atrocious treatment of CNA

jeaniekadinee · May 29, 2014

That really sucks. I'm sorry you are working in a huge stressful situation. I don't know the laws but I agree that looking for a new job would be best. Best of luck to you finding a better job and good luck with your schooling :)

Pangea Reunited, ASN, RN · May 29, 2014

That sounds about right ....when an employer's expectations are not reasonable, the employer responds by giving you more work to do (calling with completed tasks) instead of giving you more staff. It's not nice, but I don't know of any ratio laws for CNAs.

Regarding disease, though... standard precautions will protect you from anyone who's not on special precautions. Since Hep A is transmitted via oral/fecal route, it's not dangerous to you unless you're not following basic hygiene rules. People have all sorts of diseases that they're not diagnosed with, too. Every patient in that place may have Hep A, and you should act accordingly.

Good luck with finding a better job if that's what you decide to do. I think I would at least be looking!

Leonardsmom,LPN · May 29, 2014

As said by the other posters I would agree I trying to find a new job. From the sounds of what you are decribing to me it sounds like you are working in an assisted living place. Here in in Michigan the aides that work in the assisted living places pass out meds, take care of the residents, take care of the cleaning of their apartments, laundry and anything thing elese that needs to be done. My suggestion is to look for a job in a skilled nursing facility or what use to be refered to as and still is by some a nursing home. From all of the skilled nursing facilities that I have worked at the CNA is not the one who is responsible for passing medications, that is the responsibility of the nurse. The responsibiiity of the aide is to help the resident complete adls, help with transfering, ambulating, bathing and such. With the places that I have worked there has been additional staff like housekeeping and laundry to clean rooms and common areas, and to clean the linens and personal items of the resident.

That being said even in those settings you can at times find that the expectations of the tasks that are expected of you to be sometimes unreasonable. I have at times worked in facilities where I had 18 residents that I was responsible to take care of and beyond toileting changing briefs, turning, having them up for dinner, and getting them ready for bed was all that I could do. Some nights can be bad especially if you have one resident that ends up needing most of your attention for the shift to keep them safe.

As for telling you if a certain resident has a disease, the facility needs to be careful in how they handle that because of HIPPA. Sharing that information is limited to who needs to know, depending on your facility they may decide that because you are using your universal precautions and protective equipment, washing your hands before and after any procedure, wearing gloves when you may come in contact with body fluids, or in contact with skin that is not intact. I have seen people over react when they find out that a particular patient has MRSA, hepatitis, or cDif. As heatlh care professionals we are responsible for treating each person in our care with dignity and keeping their confidence. Washing our hands, wearing gloves are there for a reason it protects us and the patients that we take care of.

As for ratios of CNA to patient I do believe that can vary from state to state and also depending on the type of setting you are working in, assisted living, skilled nursing facility, hospital. A few years ago after doing research I found that for my state of Michigan that the ratio for day shift was 10 residents to one aide, for evening shift 12 residents to one aide and for night shift 15 residents to one aide. For a short while I also worked on a vent unit where the raitio was usually 10 vent patients to one aide, I had heard that the ratio was suppose to be less than that, but I had left that job shortly after to work in my current job in short term rehab.

WannaBNursey, ADN, ASN, RN · May 30, 2014

I don't know what state you live in, some states have a law with CNA-patient ratios, but I don't know the number. I remember the brief time I worked in a nursing home, one nurse commented that giving us more than 20 patients is illegal, since I've worked in a hospital I've regularly had more than 20 patients, but most are walky talky.

It sounds like you work in a poorly run ALF. I would leave, honestly I'd leave today and find another position whenever. I personally couldn't handle that kind of workload, being an aide and med-tech. I hope you're going for your LPN or RN, because you're pretty much doing the physical work of a nurse without the paperwork.

BabyGirl1979 · Jun 5, 2014

Honestly, the situation you are describing is typical to what I know of ALF's. I am a CNA/PCT with 16 years of experience in ALF, SNF, and hospital settings. ALFs are looking to get the most amount of work for the least amount of money. But your job seems to be on the worst end of it. At our facility we have two buildings, an assisted living and an alzheimers unit. Each houses up to 30 residents (currently about 27 and 25, respectively). There are two caregivers in each building every shift so the ratio is 1:15. HOWEVER, the big difference is that there is also a med tech (me on first shift) that passes meds for both buildings, takes vital signs, charts, etc. The medtech is never counted in the ratio and does no direct patient care (toileting, feeding, answering call lights) except in the most extreme of situations. Also, our dishes go to the kitchen staff to be washed. The caregivers do laundry and baths. I would encourage you to seek another position at a nursing home or hospital. Just wondering, what happens when you have a resident thats a two person assist? Call a co-worker from another building, leaving their residents unattended? How does that work?

Cream and sugar LPN · Jun 5, 2014

I'm just curious why you haven't looked for another job? You've been complaining about it since you started working there last year!

Lizzly · Jun 11, 2014

cream, I filled out one application at an assistant living about 20 minutes away. My job improved a tad since they hired someone to bathe all the residents. I still disapprove how the place is run by management. We live in a crazy world.