CNA question. hope its ok to ask here.

jb2u, ASN, RN · Jul 17, 2006

Hello. I just applied at a local hospital. I have my nurse's aide certification but have not yet worked in the field. I am enrolled in the LPN program beginning in August.
I do not want to work in long term care ever. I was wondering if someone could explain to me in some detail what a CNA's job can entail at a hospital. I already know what goes on at the nursing homes, but I have no idea about the hospitals. The position I applied for online was listed as med/surg. I've also seen some listed as telemtry.
Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks!
Georgia

some hospitals will let you do more some less.....at the hospital where i work my duties are...

vital signs q4h, turn pts q2h (pt that can't turn themselves), pass out water, assist with feeding pts, change bed linen and bath pts, assist nurse with holding pt while nurse does wound care, take pts out for discharge, check heart monitor leads, transfer pt (bed to chair/chair to bed), ambulate pt in hallway, answer call lights, and any other thing that does not require a license.

cna is a grueling yet rewarding job. cna's are an essential yet often abused/overlooked part of the healthcare team. i have one more year to go to get my RN and i will always value my time spent as a cna. i KNOW i will be a better nurse by first being a cna. also, i have a better understanding of what cna's go through and i can tell when one is being lazy.

good luck and don't let the nurses discourage you while you are working as a cna. you MAY hear alot of complaining coming from the nurses about their jobs; you may get tired of always running running running, but nursing is a very rewarding career and i wish you the best in school.

if you have ANY more questions, i am more than happy to answer them.

sincerely,

jay

platinum_garb · Jul 24, 2006

thank you very much, jay. i probably will have more questions and i will definitely run them by you, first!! i appreciate it. :)

georgia

jb2u, ASN, RN · Jul 24, 2006

thank you very much, jay. i probably will have more questions and i will definitely run them by you, first!! i appreciate it. :)
georgia

anytime... i am here just about everyday !

good luck,

jay

chadash · Jul 24, 2006

some hospitals will let you do more some less.....at the hospital where i work my duties are...
vital signs q4h, turn pts q2h (pt that can't turn themselves), pass out water, assist with feeding pts, change bed linen and bath pts, assist nurse with holding pt while nurse does wound care, take pts out for discharge, check heart monitor leads, transfer pt (bed to chair/chair to bed), ambulate pt in hallway, answer call lights, and any other thing that does not require a license.
cna is a grueling yet rewarding job. cna's are an essential yet often abused/overlooked part of the healthcare team. i have one more year to go to get my RN and i will always value my time spent as a cna. i KNOW i will be a better nurse by first being a cna. also, i have a better understanding of what cna's go through and i can tell when one is being lazy.
good luck and don't let the nurses discourage you while you are working as a cna. you MAY hear alot of complaining coming from the nurses about their jobs; you may get tired of always running running running, but nursing is a very rewarding career and i wish you the best in school.
if you have ANY more questions, i am more than happy to answer them.
sincerely,
jay

Thanks for this description.

How many patients do you have?

Quondo Omni Flunkus Mortati

(when all else fails, play dead) Red Green

jb2u, ASN, RN · Jul 24, 2006

Thanks for this description.
How many patients do you have?
Quondo Omni Flunkus Mortati
(when all else fails, play dead) Red Green

normally 12-14. sometimes i get lucky with 9 or 10, but new admissions are always around the corner. i floated one time to a stroke unit and only had 2 patients...i didn't know what to do!

tommyblue32 · Jul 25, 2006

Hello all. Tommy here and I'm changing careers or about too. From law enforcement to nursing

well I'm looking over a nurses assistant book and I don't know what to make of all this. I guess I'm overwhelmed. How do they expect one man or woman to keep up with the needs of 10 - 14 people in addition to the nurses calling for assistance. I guess I'd appreciate a run down of a normal day. by the way been a first responder, bls officer and an AED cert before, so that helps but still what can I expect except treadless shoes after a week? Thank you in advance for your help/ ttfn

platinum_garb · Jul 25, 2006

Tommy, I can say from just finishing my CNA clinicals in March...the ladies and one guy I shadowed were amazing. They zipped around the long term care facility dilligently responding to call lights and all the while getting their regular duties done. Each day when they came in they checked the chart to see which wing they were assigned to and just went at it.

It seems impossible until you view it first hand...but these people really get the job done!

casi, ASN, RN · Jul 25, 2006

Hey Tommy,

First thing a new CNA learns is time managment and how to deviate from the textbook tasks. Textbooks seem to go step by minute step. I'm not saying that you get lazy, but there are a few steps that you can sometimes skip. Do you honestly need to check a wrist band to identify a resident you've been working with for a long time? Also a lot of skills run together in a natural easy flowing nature. You also need to realize that the books teach you to care for people that are completely dependant. You'll find that you can hand a wash rag to a lot of patients and they can wash their own underarms or brush their own teeth.

You'll also learn time management and tips and tricks when you get trained in or in generic conversation with co-workers. Also if you work in a facility where people work well together it makes cares a lot easier and faster.

I'd give you a run down of my normal day well night, but noc shift in Assisted Living is really quiet (though last night wasn't) and we do a lot that's out of the CNA scope of practice within hospitals and nursing homes. So I don't think that it would be of too much help.

Sarah LnDHopes · Jul 25, 2006

Hi! I have a couple of questions, if you guys don't mind.

What kinds of shifts do CNA's normally work?

12hours/3 days like nurses, 8 hours/5 days like everyone else, etc. Does it vary between a LTC facility or a hospital?

Also, is there opportunities for overtime? I'm considering being a CNA full time (before nursing school), which would mean a pay cut for me, but overtime would be helpful...

jb2u, ASN, RN · Jul 26, 2006

Hi! I have a couple of questions, if you guys don't mind.
What kinds of shifts do CNA's normally work?
12hours/3 days like nurses, 8 hours/5 days like everyone else, etc. Does it vary between a LTC facility or a hospital?
Also, is there opportunities for overtime? I'm considering being a CNA full time (before nursing school), which would mean a pay cut for me, but overtime would be helpful...

i think most cna's work 12's, but some do 8's.

overtime is there for me. some places may not have any, but i doubt it.

jb2u, ASN, RN · Jul 26, 2006

Hello all. Tommy here and I'm changing careers or about too. From law enforcement to nursing
well I'm looking over a nurses assistant book and I don't know what to make of all this. I guess I'm overwhelmed. How do they expect one man or woman to keep up with the needs of 10 - 14 people in addition to the nurses calling for assistance. I guess I'd appreciate a run down of a normal day. by the way been a first responder, bls officer and an AED cert before, so that helps but still what can I expect except treadless shoes after a week? Thank you in advance for your help/ ttfn

well it is difficult if not impossible to get everything done that needs to, but you do the best you can. as far as overwhelming...i think it is important to realize you can only do so much...as i've said in other post there are times when i've been feeding one pt., had another pt need to go to the restroom, and being paged to do a stat ekg. other times i may have 3 pts that need to be fed and each one takes about 45 minutes to eat (ive timed it). it doesn't take a algebra to figure out that is about 2 1/2 hours of feeding. and what does the other pts do while your feeding the first. and what about the other pts that need to use the restroom during this time, or want water, or want to go back to bed, or need to be turned q2h, or ekg's,... you get the point.

cna work is demanding.

i normally start my day with report, then i go around room by room to introduce myself and make sure everyone is ok, then meal trays come and i set up and feed pts, pick up trays (record i&o's), take v/s, turn pts, start given baths and changing bed linens, take v/s again, set up and feed lunch, pick up trays (record i&o's), do more baths/beds, answer call lights, toilet/change pts, assist nurses, do ekg's, shave prep pts, take v/s again, set up and feed for dinner, pick up trays (record i&o's), take out linen bags.

vital signs are done every 4 hours on my floor, we turn pts that can not turn themselves every 2 hours. call lights are constantly going off. incontinent pts are changed every 2 hours. pts may need to be walked in the hall. pts have to be wheeled out for discharge. there is always something, but i believe it is a GREAT place to start out a nursing career. you learn time management, prioritizing, caring, and you learn that you can't do it all! some nurses, especially those that have never been a cna, don't really understand what all a cna has to do. they think "you only take v/s and change beds, how hard can it be" but there is so much more to it.

anymore questions...just ask jay!

sincerely,

jay