Certified nursing assistants not welcome!

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  1. Should CNA's Be Included in any Realms of the of the word NURSING

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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?"

Before I say what I have to say I just want to say, that I'm just speaking on MY EXPERIENCE as a 6year/current CNA working at LTC facility's.

As a CNA I can say that when I come into work, we (CNA'S) do vitals, wash, dress, feed, transport on and off the unit within the facility's do mouth care, and pressure sore treatments (THIS IS THE TRUTH) the LPN's give the treatments to us to do while providing peri care. They also have started making us change the 02, mask and everything else associated with the residents oxygen, even labeling and dating them. I rarely see the nurses and when I do the RN'S are just supervising(I can't speak to what they do in the nurses office) and the LPN'S are passing medication and that's IT! That's just my experience, not trying to downplay anyone as a Nurse their position or title. I respect ALL people working in the nursing Department, no matter the title!

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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?

Me neither.

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And, not to be a jerk but, weather = rain, snow, sun, heat, etc; whether = a conjunction that introduces two alternatives.

LOL. That bothered me too.

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I agree, no CNA is starting my IV or inserting my foley if I'm in an ED. I wouldn't be comfortable with that. Perhaps it's okay in some parts of the country, but I'm not totally sure it should be. I'd like to see some study on hospital acquired infection in facilities that allow this. I wonder if the rates are higher, or if my fears aren't justified at all... Personally, I just couldn't do it. I'd request a licensed nurse.

CNAs have a few weeks of class while RNs have several years.

Yeah, I think it's pretty obvious who I want inserting IV and foleys.

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It depends on the program for Cna training. You're right some of them really bad. Some are not. I was required to take it prior to admission into the rn program and it was offered through school. However it lasted for the entire semester, 16 weeks. If you look back through the thread I don't think anyone said cnas are inserting foleys or IVs. There are some hospitals that do teach their techs to d/c them but that's about it. Some hospitals do employ nurse externs. These are nursing students in their last week of school. Not cnas, but not rns yet either. They, at least at my hospital and the other major hospital in town are allowed to do foleys, in and out caths, and can insert IVs on their own. They cannot begin peripheral iv infusions without their preceptor and we aren't allowed anywhere near a cvc. It just depends on your facility.

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It depends on the program for Cna training. You're right some of them really bad. Some are not. I was required to take it prior to admission into the rn program and it was offered through school. However it lasted for the entire semester, 16 weeks. If you look back through the thread I don't think anyone said cnas are inserting foleys or IVs. There are some hospitals that do teach their techs to d/c them but that's about it. Some hospitals do employ nurse externs. These are nursing students in their last week of school. Not cnas, but not rns yet either. They, at least at my hospital and the other major hospital in town are allowed to do foleys, in and out caths, and can insert IVs on their own. They cannot begin peripheral iv infusions without their preceptor and we aren't allowed anywhere near a cvc. It just depends on your facility.

YOU need to re read the thread.

Jul 22 by Barbie8808, CNA

I love the feed back Im getting. To all my CNA'S who say they do not practice those type of skills I'm wondering do you work at Nursing homes only. I work for two hospitals (one of them being magnet) so I know they would not have CNA's doing anything thats against the law or out of their scopes of practice. We are trained in blood draws and iv's foley and ng tube feeding at the hospital. So I guess its up to each facility on what they allow you to do.( so I guess thats where the discrepency lies) Shout out to the person who said did I mean glucose. lol If I didnt know the difference between a lancet or 18g iv needle/catheter I would be in bad shape lol. Meanwhile At both of my jobs I'm included in nursing. I guess because I work directly under RN's Im not a certified housekeeping assistant of Dietary assistant that one person compared me to that would be included in the care team of a patient.

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What part of every facility is different went over your head?

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CNAs have a few weeks of class while RNs have several years.

Yeah, I think it's pretty obvious who I want inserting IV and foleys.

I have no clue what type of nurse you are but Have you check Rn programs these days lpn are one year and certificate nurses are 2. There are accelerate programs where classes last only eight weeks for nursing students. I will say this nurses and doctors are the hardest patients to take care of because they swear they know everything. New nurses come out of school having the most basic phlebotomy skills.(and by that I mean nursing schools only let you practice on dummy arms) Any skill that you learn is a skill you must practice.I dont know why people assume that nursing students learn the nursing skills from other nurses and cna's and techs learn their skills I guess from monkeys. Dont sit up here and say you rather have a nurse do your iv or foley because what you dont know is the tech may have far more experience then the nurse. IN MY cna class I was taught how to do iv, foleys and douches lol. not to show my age but its true. I guess when you go to the dentist to get your teeth clean only the dentist can touch your teeth not the dental assistant !!!! lol

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What part of every facility is different went over your head?

Its almost sad that nurses are trying so many different ways to discredit what your saying instead of actually doing their research. Maybe I should post my job description from both HOSPITALS and not LTC for them to have a better understanding.

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Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.
That was me, and your response indicates that you do actually use 18g needles when you can. Am I reading that right? It was legit question. There isn't an indication for using 18g needles when starting IVs. EBP indicates it is best practice to use the smallest needles you are able to use for that patient. If it is a patient who will need rapid infusions, then it does make sense to use a higher gauge, but even then, a 20g in the AC space will likely do the job.

I was curious, not questioning your competency. I would recommend finding research on this topic and perhaps approaching the unit manager/director with it.

In OB it was standard to use an 18g catheter for an IV. I didn't even bat an eye at that.

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Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.
When I think of a back bone I think of support..... If I'm noticing something on your patient I don't know lets say a some type of decubitus. because your essentially doing the real nurse work. what do you call that. I think we need a brief introduction on what the history of nursing is before we Have a conversation of THE TRUE BACKBONE OF NUSRING.

To me, "backbone" is the foundation. And nurses are the foundation of nursing. Those things you learn in Foundations that you called the "CNA tasks" are actually NURSING tasks that are deemed appropriate to delegate to unlicensed personnel. They're not CNA tasks. They're nursing tasks. And in many departments there is "total patient care" which means those NURSING tasks are not delegated to UACs but are still performed by nurses only.

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Specializes in Telemetry.
I have no clue what type of nurse you are but Have you check Rn programs these days lpn are one year and certificate nurses are 2. There are accelerate programs where classes last only eight weeks for nursing students.

Ummmm......what?

8 weeks for nursing school?

The poster in question specified RNs who can be trained at the diploma level (rare but historically diploma programs graduated some awesome nurses) Associate of Nursing (about 1- 2 years pre-reqs and two years core nursing courses) Bachelor of Science in Nursing (four year degree including the pre-/co-reqs and core classes) accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (condensed but typically around 18 months I believe) and Direct Entry Master of Science in Nursing (not very familiar with this program)

Point being no one becomes eligible to sit for NCLEX-RN in 8 wks.

SMH

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