Attention Nurses, Nursing Assistants, and other hospital assistive personnel!

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Specializes in Nursing Home.

assesment, and reasessment, IV push and so on so forth. Just like Physical Therapists Assistants are not Physical Therapists, Pharmacy Techs are Not Pharmicists, Deacons are not priests, Physician Assistants are not physicians, LPNs are not RNs, RNs are not Nurse Practicioners or Doctors,or nurse anesthitists, or midwives. Just like Personal Care, Home Care Assistants, and Direct support PCS workers are not CNAs, and know matter how many times they call themselves one, they do not assist nurses or perform tasks delegated by a Nurse Supervisor, and did not attend an OBRA NATCEP CNA training course and cannot work as a CNA until they go through the 3-5months of training, and get their certification and are listed on the registry.

I was always taught in my CNA class by an EXCELLENT Gerontology Certified RN instructor that you should never focus on what you are not, but what you are. We are Nursing Assistants. Vital tools to nursing. We are healthcare professionals assistants, certified by the state to do the basic nursing tasks on stable residents or patients. We are a part of Nursing, we do perform basic old school style nursing services under the supervision of a Registred Nurse. In long term care facilities we are held liable for our actions. If we carelessly drop a resident or forgert to lock the bedwheels, or carelessly feedthem til they choke, etc. we will be held responsible, and this negligent behavior will be placed by our name on the state CNA registry, and we will never find a job or be elidgble for CNA Certification again. We do have a Scope of practice established by the DHH and OBRA, in Long Term Care (all states) and Subacute Care (Some states).

And it is ILLEGAL to work as a Nursing Assistant in Sub Acute care in some states, and in a Sklilled Nursing Long Term Care Facility in all states as defined by OBRA 1987 and NATCEP. With all this being said we are NOT NURSES. At the end of the day nurses are Nurses and were Assistants. Nurses have much more comlex and advanced roles in patient care than we do. RNs have to maintaing a 3.5 GPA while in college to get accepted into nursing programs. They have to study their rears off to finish. They earn the title Registred Nurse. They dont want a Licensed Practical Nurse who went through 9-14 months of Vo Tech training assuming their responsiblities and acting like they know more than them. LPNs dont want CNAs who went through 3-5 months of training at a Votech, calling themselves Nurses and assuming their roles and responsiblities ILLEGALLY. LPNs go through 9-14 intense months of training to sit for there boards licensing test. Just like CNAs dont want uncertified personal care and support workers or other unlicnesed assistive personell not certified calling themslves a Certified Nursing Assistant.

CNAs go through 3-5 months of moderately challenging tarining. They learn signs and symptoms of many diseases, how to measure vital signs, the 5 step ADPIE nursing process, HIPPA practices, how to assist the Nurse with various procedure an much more stuff. WE ARE NOT NURSES. WE ARE NURSING ASSISTANTS. WE NEED TO BE PROUD OF WHO ARE, AND BE HAPPY TO HELP NURSES IN ANYWAY WE CAN. BUT THE KEY WORD IS HELP/ASSIST THE NURSE, NOT BE THE NURSE! Whether we are State Cerified Nursing Assistants or some type of other Unlicensed Uncertified Assistive personell such as medical assistants, Patient Care Technicians/Assistants and so on so forth. So lets make nurses stop ripping there hair out and professionally introduce ourselves as Nursing Assistants or or Assitive Personell (if uncertified) and respect each others levels of traininig and work together!

The top of the page was a comparison to how LPNs have a differnt scope than RNs and cannot pretend to be RNs are assume duties of an RN that are not within there legal scope. THIS POST IS TO EXPLAIN WHY Nursing Assistants are not nurses!! Some of the top got cut off some how. Btw I am a CNA state certified.

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Specializes in Certified Med/Surg tele, and other stuff.

You forgot CNA's that think they are MD's. I work with one of those...:rolleyes:

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Specializes in Nursing Home.

I have been reading alot of posts about Nursing Assistants who actually think they are Nurses because it says Certified Nurse Assistant. And ive seen nurses who say they are at there boiling point with this and its worse than its ever been. Somones got to get through to them before they are sued. And yes, i have seen too some CNAs who dont even possess a highschool diploma think they are MDs too, ive also seen LPNs who arent even IV Certified bad mouthing the RN Supervisor behind there back and will swear to you that all RNs are stupid and she knows way more than RNs do. She also thinks the doctor and speech pathologist doesnt know what there talking about and refuses to put thickner for dysphagia in residents drinks.

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You forgot CNA's that think they are MD's. I work with one of those...:rolleyes:

These are the best. We have more than our fair share.

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Specializes in Nursing Home.
These are the best. We have more than our fair share.

I am a CNA and i do not nor will i ever think I am a Physician. I do not know any CNAs at our facility who think they are MDs. The bigger problem I see, are the LPNs who think that they are the RNs equal. I know that LPNs are Nurses too, but they are not the RNs equal. Most RNs even with an Associate degree goes to school at least 3 and a half years. LPNs go to school for 9-14 months big diffference. I have know problem excepting the fact that i am below LPNs. I dont know why its so hard for some LPNs to accept the fact that they are below RNs! Beats me!!

