Any help from CNAs/LNAs while on orientation??

christvs, DNP, RN, NP · Oct 6, 2005

Hello everyone.
I was wondering how it is working for those of you still on orientation.
I have a preceptor who lets the LNAs know who I am taking for patients, and then proceeds to tell them that I will be doing all care on my own (they don't need to do any FS/VS/beds/hygiene, etc. on my assigned patients).
I have no problem doing these tasks; although, I strained my back muscles as I'm trying to wash and change the entire bed of a larger size patient, who has difficulty moving, without any help....
I guess I felt like I couldn't even ASK for help (she also walked right through the room without asking to help--I'm always asking her if she needs anything). I ended up getting it done, but was thinking to myself......WHY does she say this, while TWO aids are helping make a bed of hers when her patient was up in a chair!!
I guess I just don't understand why this is part of my orientation when I'll be able to ask for assistance when I need it down the road. NOW is when I probably need it most! I know how to make beds etc. and in the future I would never leave all this type of work just to the aids. I'm just wondering what happened to teamwork??
Thanks for listening....

Hi. I'm a new RN & am on week 11 of my orientation (almost done!!) I don't think they should be telling the aides to not help you. That is not fair to you. Also, delegation is something us new nurses should be learning to do, & how can you practice delegating if your preceptor is telling the aides to not even help you at all! So wrong...At the very beginning of my orientation when I was just taking 1 or 2 patients, I did not mind doing every little thing for my patients, but now that I take a full patient assignment of up to 5-6 pts I defintely need the help of aides! How many pts. are you taking total care of right now? I would talk to your manager about why they are doing that to you. Good luck & let us know what happens.

-Christine

tmarie75 · Oct 6, 2005

hi. i'm a new rn & am on week 11 of my orientation (almost done!!) i don't think they should be telling the aides to not help you. that is not fair to you. also, delegation is something us new nurses should be learning to do, & how can you practice delegating if your preceptor is telling the aides to not even help you at all! so wrong...at the very beginning of my orientation when i was just taking 1 or 2 patients, i did not mind doing every little thing for my patients, but now that i take a full patient assignment of up to 5-6 pts i defintely need the help of aides! how many pts. are you taking total care of right now? i would talk to your manager about why they are doing that to you. good luck & let us know what happens.
-christine

i totally agree. that is soooo wrong of your preceptor to do that. i just finished orientation on the 24th of september, but i rarely had time to do bed baths, hygiene, and vitals, etc. so the pct's and cna's were very valuable. i totally agree with what chris said, especially the part about delegation and having a hard time doing everything with heavy patient loads. stand up for yourself and don't let yourself be abused or you will be taken advantage of. good luck!!

KatieBell · Oct 10, 2005

Your preceptor has the idea that letting you do all the work will help you...In nursing school, when we took only 2-3 patients, we had to do total care, because we didn't have very many patients. But you are not a student!!! Part of your orientation actually should be learning to use the aides effectively- ie: not asking them to do stuff they can't do, not messing around with something they could do while they aren't doing anything and you are late for a med pass. It may just be "the way its done" in this unit, but it doesn't make any sense, you are to be oriented to work in the unit, which includes using these assistants!

Kristen_RN · Oct 10, 2005

I totally agree with everyone else. Now is the time that you will probably need the aides the most. While you are learning to delegate, prioritize, and the flow, the aides should be helping. Besides, that is part of their job.

Darlene K. · Oct 10, 2005

I agree with all of the above posters. Not only to do you need the opportunity to learn to delegate and prioritize, you need to have a chance to get into your own routine. You will need the assistance of the CNA's in order for this to be accomplished. The CNA's need the opportunity to work with you as well, as you will be supervising them.

I think that I would speak to my preceptor and tell her that you would like to take your own patients and have a CNA to help you. Let her know that you want to get into the "normal" routine. (Perhaps take half the patients and a CNA).

Jennerizer, ASN, RN · Oct 14, 2005

This isn't right - the CNA/PCT's are there to do their job & you are there to do yours. You have to work together to make sure each & every patient is taken care of properly. How are you supposed to do total patient care on all of your patients as well as meds & charting & paperwork? Uh, uh - I would definitely talk to your unit manager or someone other than this nurse. She is not guiding you in the right direction at all.

Jen

Mulan · Oct 14, 2005

Doing all the care yourself is one thing, but if you need help to turn a patient or pull a patient up or whatever, ask for it!

You only have one back and it has to last you the rest of your life! :)

MrsMinor · Oct 20, 2005

I was just curious if anyone else's orientation was similar to mine....so thanks for the responses.

Anyway, things have gotten better for me. This same nurse out of the blue one day said "oh, and I will be letting you use the aides today." Thank goodness!! My days have been going much smoother knowing that I am now "allowed" to operate as part of a team--what a difference!!

Well, today I was talking to another nurse who is on her last week of orientation & she brought up to me how she needed to have another week added. She told me that she is so stressed out and overwhelmed from taking 4/5 patients "especially doing it all on my own without any help from any of the aides..." I was surprised to hear that....

I wasn't aware that she was going through orientation without help either...!!

She mentioned how she has felt very discouraged & a great lack of support.

We only talked in passing today, but I'm wondering if our preceptors had been told for some reason to orient us to the floor this way.

I just don't understand the reasoning behind it. NO other nurse works soley by themselves. It's one thing to be autonomous, but to ask for assistance when needed to provide efficient & effective care is totally acceptable!

I have a feeling that this other nurse may be bringing this up soon to the nursing educator as it seems to be an issue and causing her a lot of undue stress during orientation. In the meantime, I just hope that my help won't be taken away from me again (I have 2 other preceptors I will be back & forth with)! I know I will have to stand up for myself if it comes to that. Things will be fine, I'm just a little taken back at their rationale--whatever that may be :confused:

Thanks for listening :)

AKAKatydid · Oct 22, 2005

Hi all... I am in complete shock at what I'm reading! I'm a student right now, and work nights as a CNA on a 26-bed med-surg unit. We have been on a hiring spree, and on nights we have about 4 new grad nurses with preceptors. I guess I forget what a great place I'm at until I hear horror stories such as yours!

Techs are responsible for vitals, cleaning, foleys, fingersticks, q2h turns, etc... normal tech duties. On my floor, I am usually the only tech at night. When there are 2 techs, we split the floor - each tech is responsible for whatever duties are needed for the patients they are assigned. It doesn't matter who is the nurse - this is what is expected of the tech, and they don't get a "break" just because there is a new nurse on the block.

I will say - and maybe this is part of the problem - we have some new grads that have never teched. One of the local nursing schools allows students to rely on techs (big mistake!) and as result, I've seen plenty of new nurses that truly did not know how to do basic functions such as turning or cleaning a total by themselves. (I know a girl that didn't learn how to empty a foley until her 3rd semester of clinicals because she'd been relying on techs to do it!)

If the preceptor's goal is to make sure that your are able to perform these functions, great... but I don't think it sends a message of autonomy and teamwork to flat out state that a tech is not to help. What a way to make you feel like part of the team :uhoh3: