An RN Learns About Tough Work

[FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I]

I saw the following post by Brooke Varner, RN on Facebook today. She wrote tyhe following-

Tonight I went into work thinking I was working my usual nurses cart but to my surprise I wasn't on the schedule to work. I offered to work as a CNA because we were short handed. Wow. I really believe EVERy nurse should be required once or twice a year do do this. CNA probably have one of the hardest jobs. Over worked and underpaid is an under statement! It really humbled me to be on the other end of the spectrum! Nurses help your aids out!! We are a team! You see a call light, answer it. If a resident needs assistance, assist. This is nursing 101. No nurse is not good enough to do these things, every little bit helps. The time that it takes to look for your aid to tell them "Room 2 needs to be changed" you could have done it! TThank you aids for all that you do! I appreciate you. and look forward to getting my hands dirty again!

[Sour Lemon]

I saw the following post by Brooke Varner, RN on Facebook today. She wrote tyhe following-

Tonight I went into work thinking I was working my usual nurses cart but to my surprise I wasn't on the schedule to work. I offered to work as a CNA because we were short handed. Wow. I really believe EVERy nurse should be required once or twice a year do do this. CNA probably have one of the hardest jobs. Over worked and underpaid is an under statement! It really humbled me to be on the other end of the spectrum! Nurses help your aids out!! We are a team! You see a call light, answer it. If a resident needs assistance, assist. This is nursing 101. No nurse is not good enough to do these things, every little bit helps. The time that it takes to look for your aid to tell them "Room 2 needs to be changed" you could have done it! TThank you aids for all that you do! I appreciate you. and look forward to getting my hands dirty again!

I work as the CNA once in a while ....compared to nursing, I find it very low stress- like a night off. Most of us "help" CNAs as often as we're able to. I'm not sure this facebook post is anything profound??

[BBP42]

I agree I was always first to volunteer to work as a CNA on my unit when they were short, because my 8 hour nursing shift frequently took 10 after charting was done, but working as an aide I could breeze out the door within 15 minutes of my scheduled end of shift. I no longer work with CNAs but they never seemed to realize that every person I stopped to change, toilet, or help transfer added on to the overtime that I would get lectured on accruing, because as the only nurse on my wing there was no one there to help me with my work, which actually takes longer than my scheduled shift even without breaks. Although they frequently did thank me for helping.