I am a Certified Med Tech as well as a CNA. I perform all of the duties of a LPN with the exception of inserting/removing catheters. Nursing home LPN's for the most part have disappointed me as a nursing student. As a CNA I have worked 3 consecutive 16-hour shifts on a lockdown unit with 19 incontinent male, behavioral residents. The LPN did not change anyone, did not feed any of the 3 feeders, did not shower any of the 6 residents per day, did not perform vitals on the 9 patients... I did it all alone. She did nothing other than chart and pass medications once per shift, and sit at the nursing station cackling on her phone.
Well, according to the state of ARIZONA, these are ALL not only within a nurses scope of practice but their responsibility. A CNA is an ASSISTANT. He/She is to ASSIST the nurse with personal care, most nurses for some reason seem to think that these tasks are beneath them or not in their scope and responsibility.
With the current shortages, and even more post COVID, imagine no CNA or PCT... Think about that the next time you sit at the nurses station while your CNA works their butt off. Think about if the industry went back to pre CNA era and you had to do it ALL. Answer a light. Pass water. Change a brief. I'm done. I will not go back to facility for a bunch of ungrateful nurses who spent way too much money on fig scrubs and are afraid of a little poop. I will laugh hysterically as they go to social media crying about being understaffed. For the way most of them have abused CNA's and neglected patients, they deserve to work alone. My heart aches for the residents that are stuck with these entitled, lazy people.
