Brand New CNA

[lydpoo]

Does anyone have a way to do 15 incontinent residents in an hour. I am a new CNA, and began this job in the end of May.

I would like to know how I can do them fast in an hour because right know it takes about 3 hours.

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

I moved your thread to the AN "yellow" side you may have to re-log in with your same user name and password. You will find better answers here.

[duskyjewel]

Are you having to turn and change these people all by yourself? Are they hard to turn or can they help? Are they bedbound or can some stand up?

[Missingyou, CNA]

~Speed comes with experience.

~Until then, Keep chit chat to a bare minimum it eats up time alittle bit at a time., be organized!

~When you go into change one resident, instead of pulling out 1 brief from the closet, take 2 or 3and tuck them in a nearby drawer so they will be more readily available with few steps next time around.

~At the begining of the shift, line the trash cans with several bags so u can grab one without having to stop and re-line the the trash bags, plus, you will have a bag ready to go.

~Change both residents in the same room b4 going into the next.

~If at all possible, if the resident is in the bed, leave their pants off, one less step to do.

[SweetSouthernLove, ASN, BSN]

I would hope you would have help with that many incontinent patients. I would say if you are having this many incontinent patients in your assignment then to possibly get your assignment adjusted so others can share this workload - even for an experienced CNA this is excessive and should be shared by a team of people who can speed up the process, like you have mentioned, it is not a five minute task.

Also, don't forget as much as possible to raise and lower the bed. It will save your back immensely. I see many nurses and other CNAs rush into a resident's room just to start and finish and before you know it they are bending, reaching, crouching when they really didn't have to if they had just adjust the resident's bed appropriately. I had a nurse pop off a patient's ostomy bag on accident while doing a dressing change which could have been prevented if she had used the bed positions properly. Thankfully he was a very kind resident.

Missingyou is also right. Speed does come with practice, and also some critical thinking. Start your shift just as she spoke about with obtaining each resident's necessities for that shift. Don't assume it is there when you need it because that is a rare occasion. I also agree about the trashcans, so many times I come in on my shift just to change out the trashcan liners when they are overflowing - I think is disgraceful to walk into a patient's room and see trash overflowing - most of it being gloves and PPE worn by staff during the previous shift. If you see trash that needs to be taken out - take it out, do this when you first get there, it will clear a good chunk of time out of your shift that you would normally be repeating the same task over and over again just at different times.

Also, if you know certain patients need to be changed more than others make them your top priority. You may have 15 incontinent patients but sometimes (also rare) all 15 may not be soiled. Prioritize them and get there as early as you can so you have more time for the patients you find easiest to change. Also, if possible, if these people are heavy, hard to turn, or even difficult to change - call for help and communicate your situation. You don't show up to work alone and you definitely don't have an S on your scrubs for Superwoman, if you need help ask your fellow coworkers, even if it puts them out it doesn't matter - that would mean less to me than having to miss a week or two from work with a pulled back muscle or another type of injury from trying to do it all myself.