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Specializes in Nursing Home.
These are the best. We have more than our fair share.

Yep your right, we have more than our fair share of LPNs who think they are the RNs equal or better, and we have some management RNs who are absolutely certain they are medical doctors just how some people are!

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Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
For the people who dont wanna read dont read, you saw the tag, i have been reading alot of posts about Nursing Assistants who actually think they are Nurses because it says Certified Nurse Assistant. And ive seen nurses who say they are at there boiling point with this and its worse than its ever been. Somones got to get through to them before they are sued. And yes, i have seen too some CNAs who dont even possess a highschool diploma think they are MDs too, ive also seen LPNs who arent even IV Certified bad mouthing the RN Supervisor behind there back and will swear to you that all RNs are stupid and she knows way more than RNs do. She also thinks the doctor and speech pathologist doesnt know what there talking about and refuses to put thickner for dysphagia in residents drinks.

I wish words could actually stop all the turf wars and bickering and egos that get in the way of us doing our jobs. Sometimes I just think it's human nature. I love to work with people who are proud to be whatever their job title might be. It doesn't mean you don't have goals, or you don't want to improve, or anything. It just means that you are a secure person. Secure people aren't the back-stabbers, and the jealous people, and the people who form cliques and cruelly exclude people they target.

If you are happy and proud of your job I would love to work with you!

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So, given Dr. > C > B > A, then the human condition means that A thinks A = C, B thinks that B = C, C thinks that C = Dr., and we all know A's who think they're Drs.

It's in the DNA.

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Specializes in Nursing Home.
I wish words could actually stop all the turf wars and bickering and egos that get in the way of us doing our jobs. Sometimes I just think it's human nature. I love to work with people who are proud to be whatever their job title might be. It doesn't mean you don't have goals, or you don't want to improve, or anything. It just means that you are a secure person. Secure people aren't the back-stabbers, and the jealous people, and the people who form cliques and cruelly exclude people they target.

If you are happy and proud of your job I would love to work with you!

Totally agree with you, i love being a nursing home CNA, love my co workers who are LPNs, RNs, Houskeepers, Therapists, Activity Directors, love my residents, love being a resident advocate and strongly belive that all medical discussions should not take place in front of residents because those kind of discussions in that enviroment cause stress, and who wants to feel stresses inside there home? Surely not me. And those residents deserve the best care. We as LPNs and CNAs on the floor have to follow the care plan precisely that the MDS RN coordinates, so the residents are able to receive the best care possible, and for an LPN to refuse to add thickner to a residents fluids who has an order for it from the physician, doctor, and written in the plan of care by the RN, just because she feels that she knows better and shes not giving it because she aint listening to that RN is RIDICULOUS, and glad to say that LPN is not with us anymore at our facility

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Specializes in NICU.

What are you talking about? I am a Doctor....................................a doctor of love:smokin:

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I have been reading alot of posts about Nursing Assistants who actually think they are Nurses because it says Certified Nurse Assistant. And ive seen nurses who say they are at there boiling point with this and its worse than its ever been. Somones got to get through to them before they are sued. And yes, i have seen too some CNAs who dont even possess a highschool diploma think they are MDs too, ive also seen LPNs who arent even IV Certified bad mouthing the RN Supervisor behind there back and will swear to you that all RNs are stupid and she knows way more than RNs do. She also thinks the doctor and speech pathologist doesnt know what there talking about and refuses to put thickner for dysphagia in residents drinks.

Dr. Frankenstein meet your monster.

If UAP/nursing support personnel are "mouthing off", going out of their assigned scope of practice, etc... on a regular basis you only have nursing service to blame, in particular administration.

A fish rots from the head down and as one who worked as a NA can tell you ran into many DON's, supervisors,head and even staff nurses that would slap (not literally) any nursing asssistant down on the spot if they got to big for their britches. Failing that one was sat down and given a verbal/written warning. Should the behaviour continue you were OWT, out. If a head/charge nurse couldn't get you fired they got you off their floor/unit. Let someone else put up with your nonsense. Sooner or later if you didn't mend your ways word got out and no unit/floor would have you, so there was the door, don't let hit you in the orifice on the way out.

Long story short the lady with the cap/RN after her name was boss, anyone who had a problem with that see above comment about that door.

If licensed professional nurses are being held captive by persons with a high school diploma and a certificate that is their affair. However leave us not make it out as the thing is normal.

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The funny thing about (non certified) hospital NAs is that they have a much wider scope than the CNAs in LTC. I was a NA in the hospital (again, no certification of any kind, just on the job training) and I could do WAY more than the CNAs where I work now. I did fingersticks, EKGs, inserted Foleys, acted as secretary sometimes, placing orders in computers. Plus, I obviously did all the direct care stuff CNAs do. I was stunned when I started as a LPN in LTC to see the CNAs didn't do the fingersticks. I had never once seen a nurse get a blood sugar in the hospital!

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