PCT Interview With Staff RN's

Nursing Students Technicians

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I recently earned my Patient Care Tech certificate, and have my first job interview at a local hospital tomorrow. My first interview will be with the nurses on the shift that I applied for. I would like to hear from anyone who also Interviewed first with the Nurses. What are the basic questions you were asked.

Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.
Ladyfree rns cannot write up techs in my hospital. Even the charge nurse can't... only the manager can. With that being said, if an rn goes to the manager with a VALID complaint, the manager will write the tech up lol.

Is your manager NOT an RN???

Again, the FACT remains, licensed personnel ARE your immediate supervisors; good bad or indifferent.

Insubordination IS valid complaint; or not doing what is delegated to one as long as they are deemed competent of said delegation (ie in personnel file competency is signed off) is a writable offense that could lead to termination.

To say a nurse is "not the boss" is an oversimplification of the role of a licensed nurse; yes we are all important parts of the team, however, knowing and understanding the added responsibility of a licensed nurse, even when considering members of a team, including techs/CNAs/insert unlicensed personnel title here does make a difference and again, in shaping a strong team that is willing to uphold a particular units' philosophy, yes, licensed nurses have a say in personnel being hired, and this trend is not going away. :no:

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I don't have a problem with the RN being in charge of me, its not an ego thing. I just look at it from a practical perspective, it just doesn't work well when you have 5 RNs all trying to be in charge of one tech. That's too many chiefs and not enough Indians. I respect RNs and have no desire to do their job(that's why im going to school to be a Respiratory Therapist), and I think any good CNA or tech should have an eager to please personality, both towards the patients and the staff they work with.

Having said that in acute care it isn't ALL about pleasing people. This isn't like working at starbucks. When I work a shift I have an order of priority I follow. In order of importance they are 1) don't make any serious mistakes or screw up something that can cause harm to a patient 2) get all of the essential tasks im assigned done 3) do what I can to make the RNs job easier and free them up to focus on important things that only they can do. 4) keep the patients happy and comfortable.

The first priority is a non negotiable, and I will take being written up over risking that, and the 2nd priority can sometimes be tied to the first. For example the one time you are seriously late on vitals will be the time the patients BP is like 68/36, or their respirations are like 40 and their temp is 104 and they are going septic, or the one time you forgot a glucose check because you are too busy with extra tasks some RNs are piling on you will be the one time you finally get to it and the patients glucose is like 35.

I've been there when a tech got distracted by stuff some RNs throw on her and she forgot to put a high flow nasal cannula back on a patient. I had just poked my head in the room to say hi and happened to notice the patient was blue as a smurf and gasping, and when I put a pulse ox on em their o2 was like 56 and their heart rate 150. I've seen plenty of mistakes made by techs that were nearly disasterous, and they were almost always caused by being swamped by well meaning RNs who simply have no idea what that techs workload is, and the tech is too eager to please to say something or too scared to simply say no I cant do that right now.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.

I'm talking about ego either; in the 14 years I have been in this business, I learned that having mutual respect for the healthcare team goes a long way, even when there are times when team mates are not as, um respectful.

One of the routines I had as a Tech was I got report from the Tech I needed to relieve, as well as the nurse; it made my as well as the nurse's shift smoother; if I was in the middle of something, they knew, because communication was open; as a nurse, I extended the same courtesy to my Techs; I know how busy it gets, but I know where to find them, and they know where to find me. In the big picture and current trends, this is the RULE; having good communication, as well as the ability to effectively communicate will cut down interpersonal conflicts, which have been shown in studies to be directly related to patient safety-we all here for the pt, so having nurses be immediate supervisors down to choosing nurses and techs to help extend the same objective is paramount, because out ego has to check out for safety, especially when it comes to our patients.

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Funtimes a highly successful hospital it ran by many different chiefs so I found your comment funny in reference to many chiefs and not enough indians cause to many errors. Its about communication and focusing on each task individually to be a effective health care team member.

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I didn't say my nurse wasn't my supervisor, I said my nurse can't write me up. My manager is an rn, (with a second degree in business) yes, but we were referring to immediate supervisors. Perhaps you didn't read my earlier post about how I agree that rns are above cnas, but no, they are not my boss. I do what they ask and answer to them in some capacity, but they are not boss. It's like if you worked in retail. You would have the key supervisor (nurse working on floor) and the store manager (nurse unit manager). Kick and scream all you want, but in my hospital, a floor rn cannot write me up lol.

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Oh and also... where I work, cnas sit in on interviews and help pick who gets hired also.

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I'm talking about ego either; in the 14 years I have been in this business, I learned that having mutual respect for the healthcare team goes a long way, even when there are times when team mates are not as, um respectful.

One of the routines I had as a Tech was I got report from the Tech I needed to relieve, as well as the nurse; it made my as well as the nurse's shift smoother; if I was in the middle of something, they knew, because communication was open; as a nurse, I extended the same courtesy to my Techs; I know how busy it gets, but I know where to find them, and they know where to find me. In the big picture and current trends, this is the RULE; having good communication, as well as the ability to effectively communicate will cut down interpersonal conflicts, which have been shown in studies to be directly related to patient safety-we all here for the pt, so having nurses be immediate supervisors down to choosing nurses and techs to help extend the same objective is paramount, because out ego has to check out for safety, especially when it comes to our patients.

Yes... this... exactly

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Specializes in Forensic Psych.
I didn't say my nurse wasn't my supervisor I said my nurse can't write me up. My manager is an rn, (with a second degree in business) yes, but we were referring to immediate supervisors. Perhaps you didn't read my earlier post about how I agree that rns are above cnas, but no, they are not my boss. I do what they ask and answer to them in some capacity, but they are not boss. It's like if you worked in retail. You would have the key supervisor (nurse working on floor) and the store manager (nurse unit manager). Kick and scream all you want, but in my hospital, a floor rn cannot write me up lol.[/quote']

Exactly. It's not a philosophical debate - the RNs I work with are literally not my bosses.

My boss is our director. Their boss is our director. They can write me up...and I can write them up - both write-ups going to our director.

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Stephalump maybe you should read this

"Unlicensed assistive personnel (UAP) is an umbrella term to describe a job class of paraprofessionals who assist individuals with physical disabilities, mental impairments, and other health care needs with their activities of daily living (ADLs) and provide bedside care — including basic nursing procedures — all under the supervision of a Registered Nurse, Licensed Practical Nurse or other health care professional."

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Stephalump the link to my last post can be found under kand93s post

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"Unlicensed assistive personnel (UAP) is an umbrella term to describe a job class of paraprofessionals who assist individuals with physical disabilities, mental impairments, and other health care needs with their activities of daily living (ADLs) and provide bedside care; including basic nursing procedures; all under the supervision of a Registered Nurse, Licensed Practical Nurse or other health care professional."

This is true, PCTs do work under the supervision of a licensed Nurse, but that still doesn't mean that EVERY licensed nurse is in charge of you. Like Kenya said, where I work a floor RN cant write up a tech. Im not sure about a charge Nurse, as I've never actually had someone attempt to write me up. If an RN wants a tech written up I suppose it would be likely to happen if the complaint is valid, but you can also get written up if an oncoming shift tech complains that you left them a complete mess and your report was horrible. The only time in my CNA/Tech career I've ever been written up was in a Nursing home when an oncoming CNA complained that I didn't change a granny pad that had a small smear of BM on it for a person dying and on comfort care, who was in pain when we turned them. Petty? Maybe, but that's how Nursing homes roll.

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