CNAs feel about students clinicals

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How do the CNAs feel about student clinicals. Do you dread it? Do you love it because there are people around doing some work?

I was sometimes surprised at how the CNAs acted when I was taking my clinicals. We never had the CNAs do anything for us, so we stayed away and did not get in their way. It was all on our instructor what we did. When we would come in we would be willing to do the bed making which they knew we would, and there was 6 of us and we were lucky if they had two beds to make. Why not utilize us and allow us to do this for them for a few weeks? When our instructor would check to see who we may give a shower they acted like it was such a big deal to allow us in the shower room.

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I personally would welcome student CNA's! The only time it would be an issue is if I had to wait on the students to finish up something before I could do my part of the job.

For example: When I was a student cna my instructor had me doing cath care. It took me a while to do it and the regular CNA made it politely obvious (if that's possible)that I was putting her behind because she needed to get that resident ready for dinner but had to wait for me to finish.

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Everyone I know dreads them. If students are around we need to do things more 'by the book' rather than how things are actually done in real life. We had a group of students a few months ago and a few were a nightmare. They were reporting each other left and right, reporting the CNAs left and right and just making themselves a complete nuisance. The rest of the students were ok, but the instructor was horrible. She took it upon herself to walk around with a clipboard and tell the working CNA's what they were doing wrong. We were told we needed EIGHT washcloths for pericare. I still don't know how I would possibly use that many. Facility policy is 4. She told us we bathed people incorrectly, even that we put briefs on the wrong way. Everyone groaned when they learned they were 'stuck with' the students that day. One big issue we had is that the students didn't seem to understand we had to get our work done. We don't have an hour and a half to try and coax a resident to eat their supper one pea at a time. I know that sounds cold but it is true. One day I had gotten 4 people in bed after supper and the student was still trying to force one man to eat. We even had a group of 3 of them stand and watch while one of our aides got the crap beaten out of her during a shower, and no one even tried to help.

I understand we were all students, but at my clinicals (at the same facility I now work at) we did not bother the CNAs. We had 'our' resident for the day and that was that. The working aides were not responsible for showing us anything or helping us at all, and we were told that we would see things that were not by the book, but that we were guests at the facility and to not cause any trouble. I do feel sorry for the students because it's obvious we don't want them around, but we aren't being paid any more to deal with all the extra work of having them around. And we aren't showing them the 'real' way of doing things anyway.

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Oh my goodness that does seem dreadful. How can a student even report a CNA. I would never even dream that I would look at these CNAs as a student and be able to think I was even able to do anything like that!! And report on our fellow students is insane as well. My class was exactly the way you described your class. Stayed clear away from the CNAs that were working there. The only time we even talked to them was once when we were having to give a report about a resident, and when we were handing out trays each person had there names on them and the CNAs had to point out who was who. Otherwise we did our own thing. ou are right about being guest, and respect is a must when you are entering there work enviroment.

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It is either welcomed or not. It is welcomed if they know what they are doing instead of sticking to your side like a leech. I don't mind showing students the right thing to do a couple times, but if I have to keep showing you and you aren't getting it then I don't know why they picked CNA.

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Specializes in Geriatrics.
It is either welcomed or not. It is welcomed if they know what they are doing instead of sticking to your side like a leech. I don't mind showing students the right thing to do a couple times, but if I have to keep showing you and you aren't getting it then I don't know why they picked CNA.

That's kind of rude. How are they supposed to always know what they are doing if they've never done the work before? When I took my CNA class, we were barely taught how to do the skills in class so we had to learn everything from the ground-up, in the nursing home. I admit I'm not always the fastest learner because my nerves sometimes get in the way, so sometimes I did have to be shown something a couple of times before I really "got" it. It's not always someone's fault if they don't pick up on things immediately, different people learn at different paces and they can't always help that fact.

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Keeping in mind that in our area you can be an aide before you get your CCA course, so often we orientate people with no working knowledge about our job and then when they do finish their course they don't have to do clinicals they just test.

That being said, I like new people. I like working with people who are willing to work, even if they don't get it right away. Our first set of clinicals in June, we will be doing hands on CCA clinicals, with more reporting than aides usually do(this coming from me, as a CCA, not me saying I'm better because I'm charting more blah blah). There are people in my class who are worried about it, I get it, so I'm hoping the aides we work with are pleasant to us.

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That's kind of rude. How are they supposed to always know what they are doing if they've never done the work before? When I took my CNA class, we were barely taught how to do the skills in class so we had to learn everything from the ground-up, in the nursing home. I admit I'm not always the fastest learner because my nerves sometimes get in the way, so sometimes I did have to be shown something a couple of times before I really "got" it. It's not always someone's fault if they don't pick up on things immediately, different people learn at different paces and they can't always help that fact.

