Certified nursing assistants not welcome!

[Barbie8808]

So first let me say I myself am a certified nursing assistant so this will not be a blog discriminating against CNA's. But more of a venting session if I must. I was recently invited to a SECRET black nurse organization on one of the most popular social media sites on the web. I was ecstatic to be invited and love every moment of it as I saw it as a chance to receive a wealth of information and access to resources as I am a learning nursing student as well. But this quickly faded as the swarms of members joined and it turned it into a Picture gallery of single sexy nurses across the nation. I'm leading to an event that prompted the admin to make a list of rules one of them being if your not an actual NURSE (lpn or RN) or a nursing student you cannot be apart of this group. Now in my head I'm like whats the discrimination for; cna's are the back bone to nursing itself.As more and more time goes by CNA's are not just helping with toileting and feeding needs (Which to me nursing should be a holistic approach and contributes the overall treatment to the patient) we possess phlebotomy skills and more on the job more skills such ng tube feeds iv and more. It lead to comments being thrown around like "no offense to CNA's but I work hard for my nursing license" "They can join when they become an actual nurse" which never lead to my question which is "SHOULD CNA'S NOT BE INCLUDED IN THE REALM OF NURSING?"

[mirandaaa]

Also Lets Clarify As a PCT I am ABLE TO

insert iv (NOT RUN ANY FLUIDS)

Draw BLood(Not Give BLOOD)

Hang All FEEDS For NG or GJ tubes(NOT INSERT OR CHECK PLACEMENT)

A PCT is different than a CNA. You're not JUST a CNA, you are a PCT, so yes, you have the ability to do more things.

If you were ONLY a CNA, those things would be outside of your SOP.

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

A PCT is different than a CNA. You're not JUST a CNA, you are a PCT, so yes, you have the ability to do more things.

If you were ONLY a CNA, those things would be outside of your SOP.

As a point for discussion: Many facilities use the term PCT interchangeably with CNA. A PCT (Patient Care Tech) may be a Certified Nurse's Assistant, but not necessarily. I worked for a facility that could train anyone off the street to be a PCT (and did); the facility I work for now does not require a Nurse's Aide to be a CNA (certified).

What a CNA (or PCT) is allowed to do in any given facility is up to that facility. Since PCTs have no certifications nor licenses, they don't have a scope of practice, they have a job doing whatever the facility tells them to do (and whatever the nurses believe to be an appropriate delegation).

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

Regarding who should and should not be lumped into the same career category.....nursing assistants/aides are very much a part of the healthcare team, but so are phlebotomists and respiratory therapists. They are not a part of the NURSING team-- that would be duties relegated to RNs and LPNs.

Many people assist in the care of a patient. They are not all encompassed in the word "nursing". Why is this a problem? I, as an RN, am an important part of a patient's healthcare team. I am fine with not being included under the heading for "Medicine" because, well....that term is reserved for those who have MD/DO/PA after their names. I am not a physician. CNAs and PCTs are not nurses. Simple :)

As for the social club that restricted its membership to licensed nurses (and nursing students) only....so what? Does every private club or group need to admit everyone who "feels" they should be included? No. Honestly, the description provided for this "black nurses association" seems to make it out to be a dating/hook-up site, not a professional association.

Pick your battles; this one isn't worth it, IMHO.

[nursejoe1]

Nurses are actually he backbone of nursing. Now, this is not intended to lessen the status of CNAS nor diminish what you do given the job would be immensely more difficult without CNAS. Given CNAS have a job in their own right why not create CNA orgs?

[ixchel]

If I didnt know the difference between a lancet or 18g iv needle/catheter I would be in bad shape lol.

Are you sticking your patients with 18g needles?

[ixchel]

You said nursing students are welcome, and you're a nursing student. I don't understand why you feel excluded.

I do, however, hope you come back to this thread after you've been working as a nurse for a year. I have a feeling you'll have very different thoughts then.

[hookyarnandblanket]

I am a CNA and I work in a hospital. We do not do anything with IVs besides wrap them for baths and showers, we only empty Foley's, not insert them, and we only clean about NG and PEG tube sites. While we are considered part of the med/surg department and part of the nursing staff, we do not call or pass ourselves as nurses. We have separate meetings but we are the RNs' extra hands, feet, eyes, and ears. If the group is for nurses only, then CNAs have no reason to be members. Seems pretty clear and concise.

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

As a point for discussion: Many facilities use the term PCT interchangeably with CNA. A PCT (Patient Care Tech) may be a Certified Nurse's Assistant, but not necessarily. I worked for a facility that could train anyone off the street to be a PCT (and did); the facility I work for now does not require a Nurse's Aide to be a CNA (certified).

What a CNA (or PCT) is allowed to do in any given facility is up to that facility. Since PCTs have no certifications nor licenses, they don't have a scope of practice, they have a job doing whatever the facility tells them to do (and whatever the nurses believe to be an appropriate delegation).

Yup, that's been my experience with people whom hospitals call PCTs too. The hospitals I've worked at/did clinicals at had lots of different names for people working as nurses' aides. Patient care techs, patient care assistants, clinical assistants. Few, if any, were actually certified in anything. Most were, as you said, people they seem to have found on the street. Getting them to get accurate vital signs was an insurmountable task, I can't imagine asking any of them to touch an IV or a feeding tube with a 10 foot pole. The only thing they could do with Foleys was empty them.

[Barbie8808]

Where I work you have to be certified as a cna ma or emt. You can not be just any joe smoe off the streets with no BACK GROUP

[Barbie8808]

Do phlebotomist and respiratory therapist work directly under the supervision of a nurse???

[OrganizedChaos, LVN]

Where I work you have to be certified as a cna ma or emt. You can not be just any joe smoe off the streets with no BACK GROUP

I wouldn't let a CMA or CNA near me to draw blood. What training did they have in their program do learn how to do so?

[JustBeachyNurse, LPN]

Phlebotomists usually work under the lab manager who may be a medical laboratory technologist (BS or MS) or the medical pathologist (MD) lab director. Not under nursing but part of the medical laboratory sciences department.

Respiratory therapists work under their department director who may be an administrator, senior RRT, pulmonologist (not common) or may be a nurse administrator. They are their own department not nursing. May be under cardiopulmonary technology services and combined with sleep techs, EEG techs, RRT, ECG & cardiac monitoring techs, cardiopulmonary rehab etc