 months or so, I have personally written up 3 for talking back to me or refusing to do what was requested of them

Yesterday, one who I have already written up, and who has been written up by several other charge nurses, mouthed off to the other CN on my floor and when confronted, threw her badge at her, and walked out.

I do not feel that I am unreasonable.... all I ask is that they do their job, to the best of their ability, and to do it with kindness and compassion and with the realization that that person in the bed could be their mom or other loved one (or God forbid.... them one day)

How do theses people get hired in the first place???

Faye

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12 Comments
No. 1
from Atheos
Old Jun 08, 2008, 11:14 AM
Updated Jun 08, 2008 at 11:20 AM by Atheos

Default Re: Maybe I am too tough???
Originally Posted by scrappingfaye View Post

How do theses people get hired in the first place???

Faye

Desperation. Many CNAs are this way because they are allowed to be. These nursing homes need bodies and take any and all that are presented.

Only a few facilities are picky about who they hire and those are usually private pay. Not to mention, if a person interviews properly you will have no way off knowing the quality of their work since other facilities will only give up their dates of employment.

The only nursing home I have seen with all good CNAs axes bad ones immediately, have low CNA to Patient ratios (1 CNA to 8 patients on all shifts) and allowed me (yes my facility) to be very subjective in the hiring process (I am the staffing coordinator). Out of the 60 or so CNAs that have applied since I started 7 have been hired. 1 went PRN because a facility is a little too fast paced for her (she was a private duty aide) and another got fired because they some how made it under my radar (she yelled at me and somehow thought she could intimidate a 240lb man and went bye bye).

5 out of 7 is not bad. The others don't make it past the interview and get the 'If we approve your application we will get in touch' line. Sorry...
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No. 2
from Poochee
Old Jun 08, 2008, 12:01 PM

Default Re: Maybe I am too tough???
Originally Posted by Stanley-RN2B View Post
Desperation. Many CNAs are this way because they are allowed to be. These nursing homes need bodies and take any and all that are presented.

Only a few facilities are picky about who they hire and those are usually private pay. Not to mention, if a person interviews properly you will have no way off knowing the quality of their work since other facilities will only give up their dates of employment.

The only nursing home I have seen with all good CNAs axes bad ones immediately, have low CNA to Patient ratios (1 CNA to 8 patients on all shifts) and allowed me (yes my facility) to be very subjective in the hiring process (I am the staffing coordinator). Out of the 60 or so CNAs that have applied since I started 7 have been hired. 1 went PRN because a facility is a little too fast paced for her (she was a private duty aide) and another got fired because they some how made it under my radar (she yelled at me and somehow thought she could intimidate a 240lb man and went bye bye).

5 out of 7 is not bad. The others don't make it past the interview and get the 'If we approve your application we will get in touch' line. Sorry...
:y eah:
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No. 3
from Morning-glory
Old Jun 08, 2008, 01:54 PM

Default Re: Maybe I am too tough???
CN is a tough job. I have had the same kind of head-banging experiences with a few CNAs and LPNs. I would sometimes get in my car at the end of a shift and think that I was too tough on them, but then, I realized that it was only 2 or 3 of them that I was always after to do their darn jobs. So I want people to do what needs to be done, let everyone work in a harassement free environment, show up on time and stay till the end of your shift. That is not too much to ask, is it?

It isn't you. I don't know why these people work in a LTC facility if they hate working so much and don't like people. It isn't an easy job and you will get caught if you slack off.

I don't get it either.
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No. 4
from oooooooooo
Old Jun 08, 2008, 03:00 PM

Default Re: Maybe I am too tough???
The worst experience I've ever had with CNAs was in a LTC during my first semester. I went to get a sweater for a client. As I passed the nursing station, the nurses were trying to find a couple of CNAs. Where were they? In my client's room, spread out like they owned the place. They immediately started whining that they needed the study time so they could go to nursing school and PLEASE don't tell on us. I grabbed the sweater and left. At the time, I figured it wasn't any of my business other than to let my nursing instructor know.
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No. 5
from caliotter3
Old Jun 08, 2008, 03:13 PM

Unhappy Re: Maybe I am too tough???
When I was working as a CNA at a facility, there was another CNA who liked to disappear and smoke pot on the job. He had been fired twice from day shift and they hired him back but put him on night shift. After more than one hateful night of being paired with him, I angrily told the charge nurse not to ever pair me with him again. I would do my assignment alone, which is basically what I was doing anyway. Why would the management hire someone who liked to smoke pot on the job? Like others have said, desperation. At another place, an employee who was suspended from her job was called in to work because of a drastic shortage of staff. She was grinning and laughing away and continuing to give grief to the charge nurses. Of course she knew that she had everyone in a corner. In reality, it would have been better to fire her. That action would have helped morale. Again, desperation. And the thought that a body on the job is ok. Who cares what the body does or doesn't do?
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No. 6
from SuesquatchRN
Old Jun 08, 2008, 03:35 PM

Default Re: Maybe I am too tough???
We had one guy who was only fired after he dislocated a male denentia patient's shoulder.
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No. 7
from CapeCodMermaid
Old Jun 08, 2008, 08:34 PM

Default Re: Maybe I am too tough???
Originally Posted by Suesquatch View Post
We had one guy who was only fired after he dislocated a male denentia patient's shoulder.
I hope that guy was reported to the state....sure sounds like abuse or neglect.
And to the original poster....doesn't sound like you're too tough. It sounds like you're doing your job. I wish I had a few nurses like you ....mine act like they are afraid to discipline anyone.
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No. 8
from IndySkies
Old Jun 08, 2008, 09:37 PM

Default Re: Maybe I am too tough???
One of the reasons I will not work LTC any more. Discipline of CNAs, (now, I met a lot of them...I when I worked nites @ a nursing home...I had some of the best), is usually non-existant unless it is some grevious, suit libel malpractice occurance.

I had a CNA that stayed on the house phone for at lest 20 minutes...long distance no less...that when I told her politely to end her conversation..she cussed me out and left.

It was near the end of the shift so I finished her work. Informed the DON/Administrator the next day, (it was the eve shift).

The next day I worked, two days later, the CNA was back on the job like nothing happened. This is a typical result all too often.
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No. 9
from scrappingfaye
Old Jun 09, 2008, 05:49 AM

Default Re: Maybe I am too tough???
Thanks....

I only wish I was an RN....I would try to be the DON in this place.

I started doing agency here, because I knew the DON.... she came into this place in the middle of the mess, and tried to make changes, but the Administrator and those at the top, only see dollars and cents.... she told me one time the NHA hires these people, and when I try to get rid of them, I get grief.

She quit a few months ago, because the state was due in, and she had vacation scheduled and was told "if the state walks in, you need to drop everything and get back here...." that was the last straw for her.

When the person who had accepted the spot heard all the time she had spent doing all the things she had been doing.... she quit before she even started.

Thankfully, the new DON was in the building on Saturday (he got called in when the agency RN supervisor didn't show for her day shift.....) so the limited conversation I had with him, he seems like things may change for the better...

You are right.... all I expect is that if you are to do a job, do it!!! I tell my staff (particularly if we are short) "As long as everyone is clean, safe and happy, I'm happy" -- I cannot answer call bells, check on alarms, and still pass my meds safely.

Faye
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