Are you happy at your workplace?

blue cna · Sep 30, 2010

no, theres a lot of backstabbing where i work and a lot of people are against eachother. people refuse to do certain things and people refuse to do certain sides of the building. one side is way harder than the other. people call in all the time. people act like their way is the best way, and act like they know everything.

i get called EVERY day i have off, and sometimes on days that i already work wanting me to work a double. nobody is ever punished or talked to for calling off. most call off to party/fake sick, and its known throughout the building and nothing is done about it.

i hate ltc. thinking about doing something else all together.

SnowbirdinFL · Sep 30, 2010

Generally speaking, I am happy at my workplace.

When I need help transferring a resident, I rarely get a negative answer and I offer my assistance if it is needed. My residents know I bust my tail to do my job and do my best to accomodate them. I guess I am still a fairly new CNA but I can't help but be grateful for my current job because of comparisons I automatically make to working in fast food! Recently, I prevented a fall-risk resident from falling and that felt fantastic (literally caught said person in the act). I feel like I least serve a purpose, even if underappreciated by staff.

My only gripes are about staff but I have enough perspective to realize that this stuff could happen anywhere. I have much less experience than most of the CNAs I work with and I feel like I am treated like a moron when I do something in a more safe but more time consuming matter. I actually more or less encouraged to do less rounds on my residents "because we know their habits and they don't need to be checked every two hours". I have a nurse that does not supervise CNAs properly and asks me to look after other CNAs' work without having ANY authority. This same nurse also spends 2-4 hours of their shift talking with other staff about what they are going to order for dinner. (Vent done)

On the upside, I do have good benefits with my job and I make better money than CNAs in other LTCs in the local area.

EduardoLugo · Oct 1, 2010

Any males to share their knowledge or w.e? I would like hear. :)

ctmed · Oct 2, 2010

Someone ask for a guy not afraid of the angst? (Lord, I am glad allnurses is not tied to real names or facebook.. or there would be some fired and blacklisted CNA/LPN/RNs.. but I digress)

At the beginning of summer, I had to take a job at a local Nursing Home. Agency was slow, and I could not do my usual gig of sitting with suicide patients, drug overdoses, and manning psych units. It sounded better than sit around or having to travel 100 miles away on 2 hours notice to other cities.

Now, this is the first time in 5 years I have EVER worked for a place directly. I found out quickly why I do not do this.

This place was AWFUL! I have never, in my whole life dealt with so much childish BS ever!

-NO lifts! ONE guy had a lift. But, it was his personal lift he had gotten from medicaid from the days when he had a full time sitter and lived at home. We had to beg to borrow it!

-Management had what they called "town-hall meetings". However, all the communication was ONE WAY. It was THEM telling YOU what you should be doing instead of listening to the staff.

-CNAs would disappear. Since I am a guy they would hunt my butt down if there was a combative or extremely heavy patient. However, If I needed help with my 400 pound tube feeder, they would turn a nose up. Lord forbid if this guy was covered in brown - which was always due to the fact that tube feeding contains soy isolates which makes you poo constantly and sticks to everything! "Do not want to do YOUR work for you....." sheesh. Do not get me wrong. I like to smoke, too. I even like to eat like a human being and not some starved slave who has to woof my slop down in 5 minutes under fear of unemployment. But.. wow.

-Management would always talk down to you. Now, I am a pretty good natured guy for my tallness and ugliness. From my days in a French Quarter bar, I am pretty thick skinned too. But, there really was no sense in telling me stuff like 'I am lucky to have a job' or yelling at me if I got tied up with another patient and saying I have not checked on Mr. so and so merely because they came into to do meds and the guy happened to let loose a huge amount of brown! I mean, what the hell! Can't you see I am trying to keep the dementia patient from breaking his hip because you are too #$#$% cheap to invest in ESSENTIAL stuff like bed alarms and you are too skittish or playing with i-phones that cost more than I made in two weeks to call a doc for good meds?

- This place went through 3... yes 3! administrators in the 3 months I was there. Some family member called the state on their behinds. You know, I can not really blame them. It turned out that while the 'better than thou' LPNs were back in the back looking at facebook, some family member peeked into MAR and noticed that the loved one was not getting meds but the meds were marked as given. 2 more family members noticed that their moms were falling and going to the hospital and called the local news!

-Linen was like a cruel game. You competed against other CNAs to get the only 5 items available. Whoever did not get the linens risked getting written up. Of course, this could not be mentioned. Hoarding was encouraged. "Please, please ctmed.. you are such a nice young man. I KNOW you can find me some towels." my favorite little old lady would beg...

My final straw was when a lady fell that I had grown attached to fell on my watch. She was not my lady. I was in charge of passing trays and was "responsible" for an entire hall of 40 residents during that time. What happened was I placed the tray next to her for her to eat. I did let down the rail as per her request to reach the table. Going further down the hall, I heard a thump! turns out, she reached for her phone and fell right out of bed! I was sent home immediately. I supposed to have an "investigation", but I never went back after that except to get my last check. Do not worry.. CNA cert is intact for both states. Although, I am sure that I have been "blacklisted" from any place this particular management group controls. Not that I give a hoot. Asking around has indicated their other facilities are just as messed up.

Now, in between psych gigs with agency I did have to do LTC. All of us agency guys had to do some LTC shifts to get our hours. I have worked for some AWESOME LTCs. But, you know what? Most of the LTCs I worked at were JUST LIKE THAT ONE! Although, a bit less incompetent.

It has me so disgusted, that i am currently helping out at a bar for a bit.. until the psych units start sending me out again... after all, holidays are coming up.. At least with the agency LTC assignments I cvould tell my recruiter what was up or refuse assignments. I will never work for another LTC directly again without research.

/breath... feels good to vent. can I make you ladies a cosmopolitan? I mix a mean one :)

Ev1987 · Oct 2, 2010

For the most part, I like my job. Somewhere in the back of my head, I know that what I do is rewarding and beneficial for others. What I can do without is the grumpy attitude from nurses, residents and co-workers.