CNA "not a good fit"

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Hello,

I was wondering how you handle a CNA that is to slow and overwhelmed by the work? Are there situations when a cna is just not a good fit and how is it handled. I am talking about the aide who really tries but just can't cut it in their position. How do you view the aide? How are they treated by their coworkers? I am a former CNA and a career advisor.

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As someone with no healthcare exp but loads of management exp here is what I would do.

First I would counsel her. I would start with positives and then address areas that need improvement.

Next I would reassure the person that they are an important team member and then I would assign them several shifts to work with who I considered the best option to retrain this underperforming CNA.

I would also get the underperforming tech;s opinion on the situation. Maybe she has a bad back that was not disclosed? Anyway, I would work with them as best I could.

If it became clear that the individual was not going to improve then I would terminate them and perhaps offer some insight for their future career path.....

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Specializes in Trauma Surgical ICU.

Is this person new to this position? It can take time to "get it all down" in a new position or new facility. How much time has passed? These are really questions that need to be answered before getting a good idea of what is going on.

We all go through growing pains in a new job/facility :)

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Specializes in nursing education.

CNA is hard work, and it's not for everybody. I did it for a couple years in nursing school and then worked on a unit that had no aides for night shift- so RNs were the CNAs too! It's physically challenging, besides the time management part.

Mindlor had me until "terminate"- those are all really good ideas- and a wonderfully supportive management style- but if the person has the best of intentions, is a good person in other ways, wouldn't you move her into another position if the physical part is just too much, or maybe suggest she would resign. Terminating someone that was hired for a bad fit position could hurt her job prospects for a long time.

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Specializes in Health care.

You should tell her that you should enjoy this job, otherwise leave.

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Specializes in LTC.
CNA is hard work, and it's not for everybody. I did it for a couple years in nursing school and then worked on a unit that had no aides for night shift- so RNs were the CNAs too! It's physically challenging, besides the time management part.

Mindlor had me until "terminate"- those are all really good ideas- and a wonderfully supportive management style- but if the person has the best of intentions, is a good person in other ways, wouldn't you move her into another position if the physical part is just too much, or maybe suggest she would resign. Terminating someone that was hired for a bad fit position could hurt her job prospects for a long time.

Really? People get fired for bad fits all the time. Management doesn't care.

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what other job is a CNA going to do if they dont work out as a CNA?

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"Terminating someone that was hired for a bad fit position could hurt her job prospects for a long time."

A managers job is to manage their unit or their facility. Employees are responsible for managing their own careers. The number one problem many managers suffer from is tolerating poor performance for way too long.

An effective manager makes change swiftly and as cleanly as possible.

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You should tell her that you should enjoy this job, otherwise leave.

Wow. If that were the case no would on the planet would be working. How about just finding a way to help the CNA identify her problem areas and give her some direction on how to improve her skills and time management.

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I agree mAZY, absolutely help them first, but then if that fails you gotta cut them loose

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Specializes in Hospice.

I would start them with a smaller load and then build up to the full responsibility with a mentor assigned to them to help learn to manage the task...if after several attempts and no improvment.......i would ask them to resign.

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I would start them with a smaller load and then build up to the full responsibility with a mentor assigned to them to help learn to manage the task...if after several attempts and no improvment.......i would ask them to resign.

If they refused to resign would you fire them? :)

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