do you check after your nursing assistants?

student-with-no-life · Apr 7, 2009

I totally understand about checking on your CNA. Because of the lazy CNA's on midnights I have chosen to find a new job. These aids come in at 10:30p and first thing they do is grab a chair and sit! Only time they do rounds is if someone puts on a call light. They will do their "rounds" about 4am---when myself or other nurses confront them they get in our face and go nuts - and just go off the handle. we have complained and complained about them and NOTHING is done. so I am sick of it and have found a job else where.

And I love it when they sit and say "im not losing my license over that" I sit and shake my head---they actually think they have a "license"

I was asked the other day what could be done--I said fire them all and get some CNA that actually want to work.

I have to walk my rooms and check on everyone and see who needs changed etc. because they are to wrapped up in sitting and talking trash in their ghetto talk. I can't even correct them on the language they use because they just say whatever and continue. Im tired of working someplace where I have NO authority.

texastaz · Apr 7, 2009

I am a Agency CNA. I have appreciated most nurses that check, also have noticed one of the biggest problems is CNAs not walking through together (CNA getting off with CNA comming on) to check patients and room conditions. At shift change I have experience CNAs often waste valuable time arguing about who is going to take care of who vs having their rooms having already been assigned. Some nurses seem to have more time than others for whatever reason or conditions.

nerdtonurse?, BSN, RN · Apr 8, 2009

One thing working against us where I work is we are so short, management has actually told us (when we reported a CNA who just gave us the same BP on ALL her patients for the 2100 vitals and the 0100 vitals, and they were very different when we checked) and I quote, "They're overworked, and if you write her up, there's no one to replace her."

WTH? I told them if they'd just give me 4 patients instead of 8, I'd be happy to do without one if she was going to make up vitals....end of story, the CNA's still there...

jadey1 · Apr 8, 2009

See? I can't stand that when CNA's sit down, right when their shifts begin. Or the ones that clock in and get on the flood, only to inform the nurse that they're taking their break. That irks me.

It seems that the CNA's, who've been practicing longer, are the ones that're the cockiest. They're the ones that sit around until last round to start their FIRST round. Then, they lube their patients up with some EPC cream, which is white, and make it look like they've gotten proper care.

Nurses, themselves, are ultimately responsible for checking up on the CNA's and the patients. If there's not a privacy bag on a resident's f/c bag, if the call bell is forgotten, out of reach, if a bed isn't put back to low position, after care, or a side rail isn't put back up. Whether it's state/federally regulated, isn't it important to make sure your patient's safe and well-taken care of? You're responsible for your patients.

We're so short staffed that 8-10 patients, per CNA, sounds FANTASTIC! We have 2 CNA's per 45-50 patients, on 3rd shift. I don't see how that's legal but whatever...what do I know? The Corporate Gods said that's the way it's supposed to be.

KikiMay · Apr 8, 2009

in the nursing home where I was used to work, the CNA's were alway understaffed (I mean 2 aides for 30 reasidents...) and the nurses, LVNs RNs NEVER offered any help. Now we had to change and mark each resident's diaper with date, time and initials. They are supposed to be changed every 2 hours.

luvmy2angels · Apr 8, 2009

I also did spot checks, but I also made it a habit to do at least one "round" with the aides. It let them know that i was not afraid to get my hands dirty and help them and i think they also respected me more than some of the other nurses. They didn't have a problem checking someone or doing a little extra if i asked them because they knew i helped them. We had a very good working relationship with mutual respect for each other jobs.

Virgo_RN, BSN, RN · Apr 8, 2009

I work in acute care and don't have time to check after the CNAs. It is so fast paced that I barely have time to do what I need to do, let alone make sure they are doing what they need to do. Also, the boundaries between what the CNAs are responsible for doing and what the RNs are responsible for are very blurred, so if I find a wet or dirty patient, a patient that needs water or a warm blanket, or anything that is well within the CNA's scope, I get a very poor attitude from the aides if I "track them down" to ask them to do "something I could have done myself since I was right there".

Although last night, I was so grateful to the aide who was putting her I&Os into the computer, and I had just gathered my charts and sat down for the first time all night, trying to check orders and get the charts tidied up for the next shift, when a bed alarm went off. The CNA didn't even look over at me to see if I was going to get it (most of them would have). She just jumped up and took care of it without a thought. Come to think of it, I should bring her something when I go in tonight....

mstacyi · Apr 15, 2009

I just don't understand what is all the BS in here. I understand that their are lazy aids, but if those lazy aids were never over work by the nurses (usually take no longer then bout 3 months for a CNA to get over work at a new job) then may be they would do their job correctly.