I was never thrown with a CNA, I was given a patient and was told to go. You learn everything you need to in class. At least my class I did, they were great, I guess more teachers are leaving CNAs to teach student CNAs then. And If you listened, I said I wouldn't mind showing someone a couple times, but if I had to keep showing it over and over then there is a problem.

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Specializes in Geriatrics.
I was never thrown with a CNA, I was given a patient and was told to go. You learn everything you need to in class. At least my class I did, they were great, I guess more teachers are leaving CNAs to teach student CNAs then. And If you listened, I said I wouldn't mind showing someone a couple times, but if I had to keep showing it over and over then there is a problem.

That sounds a lot better and more thorough and organized than the way my class did it. When I took my CNA class, it was almost all textbook instruction with little skill practice; we watched videos on the skills and had a few hours where we practiced vital signs and bed-making, and that was the extent of it. As a result, I felt pretty unprepared when I entered the nursing home. I feel that was a mistake on the instructor's part to not emphasize skills more because, while the textbook instruction is important, think about what you're going to use the most in the real world -- the physical skills, right? And yet, the instructor was all "OH LOL, DON'T WORRY, YOU'LL LEARN EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO WHEN YOU GET TO THE NURSING HOME" as far as learning the skills went.

Also, when we did our clinicals, we were just thrown together with a CNA and watched them as they did their work, helping out here and there, mostly with the low liability stuff like feeding and wheeling residents to the dining room. I ended up not getting much hands on practice as I would've liked during my clinicals due to the fact that the CNAs were so rushed all the time, letting me do cares on a resident would have slowed them down -- which is understandable, I would have probably done the same in their case. Giving a student one resident to practice on all day sounds like a much better scenario than what was done in my clinicals, for both the student and the CNAs -- the student gets more hands-on experience and the CNA doesn't have to deal with the stress of having to teach and train a student on top of their already heavy workload.

Sorry if I seemed reactionary, I just had some CNAs be really mean to me for being slow and awkward when I first started out which is why I guess I'm a bit sensitive.

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Specializes in Geriatrics.

I also wanted to add that I think that students reporting CNAs is ridiculous and uncalled for. When I did my clinicals, I tried to be respectful and mind my own business -- unless I saw something really serious like blatant abuse, neglect or theft, I didn't report it. I already knew from research I'd done that things are done differently in the real world than compared to class, and shortcuts have to be taken just to get done on time. The class acts like you have all the time in the world to tend to residents -- in reality, you'll often have 10+ residents to care for and a limited amount of time to do it in.

We did have a student though that constantly complained about every little thing the CNAs did and went on about how she wanted to report them to the state. I'm sure the CNAs loved her

When I started working as a CNA, I wasn't at the nursing home for very long so I didn't have the experience of training students. And at my new job, it's non-applicable since it's not a clinical site. I can imagine it being stressful, though -- having to deal with teaching a student on top of your already heavy workload. Although I imagine a lot of times it depends on the particular student you're having to work with.

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That sounds a lot better and more thorough and organized than the way my class did it. When I took my CNA class, it was almost all textbook instruction with little skill practice; we watched videos on the skills and had a few hours where we practiced vital signs and bed-making, and that was the extent of it. As a result, I felt pretty unprepared when I entered the nursing home. I feel that was a mistake on the instructor's part to not emphasize skills more because, while the textbook instruction is important, think about what you're going to use the most in the real world -- the physical skills, right? And yet, the instructor was all "OH LOL, DON'T WORRY, YOU'LL LEARN EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO WHEN YOU GET TO THE NURSING HOME" as far as learning the skills went.

Also, when we did our clinicals, we were just thrown together with a CNA and watched them as they did their work, helping out here and there, mostly with the low liability stuff like feeding and wheeling residents to the dining room. I ended up not getting much hands on practice as I would've liked during my clinicals due to the fact that the CNAs were so rushed all the time, letting me do cares on a resident would have slowed them down -- which is understandable, I would have probably done the same in their case. Giving a student one resident to practice on all day sounds like a much better scenario than what was done in my clinicals, for both the student and the CNAs -- the student gets more hands-on experience and the CNA doesn't have to deal with the stress of having to teach and train a student on top of their already heavy workload.

Sorry if I seemed reactionary, I just had some CNAs be really mean to me for being slow and awkward when I first started out which is why I guess I'm a bit sensitive.

I wasn't trying to be rude at all, sorry if it came out that way. But I should have added I did my CNA program in high school for 2 years. So there was a lot more time to learn more hands on than lets say a 6 to 8 week course. All the students, residents, teachers, nurses, and other staff really enjoy me because I actually help teach instead of the other CNAs who try to hide from the students. Good luck, I love it (CNA), but glad I will be starting the RN program fall 2013.

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