Bossy CNA's in LTC(long)

Nurses LPN/LVN

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Hey all, I need some advice. I am an LPN working a skilled rehab unit in LTC. i recently joined the company so I am new to them, but have been a nurse for nearly 6 years. Yesterday, I had a floating CNA on my wing, she was not used to the pace and routine of our unit and was struggling to keep up, so I asked one of the regular CNA's to give her a hand(the regula CNA only had three pts.!!!) i explaines to her that the other CNA was falling behind and was getting frustrated. She TOLD me in a rude tone of voice that" I gave her report this morning and I TOLD her, if she needs help to ask". I then said to her that I was asking for her. She proceeded with "WHAT DID I JUST TELL YOU !!!!" I was appalled! :angryfire Our unit treatment nurse was within ear shot and so was another CNA. I walked away at that time because I knew if I said anything at that point I would blow up! Also this CNA has been counseled for her tone of voice to pts. In my opinion, if she speaks to ME this way, how is she really speaking to the residents? I need advice on how to approach someone with this attitude, make my point and ensure that I am taking the correct action. PLEASE HELP!!

She is not a nurse? CNA in my eyes is a nurse. That was kind of rude of you. I have to back them up because I used to be there and if it was not for them you would be very unhappy. Lay off of them!

I was working on a med/surge unit and found the CNA sitting on the pts. bed talking to the family, explaing the pt. condition to him. she had told the family that she was a nurse, there she sat as proud as can be answering their questions. ugh!!!!:rotfl:
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Specializes in LTC, home health, critical care, pulmonary nursing.
She is not a nurse? CNA in my eyes is a nurse. That was kind of rude of you. I have to back them up because I used to be there and if it was not for them you would be very unhappy. Lay off of them!
Whoa, Nellie. I'm a CNA, and I would never, EVER identify myself as a nurse. I'm a member of the nursing staff, but not a nurse. If I were a nurse, I'd have gone to nursing school. Yes, you have to treat your aides with respect, but you ARE their superior. Yes, we are both vital to the care of the patient, but there's a reason one is called a "nurse" and one is called the "nursing assistant."

Might I add that it is illegal to identify oneself as a nurse if one does not have a license to practice nursing?

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To the CNA above who just said "lay off of them" because of CNA's like I just mentioned in my post above, I prefer to work without CNA's. I'll be done with school in a year and I'm going to an ICU position to avoid having a CNA. I much rather be responsible for the total care than spend half of my shift following an adult to make sure they've done thier job. Now I'm not slamming on the good CNA's there are some. But they seem to be few and far between. For every one great CNA there are 10 bad ones. It's a horrible feeling to have a great time during the down time of the shift with your cna and an hour later realize she made up most of your I&O's. I just rather do it all myself. Then if something is wrong, or not done there is only one person to blame.

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Amen to that! Even though I work in LTC, I think of how wonderful it would be if I could be responsible for the total care of about 5-7 people. No CNA's! The sad thing is they think their job is so unimportant, that it does not matter if the job gets done or not. Nurses know how important their job is. They think we don't care. However, in the "perfect" nursing world, a nurse should not have to rely on an assistant to get things done. We could do it all ourselves.

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In the real world we do need CNA's, good ones. unfortunetly we end up spending more time checking on them or trying to get them to do something. A CNA=certified Nursing Assisstant. that means they are trained for giving basic care. In any job they would be expected to do there job with out being told all the time what their job is. I have found that the good ones do just that and I suspect that the bad ones would be the same in any job they had. Sometimes the job is too much, I have even had more than I could handle, this is when we should be able to go to either supervisor or the DON for help and not fear that we will be made to look incompetent. Lets face it we are only human and there is only so much that we can do. there is only 8/12 hours in a shift, 24hrs. in a day and some times it just can't all get done. I have worked in some bad places and instead of the DON asking people to stay or come in to help, they just keep pushing it on to the nurses.

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All of you really are nurses? I am a nurse and without them life would be really hard. Try to treat them like people rather than treating them like they are below you and you would not consider them bad cna's. Maybe they think the same of you. My gosh ladies, you are nurses, stop acting like you are in highschool!

To the CNA above who just said "lay off of them" because of CNA's like I just mentioned in my post above, I prefer to work without CNA's. I'll be done with school in a year and I'm going to an ICU position to avoid having a CNA. I much rather be responsible for the total care than spend half of my shift following an adult to make sure they've done thier job. Now I'm not slamming on the good CNA's there are some. But they seem to be few and far between. For every one great CNA there are 10 bad ones. It's a horrible feeling to have a great time during the down time of the shift with your cna and an hour later realize she made up most of your I&O's. I just rather do it all myself. Then if something is wrong, or not done there is only one person to blame.
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Before I was an LPN I took the CNA class and we were told we were nurses, not an LPN or RN but cna is considered a nurse.