I just cant understand why nurses cant give a helping hand by applying some cream and a diaper change. Or yet, take a simple temperature, make the bed and worst of all changing the diaper, but leaving it on the counter and asked for the CNA to toss it. All of these simple little things can be done while you (the nurse) are in the room with the patient. Why wait untill you leave the room to come and tell your aid to do it. Regardless, if your aid is just sitting down by the computer or not, it is not so hard to lift a finger to take a temp or tossing out the diaper after changing it.

How many times had you came out from a patient's room after giving meds or checking the paitent and came out to ask your aid to go and take the paitent's temp because he felt warm? OR asked your aid to go change a diaper because the paitent felt wet? while all along, you could of have done it because you were already in there.

You see I used to work as a aid before nursing school, and these little things are the things that ticks me off about nurses. You would not need to check on your aids if you would just give a helping hand. And if you did change a diaper becaue it was wet and you were in the room then just tell your aid that you had just got a diaper from so and so.

But what annoys me the most is the nurses whom gives their aids report again, after they had just gotten report from someone elese. Or the one who makes a list of the things that needs to be done for their aid. For example, I hate working with nurse X because she gives report to you even after she heard you getting report from someone else. AND there is nothing new to report, she aslo start listing a lot of things thats needs to be done over because she didn't like the way how it was done from the other aid.

So to conclude this, it is the nurses who dont utilize team work that makes their CNAs lazy. Because I will admit that as a nuses aid, I do have my picks of nurses. I will appear lazy infront of unappericative nurses whom can not even check a temp or change a diaper while in the room. On the other hand, I appeared as an upbeat, caring, and trust worty CNA to have if my nuses are willing to give me a helping hand. :twocents:

PrettyPrisonNurse31 · Apr 19, 2009

There is this one CNA whom I worked with......

I was a brand new Nurse, straight out the gate. I was all but 1 month with my uppity new license. Then, she came running down the hall shouting, "Come Quick!!!" I went down there and there was this sweet little old lady coding right there. I looked at her, frozen solid, and said "What do I do?" She told me to initiate manual CPR and she ran outside, dictated to the other CNA's who were loafing around and, returned in a matter of seconds with the crash cart, and about 50 other people.

So, if it had not been for her, A.W, she really helped me hold it together. So dont be hard on all the CNA's(just the lazy ones), cause you never know when you are knee-deep in the trenches and she jumps right in there with you.

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Apr 19, 2009

when the cat's away, the mice will play.

this is simply a case of a substitute nurse who didn't know the workers on the shift and was taken advantage of by them. i worked in a lot of nursing homes over the years and started out as a nursing assistant and have no doubt that this is what went on. if this nurse ever works this shift with these same cnas again, bet it won't happen a second time, will it?

swirlygirl · Apr 19, 2009

I'm lucky enough to work (most of the time!) with very good CNA's. I rarely have to ask them to do anything. If I have a patient with a 3-way foley irrigation after a TURP, they know to empty the foley bag every hour or so. If a patient's VS are bad, they report it right away. Now, some of our CNA's don't ever do this. (And one of them is a nursing student!) With one CNA in particular, I know I have to double check everything he is supposed to do and if I delegate a task to him, I know I should just save my breath and do it myself. Many of the nurses on my floor have discussed this with our nurse manager, but her answer is "He's just our bad seed, we have to work around him." :angryfire I don't know if he has corporate secrets or what, but he's been written up multiple times and nothing seems to happen to him. Frustrating beyond belief.

BradleyRN · Apr 20, 2009

they already know that its in their job description to change this residents. so what was i suppose to do? was i suppose to check all 50 resident's briefs and make sure they are dry? i have my own work to do

of course you are suppose to check the patients!! you are the charge nurse responsible to assure that the best possible care has been delivered. if pts are getting neglected on your shift, then it is your neglect! nurses who say we shouldnt have to check are probably afraid of the confrontations that will arise from doing so. "they know their job description" and it is time for you to know yours. it is your job to make sure they do theirs. where in the world is the question in that concept? if you allow neglect, then you are just as responsible and accountable as the cna.

i personally marked pads with a sharpie. put a little dot in the corner of the underside of the pad in a few random rooms, taking notes of the time and room number, and making sure that noone is watching. after a few hours, check the pads to make sure they have been changed. if the dot is still there, then it is time to write someone up. it wont take long being a good charge nurse for all the cna's to catch wind that when they work on your unit, they will have to do their rounds. you shouldnt want to be friends with neglectful people, and those are the only ones that will fall into this net. and the good cna's will be grateful that someone is finally policing the bad ones. any nurse who doesnt check behind their cna's (in ltc) is a criminal imo.