Brand New CNA! Help! Advice and tips needed

[Samarle]

Hello everyone,

I recently got hired as a CNA. I completed my CNA certification through American Red cross, and this is my first job as a CNA. I currently work the first shift which is 7am-3pm. The Nursing home facility I am hired at gave me 3 days for orientation and tomorrow they are putting me on the floor by myself.

To be quite frank, I am terrified out of my mind. Yesterday they put me alone to clean and dress a resident. To my utter horror and embarrassment it took me an hour to put on the briefs for them. I find myself like a deer caught in head lights and unable to do anything on my own. I know what to do in my head (and I understand that what I learned in school is not 100% how they do it out in the work field) but for some reason I find myself unable to execute it.

My dream is to one day become a Nurse Practitioner and I'm also currently in the process of getting my prerequisites done so I can apply for a BSN program. I am feeling discouraged and questioning if I can do this. If any of you can offer me any advice and/or tips I would greatly appreciate it.

[3ringnursing, BSN]

This isn't actually a technical tip, but more of life advice ... what you just described is everyone's initial reaction to starting a new career, especially CNA (or PCT, LPN, RN ...). That type of job requires getting used to tasks you are asked to perform, and to do that you have to just jump in and take the plunge. Once you do something often enough you develop muscle memory, and soon you are doing those things quickly and efficiently. There is no short cut.

Your story about taking an hour to get a pair of briefs on a patient brought back a memory from my very first job while in high school. I was 17 at the time and it was the summer before my senior year - a class I was registered in had us in the work place 50% of the time, and in class 50% of the time (we started in the summer, and worked throughout the school year).

I was working in the food service department of the largest hospital in town, and rotated to cafeteria, patient tray services, and back kitchen production. One day one of the ladies who had been there forever asked me to wash and prep a case of iceberg lettuce - it took me over an hour.

She came back to check on me and yelled at me in Spanish (which sadly I don't speak). Then she asked me if I was going to take all day?

I was appalled - I had never done this before, and her patience was not her strong suit. But you know what? By the end of the summer I got much faster, and stayed working in patient tray service for another 3 years once I graduated high school then started college full time. I even became a part time supervisor.

If you were my daughter I'd tell you to take a deep breath, then relax. You'll learn, then you will excel, and then you will go on to train others. Just don't forget this feeling now when someday you are training newbies yourself. A bit of patience helps people to have self esteem and pick up new skills faster. You'll be great very soon.

[heynurse1996]

I was a CNA four years before I ever became a nurse, and my first three months I was constantly terrified, every new grad is. I promise. It in no way reflects how you will do with any other avenue you take in nursing in the future. Its actually awesome your a CNA first! Talking to and being comfortable touching patients and getting into that "personal space" not to mention the basic nursing tasks you learn will serve you well I promise. I can also tell you as a human being sometimes it pays to be uncomfortable, makes us vigilant.

You will get faster. It is obvious to me you care and want to succeed at this job and that is 90% of being a CNA! Anyone can learn a task its truly caring that we are either born with or not.

Take a deep breathe. It will get better, just know adjusting to "nursing life" takes some time and anyone that says it dosent has been out of the new grad game too long!

It will get better I promise! :)

[heynurse1996]

As for technical tips, think thru what your going to do before you do it and gather all of your supplies first, dont want to leave your patient naked in a bed during the middle of a full bed change to go get a brief or sheets.

Also, get good at tucking, you will change a lot of beds with people in them

As for as transfers go, even if so and so dose that person as a one assist, if the kardex says 2 it is ALWAYS 2! :)

[ronna5]

I need help somebody. An RN is being really mean to me. Should I report her or report her to the nursing boards or utilize employee assistance program to expose her? I cannot imagine how she treats her patients. I feel sorry for them. I am going to report her to the nursing boards. I just finished talking to someone in the state where she holds her licenses and they are going to investigate her behavior. Also, I talked to the company employee assistance reporter and she is going to handle the matter. As a matter of fact the charge nurse will be notified of the situation because the RN I work with tonight is the one that is really mean and tells me to do 3 and 4 things as I am already working and doing other things. And the RN knows I have 20 residents to care for for 12 hours, and she sits behind the desk, and is always late passing her medications because the residents over and over and over are repeatedly asking for their medications. I hope that this RN is dealt with. OH believe me!! I am not the only RCNA she has done this to. Oh and she eats behind the desk during the entire shift. I want her off my back so I can lovingly care for some people.