All you do is pass meds and chart....I do everything else........

Nurses General Nursing

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how can a tech who has been a CNA for 20 years be so clueless?????????

Gee, I didn't realize my job was so easy. Why was I one hour late getting home tonight?

Not to slam techs. I'm having a bad day.

Because when a person has their head up their orifice, they typically don't have a clear field of vision lol.

Exactly! :chuckle

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

Ahhh tweety that shift did indeed stink huh. put your feet up and take well-deserved break. ((hugs))

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Specializes in Hospice, Med/Surg, ICU, ER.

Tell the CNA to attempt aerial intercourse with a motivated pastry. :rotfl:

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Specializes in LTC, home health, critical care, pulmonary nursing.
I've even had CNA's put forth the notion that I should put off a medpass until after everyone is gotten up. Isn't that bogus? Often, these are the same CNA's who call in and ask me to cover for them while they take off.

That's funny, because I work with a nurse who refuses to start a med pass until everyone is up, and refuses to allow anyone to leave the dining room until her med pass is done because she's "...65 and ain't gonna walk all the way down the hall..."

Sorry about your day Tweety, take comfort in knowing that not all of us are that naive.

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Specializes in Staff nurse.

...here's a hug, Tweety! Some of the NAs where I work will tell me "the IV in 66 is beeping". I am usually running around doing nurse things so I will ask, "why is it beeping?" "i don't know". So I will say, "If I go in 66 and see that the IV machine is beeping because it is unplugged, I am not going to be happy, as you can see I am busy...please check to see if it needs plugging in". Some have learned to check to see if it is unplugged or infusion complete, others continue to sit at the nurses station and read mags or the paper or play on the computer. Sigh...so we feel your pain.

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Alright, I've been an aide for 5 years and never, never, never have I thought that you should put aside med pass so you can help us get people up. I look at the nurse's faces as I pass them and I can see the stress pouring from them. That's my que that if it's not important to leave them alone. I try to put myself in the nurse's shoes. There's alot of pressure to make sure things are right. You have to think when you're doing meds. You certainly don't want to give a wrong med so you take the extra time to make sure everything is ok. Afterall, it's YOUR license on the line, not the aides.

You do much more than pass meds and chart. You do assessments, call doctors, get new orders, figure out those orders when they're not right, discharge pts, page doctors, admit pts, IV's hung, IV antibiotics hung, med audits, page doctors again, listen to pts. and family members concerns. Then there is the endless paperwork. The social work, PT, OT, etc. referrals that are 5 pages long that need filled out. You have to address the care plan, make a care plan. Does it ever end????

I'm sorry (from an aide) that some of us are this way.

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...here's a hug, Tweety! Some of the NAs where I work will tell me "the IV in 66 is beeping". I am usually running around doing nurse things so I will ask, "why is it beeping?" "i don't know". So I will say, "If I go in 66 and see that the IV machine is beeping because it is unplugged, I am not going to be happy, as you can see I am busy...please check to see if it needs plugging in". Some have learned to check to see if it is unplugged or infusion complete, others continue to sit at the nurses station and read mags or the paper or play on the computer. Sigh...so we feel your pain.

Duh! There's a screen there that says if it's low battery, infusion complete, pt. side occluded (sp), etc. Look at the screen and see what it says. Where I work (hospital) the aides are allowed to add extra fluid to the pump. We cannot of course hang new bags but we can buy the nurse a little time. When I do this, I tell the nurse and let her know that the bag is getting low. It's not that hard. Hit the 'volume to be infused' button, hit the right amount of cc's, then hit start.

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Specializes in MICU, neuro, orthotrauma.

im at a new job and today the CA yelled at me, huffed when i cleaned up a bowel movement but didnt bathe the patient, and became furious when i said that i needed a q2 vital on an EtOH withdrawal. i had to chase her down for vitals, report and blood sugars. its about territory. shes in her late 50's and worked there almost exclusively while in healthcare and im 35, and new on the block.

hurts my feelings. makes me tense. she acts like im doing nothing. i had a patient on a cardizem drip to titrate, another with a heparin drip to titare, EtOH withdrawl (on the cardizem patient) who CRASHED btw, within an hour went from afib with RVR, and HTN to palp-only(couldnt hear a thing) systolic of 60's. and i still have two other crabby old ladies. one COPD exacerbation and one fairly fresh CVA. can she not see that im busy too? :angryfire :crying2: and im NEW and have to learn the computer charting and all the docs and which docs to bother and when and what services they are in.. just UGH

bad day for the both of us, tweety. pass me a fancy tropical drink and lets toast to a day OVER with.

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Specializes in Corrections, Cardiac, Hospice.
I've had a lot of luck explaining why uop should be 30 cc an hour, and have had the tech come to me and let me know it hasn't reached that at the 2 or 4 hour mark.

I've had pulses reported right in the meiddle of their taking vital signs....."Mr. J has a pulse of 49, I wanted to tell you before you got out his meds."

I have worked with Nurses who literally did just that pass meds and chart....period "This pill is blue, it must be inderal."

I have also worked with some of the best unlicensed techs who should be teaching nursing instead of thinking about going to nursing school when they can afford it.

I have to say, I have some AWESOME aides on my unit. But, you know, there is always that one.....The one in particular I have heard rumors that she has told patients, I have been an aide for over 35 years, so I am like a nurse without the license:nono: I believe THESE are the aides/techs that Tweety is referring to in the original post, not the incredible ones who never complain and make our lives easier every day.....

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Specializes in ICU,ER.

I once worked at a place where the techs (ER) were actually kind of scary. They pretty much did what they wanted.... and omg.... IF you ever asked them to do something....you better get your tone right...practice it in front of the mirror or something. If your tone offended them, it was like "You talkin' ta me???" I tryed once to get them to do their job and not let the comments and looks get to me....but it ended up backfiring and I got NO help for a while.

Where was management you ask?

Good question.

(trust me, they knew about it...nurses AND docs complained all the time.)

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Specializes in Oncology, Home Health, Psychiatry.

ok...I'll take up for some of my fellow CNA's (though I also belong to the almost a nurse bunch too....May 2006--YEAH!!)

Sorry...I'll focus...

coming from the standpoint of a CNA, some nurses don't do anything but pass meds and chart.

I know this from personal experience, and yes...I know what the nurse has on their plates...but some nurses feel that basic nursing care is beneath them! what a load of bunk! If it weren't for the aides taking the brunt of the grunt work off of the nurse, they couldn't get done the things they should get done. But what kind of nurse walks out of a patients room...searches for 10 minutes for the aide ... to tell them that their patient needs to be put on a bed pan, or the patient wants a glass of water.....or complains that the aide hasn't gotten vitals yet and they know the aide is stuck in an isolation room with another patient cleaning that patient up from the results of an enama that finally resolved a 3 day constipation problem?

I'm not saying that all aides are fussy and think they know more than the nurse....and I'm not saying that all nurses see their job as so much more than anyone elses in the healthcare team....what I am saying is see this from both sides. You do have some LAZY nurses, just like you have som "KNOW-IT-ALL" aides.

Sorry...been having a rough time at work myself...and I guess with school starting I needed to vent :p

Just be thankful for the aides that make your jobs better...and be the type of nurse that your aide wants to help throughout the shift!

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Maybe that person is too absorbed with all the tasks he/she has to do, that they are ignorant of your contribution, which is also substantial.

That person probably has never really considered what it's like to be on your side of the fence. Nursing is a job that truly takes a special person. It doesn't fit my personality, though.

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