I still don't understand why a hospital would hire cna's, or techs but not lpn's

Nurses Relations

Published

Just curious here, the last hospital I worked in was a magnet hospital and they were not hiring any lpn's even for outpatient. They fired their lpn's even the ones who had been there 20 plus years. Now I can get why a hospital would feel that more educated nurses would deliver better patient care but here's what I don't understand: THE CNA"S THERE WERE ALLOWED TO DO ALL KINDS OF THINGS i have never seen cna's do. They did all the vitals, blood sugar checks, Iv removal and catheter removal. They also prepped patients for surgery, even communicated with doctors at times.

I guess there are things about this whole system I don't understand. Who is actually deciding these things? Insurance companies? Other nurses? Doctors? Non medical board of directors? Is it really just a way to cut costs?

"aides" = auxiliary staff

"aids" = a sexually transmitted immunological disorder

I didn't know that AIDS was just transmitted sexually. Learn something new everyday... Although I think those that may have contracted AIDS via blood transfusion would tend to disagree...

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Well, I never said it was only transmited sexually.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.
I see a lot of posts regarding efficiency and money, but I always thought it had to do with magnet status. That is that 80% of nurses would need to have a BSN or higher. So then 20% would be LPN/LVN or ADN level nurses. I know the hospital which I am a tech for currently, will hire ADN nurses but they must sign a contract to obtain their BSN within a set amount of time. They have NO LPN's or LVN's on staff.

The trend to remove LPN's from higher-acuity hospital units started long before the Magnet Program came into being. We stopped hiring LPN's in the ICU's back in the 70's for all the reasons discussed above ... and that has simply spread to the rest of the hospital.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
I can't believe you are shocked that aides can take vitals, blood sugars or remove foley catheters. These are basic things that shouldn't require a license at all. If aides couldn't do these things, then what use would we be? I work at one facility that allows aides to do straight caths and foley insertions (I was shocked by this) and I work at another that allows blood draws.

The only thing that shocks me is IV removals. I disagree with that completely. And prepping for surgery...how? And what are they talking about in terms of communicating with doctors?

Can you explain the IV removal thing? I do this ALL the time, as an aide. In fact, we probably remove them more than the RNs do. I do agree we shouldn't be inserting them but removing an IV is pretty basic, too, IMO.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Pedi.
Can you explain the IV removal thing? I do this ALL the time, as an aide. In fact, we probably remove them more than the RNs do. I do agree we shouldn't be inserting them but removing an IV is pretty basic, too, IMO.

I don't understand the shock over IV removal either. Removing an IV is barely more complicated than taking off a band-aid. Certainly you would not ask an aide to remove a PICC line or deaccess a port-a-cath but a peripheral IV? I don't see a problem with this. Heck, when I have my MRIs not only are the IVs removed by the tech, they place them as well!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
I don't understand the shock over IV removal either. Removing an IV is barely more complicated than taking off a band-aid. Certainly you would not ask an aide to remove a PICC line or deaccess a port-a-cath but a peripheral IV? I don't see a problem with this. Heck, when I have my MRIs not only are the IVs removed by the tech, they place them as well!

The super paranoid nursing school (ASN) rationale is that you're assessing for the entirety of the catheter, and assessing for a resultant embolus.

As a PCT in a hospital, I wish I could take out foleys, IV's, etc

:snurse:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment