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.
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...
Depends on the location, facility, and unit.
In Minnesota most CNA shifts are 8 hours, but I've also noticed that some units may be 12 hour shifts.
Overtime is easy enough to come by it seems that people are ALWAYS calling in sick.
Also if money is an issue, once you get comfortable with your skills and get some experience (1 year normally) look into working for a pool agency. I know that one of our local agencies can gaurentee their CNAs 4 shifts a week @ 16/hr.
Specializes in home health, neuro, palliative care.
...si 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...
sincerely,
jay
It's so great to hear this. I think CNA should be a requirement for nursing school (and med school, for that matter). I am getting my cert next month so I can be of more use as a hospital volunteer, and I have such respect for what you guys do. I was in management in my former life, and I have always felt that a supervisor should never ask an employee to do something the supervisor would not be willing to do. I know working as a CNA will make me a better nurse, too.
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
Good luck with your job hunt! I do think it is a good idea to work hospital if your are moving on to your LPN. It will benefit you in so many ways.
I actually just started working as an NA in June, last days of Spring quarter, and I love it. Did it just so I could get ready for nursing school, and get a jump on knowledge that some of my other peers won't have.
From my short experience, I can throw this little bit of knowledge out. It is very demanding and can be overwhelming at times, but you have to love your pts and enjoy being around people, no matter how much they tick you off. That happens everyday, but your pts realize they will see you for the next 12 hours, so they get to know you and appreciate the work you do for them.
Regular day for me (med/surg @ hospital) with an average of 7pts includes report, introduce to pts/write name on white boards, v/s, breakfast trays passed by nutrition staff (so lucky to have them), begin baths (usually can get most baths done by lunch), accuchecks/check glucose levels, v/s if shift nurse wants(most of my RNs don't because its one more thing to mess with for them), baths, lunch trays passed, more baths (go to lunch myself), v/s and accuchecks, dinner trays passed, say goodnight to pts.
This is pretty normal, but all the while this is going on you still have to answer your call lights, pass ice, discharge pts, go to lab to drop off cultures/pick up blood, change linens (usually done during/after bath), empty linen cart/trash, walk pts, feed pts, take pts to bathroom, prep pts for heart cath/xray/ultrasound/dialysis/or/and any other procedure/test, and most importantly, CHART, CHART, AND WHEN YOU ARE SICK AND TIRED OF CHARTING, CHART SOME MORE! Charting probably consumes most of my time. Out of my 12hrs per shift, I would say I chart about 15min/1hr of work (3hrs total). I work 12hr shifts and before I started at the hospital, I thought I would have to find things to keep me preoccupied, but boy was I wrong! The floor I am on is shared by surgery, ICU, and step-down. So we see every type of pt you can think of. Hemodialysis is also done on my floor. Pts who are on dialysis require even more special attention than other pts do, which can keep you extremely busy.
I wanted to get a job as an NA so I could get a better understanding of what the RNs do. Even though I am only doing an aide job, I know what I do is extremely important, and without me the nurse would not be able to function. They have a lot they have to do, and I assist in whatever way I can. It also better preps me for RN school, which I start this FALL (SEPT 13)! I am so excited.
I worked as a CNA while going through nursing school, and I worked on a med-surg floor of the local hospital. If I had known then how much easier the CNAs have it at the nursing homes, I would have definitely worked in LTC isntead. At the hospital, I normally had between 16 and 25 patients on the 11-7 shift. I had to pass ice, get midnight and 4am vitals (full set on each and every patient TWICE), turn q2h, bathe anyone who was having surgery that day, handle bedpans, bedside commodes, and walking patients to and from the bathroom, answer all call lights, check telemetry leads, perform bladder scans, record intake and output, do postsurgical vitals on anyone who came back from surgery (that entailed getting a set of vitals every 15 minutes x 4, then every 30 minutes x 2, then every hour x 4), I usually had at least three who were on postsurgical vitals. I also had to set up rooms for admits, take out the trash and laundry from every room, wipe down all equipment from discharged patients and take it back to central supply, change all bed linen, wipe down the nurse station surfaces with alcohol, stock all carts (isolation, dressing change, and medication carts), download the CBG machine info into the computer, and pull all the charts for each doctor who was doing rounds that morning.
Needless to say, it was the worst job I ever had. I used to cry on the way home because I was so incredibly exhausted from running all night long. Now that I am an RN in LTC, I see the much more reasonable responsibilities and patient load of the CNAs and I wish like crazy I had known about that when I was in school.
I worked as a CNA while going through nursing school, and I worked on a med-surg floor of the local hospital. If I had known then how much easier the CNAs have it at the nursing homes, I would have definitely worked in LTC isntead.......
Needless to say, it was the worst job I ever had. I used to cry on the way home because I was so incredibly exhausted from running all night long. Now that I am an RN in LTC, I see the much more reasonable responsibilities and patient load of the CNAs and I wish like crazy I had known about that when I was in school.
