Please be nice to your aides.

[IlliniHelper]

I have just finished my clinicals as a CNA, I am a PLT as well. I decided to stop for now and work as a Medical Assistant, a sort of "short cut" at my age of 40. I hold a 4.0 GPA and have 45 college credits, I can do wound care and test blood glucose, I can also bathe, feed and the hands on care that many RNs, and LVNs feel they are too good to do anymore. I can do stress tests, breathing test, strep, cultures and then take them to the lab and test them. I wipe away the tears of the elderly that cry for you and that many ignore. So if you are not one of these hellish nurses who have forgetten to check themselves at the door, please be nice. The aides are the ones who the family respects and often loves. I never plan to work as a CNA because I would have to put many haughty "nurses"in their place and would end up fired more often than not.

I dont claim to be superior, because I dont view any of you as superior. It matters not in this profession how well you are loved, but how well you love and tolerate others. Many of you dont deserve the wages you reap. I am sorry, but a slip a paper doesnt warrant the exhorbinate wages you get. The ones who deserve that wage are the nurses in hosiptals. The ones in nursing homes simply do not. Sorry, you just dont. You took the easy way out.

So just because some bully nurse treated you like dirt when you were a student, or you resent their youth and enthusiasm or vitality, or you resent having to teach them for 23 bucks an hour, I say...cheer up! Your never out of a job, you have made a choice to work long shifts, so dont call it sacrifice. Its work. Good old fashioned work. I waited until my kids were in Jr, and Sr. high. Its possible. Especially if your husband makes plenty of money to live off of.

Please be nice, because these young women you are pushing around really dont deserve it. You are not out there wiping butts, and puke and being groped hourly by old men.

[chrisrn24]

And let the storm begin...

OP there are plenty of nurses who are unlike what you described. Maybe you are working at a bad facility. I work as an RN in LTC thank you very much. I have a lot of duties and on top of that, I will always help my aides if I have free time. OP I wipe bits every day, toilet people every day and provide hands on care every day to my residents.

If you actually worked as a LPN or RN for a day you would regret this. How embarrassing.

[pixiestudent2]

You sound bitter, maybe jealous. A nurses education is not just a piece of paper, if that were the case maybe you would be a nurse too. I hope you have a better day tomorrow.

[egglady, LPN]

HOLY CRAP!!! This is gonna get good... Hang on while I get the popcorn and wait for the show! Perhaps a troll??

[ChristineN, BSN, RN]

You are aware that many LTC nurses did not "choose" LTC, but it may have been the only job they could find? And all you have to do is to do a quick search on this site to see that many nurses are indeed out of work or have trouble finding another job.

So please, don't act like CNA's and MA's are the only ones that deal with unemployment or are the only ones who work hard. I was a tech before I got my RN and I value my techs greatly.

[xoemmylouox, ASN, RN]

Wow.. The OP needs a clue.

[danceyrun]

Oh no she didn't. This outta get good!

[roser13, ASN, RN]

S.I.G.H.

OP, no matter where you work and with whom you work, you will no doubt see the good, the bad and the ugly.

Across the board. In all disciplines.

Make up your mind to create your own personal work ethic. Abide by that.

Avoid those who have no work ethic. Pay no attention to those who do not work.

You will be satisfied in your work. Matters not what others do or don't do. You are not in a position to know or judge what they do or don't do.

You are only accountable for yourself.

[blackvans1234]

While I know what you're saying (im a CNA in a local hospital), 99.9999% of nurses are exceptional.

This is the problem:

In nursing homes, CNA's do the care, RNs give the meds.

CNA's have 10-15 patients on average, providing care and ADL's as needed. I could write a long paragraph describing the duties of a CNA, but everyone here knows them.

RNs (or LPN's) have 20+ patients and the main thing they have to do is give meds. That is what it seems like to the CNA. However the nurse does much more than that. The nurse comes in, gets report on each patient as needed. The nurse then has to start giving meds, which includes verifying current order, checking the med to make sure it is right, and then checking the med to make sure there aren't any contraindications (other meds or BP / Pulse / Resp not within limits.). These things can take an extremely long time, when you consider that each resident may have anywhere from 5-25 meds they need to take EACH. Imagine having to crush these meds and then give them through a feeding tube? There are additional assessments that go along with that, check for placement, check bowel sounds, check residual etc.

Also, the nurse needs to do dressing changes as needed, assessments as needed, rounds etc.

On top of that the nurse needs to document everything, which meds they gave, which they did not and why?, and the typical assessments.

I am a current nursing student and I work as a CNA in a hospital. I consistently hear CNA's complain about RN's doing nothing, I understand where they are coming from, and I also understand that they are not aware of the full picture.

There are times when I see RN's sitting in the nurses station, the unaware person would assume they are just 'taking a break', but I am aware that they have to do untold amounts of charting, which is a PITA for them as well.

I rarely see RN's browsing the web for a minute or two, but this is not consistent. I do not judge them for this as I will occasionally sit and veg out to get my thoughts straight (as long as my patients are good).

Both sides understood.

(however you're in the wrong place to get support for your rant)

[VANurse2010]

I'm sure many of us, including myself, could give a nice biting reply. But, I think I'll just leave it at this: OP, you don't know what you're talking about, period.

[Mommy&RN, BSN, RN]

I work in a hospital. I changed briefs and my tech and I teamed up to give out patient a bath. She's a very dedicated and through PCT. Could she have done all of the above tasks on her own? I guarantee she could. I respect her enough to help her with "her tasks".

Funny thing about that piece of paper that's hanging on my refrigerator, it is MY license. If you don't desire to advance your education, that's your decision. Does that make me superior, nope. It does mean when you work with an RN (s)he is supervisory over what you do, when you function as a CNA, you are practicing under the RN's license.

Some of your statements would be considered hostile, insubordinate, and quite frankly just plain rude.

With your lack of respect for nurses, maybe it is better for you to perform as an MA, so that you are practicing under the MD/DO's license.

[DoeRN]

Maybe you should shadow a nurse to actually see what we have to do before you pass judgement. And the last time I checked I still wipe butts too. I did last Friday and no, I didn't go find the CNA to do it either. I toileted the patient myself.

As far as I know ALL of us are there to take care of the patient. It is no us versus them. If you have this attitude maybe you should find another area where you don't have to work around the mean, lazy and bad nurses. A doctors office or some type of clinic maybe?

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