Whoa, Nellie. I'm a CNA, and I would never, EVER identify myself as a nurse. I'm a member of the nursing staff, but not a nurse. If I were a nurse, I'd have gone to nursing school. Yes, you have to treat your aides with respect, but you ARE their superior. Yes, we are both vital to the care of the patient, but there's a reason one is called a "nurse" and one is called the "nursing assistant."

Might I add that it is illegal to identify oneself as a nurse if one does not have a license to practice nursing?

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What you have here is what is exactly at the root of the overall problem with LTC. Nursing homes are the step-children of healthcare. And it's no wonder why. We are just so darn "disfunctional".

Now, I don't want to bash my own people, so please don't misinterpret my words. But realistically, it is the LVN's that have primary responsibility for managing the care that the patients recieve. And let's face it folks, we have one year of education beyond a H.S. diploma...and how many of you received managment/leadership training in your LVN/LPN course. I dare to say none of us.

So here we are, managing folks with less education than ourselves, sometimes not even a H.S. diploma or even a GED. It's the unprepared/undereducated, managing the uneducated.

How many people in your facility actually have a four year degree, one that might actually include some management training? There's the administrator,social worker, possibly the DON (but not necessarily..might be an ADN), and the therapists.

Solution? I thought you'd never ask.

I believe we should ask for, no demand, the training for the task that we are required to perform. We are expected to have a nursing license to perform our function as a nurse, but exactly what training do we have in order to perform our function as a charge nurse/nurse manager? You try and tell me that it does not require some skill to deal with a surly aide.

I say RISE UP LVN's and demand our rights to proper education for the responsibilities required of us. Are we not held legally liable for the well-being of our residents?

OK, OK. I know. Although my words are tounge-in-cheek and meant only to help you smile, the sentiment is earnest. Our task to serve and protect the rights and dignity of our residents is a serious one. And truly, how can a nurse focus their attention on the very real needs of the residents when we are left to deal with some poor aide who carries around a chip on their shoulder the size of an evergreen? It's seems obvious to me that if we continue doing what we are doing, which is allowing people without management skills manage folks who desperatly need to be managed properly in order to succeed. There is a fairness to nurses AS WELL AS the CNA's that is not being met.

Anyone with me here?

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I'm in a hospital now...however I've worked LTC. One gets sick and tired of being yelled at by family members because their loved one was not taken care of properly. I've seen CNA's pretty much do whatever they've wanted because they knew they weren't going anywhere...you end up with DON's telling you to write it up...ok...but that never seems to help, and you end up doing extra paper work on top of the mountains you have. So I left to go to the hospital. Where i've had a CNA tell me she wasn't getting admit vitals...that was my job. No my job is to assess them. However now I just get the damned things, it's easier than getting someone to lay down her magazine to get them. In my hospital they are only responsible for 10 patients.

And I should also mention I was a CNA part time while in school.. COME ON. I did my job without constantly being prodded. We are all adults. Including the CNA, we must be accountable for our jobs. All of us.

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Where I live *louisiana* you'd be fired for identifying yourself as a nurse. That's like me telling a patients family I'm a physician, I know the patient better than he does, however does that give me the right to tell them I'm the doctor...same thing.

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Specializes in LTC, home health, critical care, pulmonary nursing.
Before I was an LPN I took the CNA class and we were told we were nurses, not an LPN or RN but cna is considered a nurse.

Well, you've been misguided. A CNA is NOT a nurse. Contact your BON and ask them about who a nurse is. It ain't a CNA. If it were, there wouldn't be laws about identifying oneself as a nurse if one is not. After I've graduated from nursing school and have passed the boards, then I'll be a nurse. Not until then.

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"Ain't" and "Whoa nellie"? Please! I am just saying how it was when I was a cna. Things have changed and all I was trying to say is that CNA's needed to be respected a little more. FYI I don't need to find out what a nurse is cause I passed my exams and I am a nurse. Good luck on yours.

Well, you've been misguided. A CNA is NOT a nurse. Contact your BON and ask them about who a nurse is. It ain't a CNA. If it were, there wouldn't be laws about identifying oneself as a nurse if one is not. After I've graduated from nursing school and have passed the boards, then I'll be a nurse. Not until then.
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