A day in the life of............

fuzzywuzzy, CNA · Mar 19, 2009

Okay, so you want details? I'll do it! It's probably gonna be long though! This is how my day went today...

3 o'clock I come in. I'm working on a wing that I've hardly ever worked on. The alarms over here go off CONSTANTLY. At least one alarm is going off at all times. The last 2 days SUCKED, so I wasn't expecting anything great. I was supposed to be working with 3 other girls, one of whom just got off training. I've only ever worked with one of them. We start passing out linens in all the rooms. We're waiting for the girl I normally work with to show up. She never does. It's like 3:20 and we've barely gotten anything done! And we are one person short, and I just know it's going to be a bad day again. I find the other 2 in a LOM's room. I want a game plan- who is doing 1-assists and who is doing 2-assists, who are the showers, etc. The LOM is screaming, cursing, kicking, punching, etc. It takes 3 of us to get his pad changed. I'm so stressed out I just give up. The new girl asks me what's wrong and I say I DON'T want to be over here tonight!

Then the DON comes in and wants to talk to me about something that happened yesterday. I get a lecture and start to cry. She feels bad, and I feel stupid. I'm just SO stressed out being on this new wing, and nothing's been going right all week. When I come back, someone has been pulled to work with us until 7pm. Instant relief.

Somehow we get our rounds done, and supper trays come up at 5. I'm still kind of stressed out. We pass them out, feed, collect the trays, etc. One of the people I feed is the LOM from earlier. Suddenly he loves me now. :rolleyes: The new girl helps me put someone on the toilet. She's on my assignment and I quickly wash her and get her in bed. At least I got someone done! Plus, one of my other people is already in bed, so I won't have to bother with the lift. It's now 6 o'clock. Time for lunch break.

I return from break at 6:30. Our floater is putting one of my people to bed for me. I hurry up and do 2 of my 1-assists. Then my charge nurse tells me someone else wants to go to the bathroom. I get her washed while she's in there. The floater walks in just in time to help me transfer her into bed. I'm feeling much better now. I go to check on 2 of my other residents. They're wet. One of them weighs 300 pounds. By the time I'm done rolling her I'm panting! I pat myself on the back (which actually doesn't hurt!) for this feat.

By this time the new girl is back from lunch and our floater has to leave. I help the new girl hoyer someone into bed. It takes forever because the lady keeps pooping. I ask how she's coming along and she says she's still really slow. I tell her give it a few weeks and she'll be fine. Her next plan of action is to shower a combative woman. I offer to help her, because she really wants to get it over and done with. But the other CNA asks if she can use the shower first, because she needs to go to break right after that. I said go ahead, and started taking care of another resident. I was still in the middle of that when she finished, so she ended up helping the new girl instead.

After the other girl went on break there were only 2 of us on the floor- the bare minimum. I have 3 more residents to do, and they're all 2-assists. I don't want to ask the new girl to help me because she's got enough to do. The other aide is taking FOREVER to come back. I wash 2 people and get them changed into gowns- all I need is for someone to help me put them in bed so I can get their pants off and wash their bottoms. I ask the new girl how she's doing. She still has a lot of people to do. I do Mr. M for her. Then I head to Mrs. K's room to wash her, and someone else has already done it. I go bring the good news that 2 of her people are done. Then I ask her to help me throw the 2 I partially washed in bed. One of them is a hoyer. The past couple nights I have not used it with this resident. It's easier and faster to get her in bed without it. But the new girl is not taking any shortcuts yet.

Now I just have one person left, and she's a bed bath. I need to weigh her using the lift. We're not allowed to do that by ourselves. I gripe to myself about that... all I have to do is lift her an inch above the bed and lower her back down. There's nothing unsafe about it so it sucks that I need to get someone else. Plus, I can't find the equipment to wash her hair with. No one knows where it is. The other girl is still on break, so i can't leave the unit to look for it. Oh well. I gather all my supplies, get the lift pad underneath her, bring the lift in the room, and ask the new girl to weigh her with me. I still don't have the hair thing so I throw a bunch of pads on the bed. I need to change the sheets anyway- who cares if they get wet. By the time I'm done the whole thing is soaked. The resident's backside is covered in liquid poop. I knew that was coming because the last time I checked her she was starting to ooze. I get her clean, dry, lotioned, etc. I've been rolling her back and forth to wash her and now I have to change the sheets. I pull the sheet off one side of the bed, make a roll out of all the clean ones, and get everything positioned. By this time the other girl is back from break so I get her to help me finish.

It's 9:30. I rip through my paperwork. Then I have one more set of rounds to do. Every single person is wet again. I have to roll them, wash them with a rag, change the pads, empty the trash, blah blah blah. It's tedious because before this time I get my "rounds" done in little chunks, not this long assembly line of sleeping people. When I'm done I chart it all, add up the I&O, and I'm finished. I go off the help the new girl finish her rounds. The other aide, who is used to this unit and somehow finished doing everything much faster than we did does the chores. It's now 10:45, and I haven't sat down all shift. It turned out to be a good night though. I got everything done, I didn't screw up, I didn't miss any of my rounds. My feet are killing me and I go home and eat a big bowl of ice cream!

Ninja Nurse, ASN · Mar 25, 2009

Hey Fuzzywuzzy, sorry I haven't been on in a few days, but thank you so much for that reply. Midway through your day, I felt like I was running around with you...........or at least wished I was to lend a hand. :rolleyes: You sound like a great CNA and your team is lucky to have you.

adorblepuppy · Mar 26, 2009

fuzzy, you made me tired just reading through your day. I know that someone has to do it. And i am glad you can. But i could not work with that many people. The nursing home i am at right now only has 8 people and there are days they keep me on my toes. But only two are really total care. I am sorry you have had a bad day.

Dorali, BSN, LPN, RN · Mar 26, 2009

Fuzzy-It was so nice to read that you went to go help the new girl. That gives me hope that peoplewont be too hard on me! LOL!

You sound like a good one to have around!

Dondie

fuzzywuzzy, CNA · Mar 27, 2009

fuzzy, you made me tired just reading through your day. I know that someone has to do it. And i am glad you can. But i could not work with that many people. The nursing home i am at right now only has 8 people and there are days they keep me on my toes. But only two are really total care. I am sorry you have had a bad day.

It only started off bad. Overall it was fine. I like my job 90% of the time.

Mom2Cassidy · Mar 29, 2009

Fuzzywuzzy your post just brought back SOOOO many memories! I worked as a GNA for 3 three years, and have taken off the last 3 years to be a SAHM. I am getting ready to go back to school now, and untill I read you post I for got how much work I actually did being a GNA. It didn't feel like it at the time, I guess because I did love my job (for the post part :-)