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Here's the situation. I'm an LPN, and work in a hospice/acute care facility, which only holds up to 16 pts. At night (shift i work) a full staff is 1 RN charge nurse, 1 LPN, 1 CNA for less then 8 pt, 2 cna if we have more then 8 pts. The census has been low lately, which makes them call off the cna's. We still may have 5 or 6 pts, and they expect lpn and the rn, to do ALL the work. And you know that's going to fall on me the LPN, because the rn has to do all the assessments. So, here I am trying to take care of my duites which consist of treatments, like, wound care, tube feedings, iv analgesics, suctioning and things like that. Lets's not forget scheduled meds and prn, because of the fact we have hospice pts, you know there are alot of prn pain meds.
Then on top of that, i have to answer all the call lights, fill water pitchers, turn q2hr, baths, diaper change,I's and O's, empty Foley's, do vitals, reposition, need I go on. All of this is duties of a CNA. Before I was a LPN 3 years ago almost I was a CNA. If i really liked that job, I would still be doing it.
I know once you become a nurse, you don't just stop all together doing some of those things. But give me a break its like being a cna all over again. I have spoke the DON, and told her, if I going to be responsible for 2 job title's worth of work, I want 2 pay checks. She just looked at me sort of laugh, like I was joking or something, and said if we had the money for that, we would have a CNA on shift. I know that makes since, but it's at my expense that there is no CNA there. I'm the one doing all the back breaking work that I didn't sign up for. Yes the RN does some, but it's mostly me.
Well I'm looking for a new job. Had 2 interviews already. Do you think I'm wrong?
I don't think anyone actually LOVES cleaning 'poo'...we just know why it is necessary to do so. When I work per diem on med-surg, what I don't like is that I can be distracted from doing things like ensuring that I am reconstituting the medications properly, that I am on pace with the activities on the floor, etc; and when a patient does need someone's attention, there is no real predictor of how long this will take. However, that being said, I will not ignore a person's request or need for ADLs.
The nurse:patient ratio is excellent, really. And, I am sure that not all patients need to be bathed every night. And, it is true, in most cases, they will cancel out the LPN and leave the RN and CNA, so, these days, I would be happy to be there with a census like that.
maybe i am way off base here, but my very first reaction when i read your post is yes, you are wrong.cna, lpn, rn.......we all take care of the patient. i am sorry you are feeling overwhelmed in your position in that you "have to do cna duties" and "if you wanted to be a cna you would have done that instead of lpn".
census goes up and down, people get called off or called in. it happens. i'm sorry you feel you are understaffed (though we have some units in our hospital that only have rn's doing total care- the way it was done back in the day).
i am a pct in an oncology/hospice unit. the usual pt load is 6-8 for the rn's and for us techs it can be up to 10-12 or as low as 5. it all just depends. honestly, i find your post very insulting, not only to me as a tech and a nursing student, but if i was your patient or patient's family.......i would be thoroughly ****** that you have an attitude that any task is beneath you. we all take care of the pt. the rn's have their scheduled meds, tx, and things to do, just as i do as a tech. but we work together and the few of them that "are above doing cna work" are the ones who do not last long on the unit, the ones who are complained about to our don, the ones the family fires because of attitude/lack of care/or lack of timely care (because they call the tech and have to wait until a tech is available instead of getting their hands dirty and doing it themselves).
no one likes to wipe butts, clean up puke, give baths, or any other task that is time consuming or unpleasant. however, we are all taking care of the patient. that is why we are pct's, cna's, rn's, or lpn's. it is in the job description for all of us.
last time i checked, under job duties for lpn or rn there was not a section titled "these are the things you no longer have to do because you are not a cna and you are now above that level".
give me a break.
kelly c.
:redbeathe pct, nursing student, and future rn that will still get busy, frustrated, and ***** at times.........but will still wipe butts with the best of em! why? because that is what nurses do.
it seems like you are taking this way to personally. i'm sure the op meant her work reminds her of days doing a backbreaking cena work. i worked as a cna before i went to nursing school, and yes it is a backbreaking work especially when some facilities dont have hoyer lifts to enable cnas to work safely without breaking their back. i've been bitten, spiited on, kicked, punched you name it all. so no i dont think i can work as a cna for the rest of my life. there are nothing in op's thread that stated that she is above cenas. it seems like you are more *****ed off than the family members you mentioned.
I always think it is funny when people whine about having"only 2 CNAs" or something like that. Hospitals in Canada don't use aids.Guess who does the work? - that's right, the RNs and RPNs. Where i work RNs and RPNs each carry their own load so see that degree RN over there? she was up her elbows in it same as anyone else.
Personally, I enjoy doing personal care for pts but that's not all I want to do- I think this is where the OP is coming from.
I recently resigned from the VA because even though I'm an RN, my duties mainly consisted of a huge med pass, incontinance rounds, and dressing pts, feeding them, etc.
Mentally, I was bored to tears and I felt really underutilized.
And... my back hurt all the time!
I think what the OP is feeling is "been there, done that" and wanting to do move on in her career, not to stagnate with old roles and duties.
I am having some difficulty having empathy here. I worked today, I had 4 patient with no cna, I passed the trays for 3 meals and picked them back up. I dressed them in street clothes. Toileted as needed, if I was busy a Cna or Rn would answer the light and helped the patient.I gave them their medications and treatments. In addition I helped with 2 admissions and did 1 admission which an Rn then went over and signed. Personally ,I loved my day. It kept me busy, not overwhelmed. I left feeling I did my job, helped my co-workers as they needed and more importantly had some quality time to get to know my patients. It's just all in day.
Personally, I enjoy doing personal care for pts but that's not all I want to do- I think this is where the OP is coming from.I recently resigned from the VA because even though I'm an RN, my duties mainly consisted of a huge med pass, incontinance rounds, and dressing pts, feeding them, etc.
Mentally, I was bored to tears and I felt really underutilized.
And... my back hurt all the time!
I think what the OP is feeling is "been there, done that" and wanting to do move on in her career, not to stagnate with old roles and duties.
I do believe you know, and understand my point of view:yeah:
I agree that as a nurse there will be times when we are responsible for ALL aspects of nursing. Even the ones we don't care for. On the other hand, if that isn't the type of work you prefer to do you are always free to go work someplace else. It would be nice if facilities would tell us that there would be times when we will function primarily as a CNA when the census is low. I am very surprised that they are not sending the LPN home and keeping the RN and CNA. That would make more sense. I have to say, if I worked in a LTC facility and only had 8-16 residents I would be so happy. I work for a nursing agency and frequently have approx. 35 residents for 1 LPN and 3-5 CNA's!
Ok fine but I'V pushes are not of a big deal.I am RN student and I have done them couple of times arleady.Like I stated before not too much of a difference between the RN and LPN.
Now NP and RN ,that is a huge difference
Sorry but there is a huge difference between an RN and an LVN. Besides the obvious education, Responsibility wise it is huge. Yeah an LVN is liable by her license but everything that doesn't fall under that goes to the RN. I used to think that there wasn't any difference when I was an lvn but I learned that the thinking is totally different. You really don't know how until your there. It didn' t sink in until the same things I was doing at work were taking me longer because I was looking at things differently. So yeah it may seem like there is no difference but read the BON scope for each one and then tell me there is no difference
zoeyzoe
147 Posts
could not have said it better myself! as a matter of a fact one of my interviews was with home health.