LoriAlabamaRN,
i think that both jobs are demanding. I've worked LTC and Hospital. i MUCH prefer the hospital. i ran my bottom off in LTC and i run my bottom off in the hospital. yes, i do all those things you listed in the hospital and we do THREE full sets of v/s on our pts (q4h), but in LTC we had alot more pts that needed...to be fed, dressed in clothes NOT a gown, dentures cleaned, showered/whirlpool NOT a bed bath, etc...these task are very time consuming, but no matter how time consuming the task there is still ONLY 24 hours in a day and ONLY 12 hours in a shift.
i've heard other nurses that were cna's say how they "think the cna's work load is reasonable" after they became a nurse, or they say "i wish i had the time to do baths and bed changes", but i think that it's a matter of perspective. Plus, i don't have too many nurses pushing me out of the way to clean up a pt even though they say "they'd love to do that instead of charting!" I AM NOT judging your character...please don't take it that way. I think it is just human nature...like when you have a small house and you think it's big and then it "gets small" so you by a house twice it's size then "IT gets small." or, and this is classic,....a nurse talks about managers then they BECOME a manager and they say "i wish i had time to chart and take care of pts, etc..." I hope you see what i mean.
however, like i said, some people will prefer LTC, some will prefer hospital. I've also worked in a doctor's office as a medical assistant...and THAT can be a VERY hectic job. what i want is for ALL nurses to understand how busy the cna's are and that they are a valuable asset to the nursing field. YES, we do have alot of lazy cna's out there and i hope we can weed them out, but for the ones that DO their job...they have long, hectic, sometimes horrible days. Now stack on top of that the constant..."oh your JUST the cna" that pts love to say OR the disrespect that comes from SOME of the nurses/doctors because your JUST a cna.....and that makes for a VERY bad day. some days the ONLY thing that keeps me going is the fact that i LOVE taking care of people...even if they don't think much of cna's, i know i play a BIG part of their road to recovery.
I am a certified CNA I, CNA II, and Monitor Tech trained. I love being a nursing assistant. I work in extended care at our local hospital and I really love the clients. They have so much to offer with their experiences in life.
But, as with everything it has it pitfalls. Some co-workers just do not want to work together. I just do not understand it, we are there to give the best care that we can give and some just don't care. But do not be discouraged .
I plan to continue with my education to become a LPN. I am currently taking my prerequistes at our local community college.
I liked the monitor training but, telemtry is not for me. I like moving around and I don't think that I could sit all day staring at a monitor screen.
i worked as an ACT in a hospital for 2 years before going to LPN school (ACT= nurse's aide & unit secretary). I worked in CICU, and it was the BEST experience ever. Those nurses "showed me the ropes", and always included me in any detailed task, knowing that i would soon be starting nursing school. I also know that me being an ACT will help me be better nurse and appreciate all the CNA's, and i know that i will never be above helping a CNA bathing, or other tasks that I can help them with!
In reading people's responses on this thread, I have seen people note they had to turn patients or help them walk. I am hoping to start nursing school in 2007 and would like to do some cna work. My concern is having trouble turning a patient or walking one. I am short (4'11 and don't know if I can do it easily. Is this hard to do or do you do it with someone (might sound like a dumb question)? I know when I worked as a volunteer in the ED I had trouble pushing a 250 lb man sitting up on a stretcher and people made fun of me because they couldn't see me pushing the stretcher they said. Also has anyone had trouble pushing wheelchairs or strechers? It sounds easy until you do it and especially if you get one that is "uncooperative".
In reading people's responses on this thread, I have seen people note they had to turn patients or help them walk. I am hoping to start nursing school in 2007 and would like to do some cna work. My concern is having trouble turning a patient or walking one. I am short (4'11 and don't know if I can do it easily. Is this hard to do or do you do it with someone (might sound like a dumb question)? I know when I worked as a volunteer in the ED I had trouble pushing a 250 lb man sitting up on a stretcher and people made fun of me because they couldn't see me pushing the stretcher they said. Also has anyone had trouble pushing wheelchairs or strechers? It sounds easy until you do it and especially if you get one that is "uncooperative".
Don't let that stop you. You can always get another cna or nurse to help you turn a pt if need be.
I am 120 lbs, 5'2" and thought my regular workouts made me strong, but moving big people is difficult for me. Working as a team is the best way to prevent injury, but the resident/staff ratio doesn't usually allow it. Don't be goaded into proving yourself--on rounds my first night, I was labeled by coworkers as a "newbie" and challenged to do the toughest tasks. I know why turnover is so high. I am leaving LTC after 2 months, before I seriously hurt myself.
casi, ASN, RN
2,063 Posts
Depends on the location, facility, and unit.
In Minnesota most CNA shifts are 8 hours, but I've also noticed that some units may be 12 hour shifts.
Overtime is easy enough to come by it seems that people are ALWAYS calling in sick.
Also if money is an issue, once you get comfortable with your skills and get some experience (1 year normally) look into working for a pool agency. I know that one of our local agencies can gaurentee their CNAs 4 shifts a week @ 16/hr.