thrown to the wolves?

Nursing Students CNA/MA

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What was your first day like as a cna? Did you shadow someone? Or did you take it by storm? How did your coworkers or other cna's make you feel?

In home health care, are you immediately assigned patients to care for w/o assistance?

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Specializes in LTC/Rehab.

I shadowed with some 20+ year experience cna's for about ten days, and then I went solo. I don't feel like I was fed to the wolves at all in my job, but I was vulnerable to the stink-eye from some veteran nurse aides. Which is what I expected, anyways. :uhoh3:

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Specializes in LTC, Rehab, CCU, Alzheimers, Med-Surg.

My first day as an aide was spend trying to keep up with the CNA I was shadowing :)

That job didn't work out so great (they had a ratio of 1/14), and at my next job I got better training. Believe it or not, there ARE halfway decent nursing homes out there!

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Specializes in LTC.

I also trained for about 10 days, and after I got off training most of my coworkers didn't make it easy on me. I think no matter how much training you get, you still FEEL like you've been thrown to the wolves because the work is something you just have to do for a while until you get used to it.

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We had a week of orientation, but the person I shadowed couldnt teach a fish how to swim. They were supposed to be teaching me exactly how the facility wanted things done and how to chart and document everything. Instead they basically just used me as an extra set of hands, as in you go change the bed linen and clean up while I give them this shower and get them dressed. Then when it came time for charting they would say Ill go through it tomorrow, we dont really have the time right now. My orientation was largely a waste, aside from getting to know the residents and getting some hands on practice before being on my own.

I basically learned through trial and error after my orientation. I faked having a clue and asked as many questions as I could once i realized all the things I was SUPPOSED to have been shown but wasnt. My questions usually went unanswered and all I could really do was just make educated guesses about a lot of things. It was a horrible first couple weeks. So yeah I was definitely thrown to the wolves.

Lets just say when Im working with the person who oriented me and they ask for help, Im less quick to come running than I am with others.

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Specializes in Med/surg, rural CCU.

My first day was miserable. The CNA assigned to train me argued, whined, and complained about how much she hated new employees. She hardly talked to me and gave me dirty looks everytime I had a question.

Most don't have that experience though- and many CNA's enjoy their job, and enjoy training new employees. Good luck!

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