So i was buying a pair of scrubs today and the clerk says "hey are you an rn" i said yes i am. and he said that he is trying to get his partner to become an rn because he needs a low stress job because he has a brain condition....i kind of say uh huh, well i wish him the best...... the the guy goes on to tell me his partner is a cna right now and its incrediably stressful and very hard work. i agree and he reiterates that is why he wants him to become a RN. I say "well that's a very hard job, i wouldn't recommend rn, lpn , or cna positions for anyone needing 'low stress' . he says "oh i know you guys have sooo much paperwork you have to do":rolleyes: lol, i said good luck to your bf. and changed teh subject to the scrubs i was buying.
then the other day i took care of a young lady who died and i gave my condolences to the family. the boyfriend of the mother says 'oh my gf is a cna this is nothing new to her" and i said 'well , when its your own child i think its a very different, you never can really get used to that' the mom, given me a huge hug. and later she was telling me some stories about her daughter who had also been a cna and basically the gist of it was that the doctors at their facility don't want to talk to the nurses when they do the rounds they take the cnas with them because they are the ones who really know the patients. i said what an important job cnas do ect.......
now why is it im noticing a trend that cnas don't think we do anything????? I have not seen very many nurses where i work ask a cna to help them with something that they themself wouldn't and don't do. we clean poop , turn and reposition....just like they do. Granted the few times i have picked up long term care i have not done cares there and i think both of these people come from that arena but it really irritates me that people think i sit around . I would never disparage the role of a cna....i don't like them doing it to me.
I couls say pages and pages on this topic, as IM SURE there have been..... I will sum it up with one sentence "some people, just dont know, what they dont know"
another thing... I work in an OR... and a surgical tech can become arrogant simply because they know WHERE AN ITEM IS LOCATED, AND AN RN DOESNT"...... umm sorry... it doesnt take advanced intelligence, vast experience,or even an RN degree etc to know the LOCATION of something...... they dont know what its used for, most of them, mind you.... they just get all snippety and huff off and say "ill get it"and then talk about you later saying "so and so RN doesnt know what she is doing" and some dont even have a clue that when the RN says "all counts are correct", and documents as such.... thats it... if something is left in the patient, the surgeon is in the clear... its the RN ultimately responsible for the surgical count. but yes, I continually get flack about counting "AGAIN?" UMMM yeah, u bet your but... ill count 10 times if i want to to because im protecting the patient, and secondly, I AM legally RESPONSIBLE... ITS ME GOING TO COURT.... not them, not the surgeon......so again i say..."some people dont know what they dont know"
I've been both a CNA and an RN. There are days when I would love to come to work and do my assigned task and go home. I worked hard as a CNA and was a valuable member of the team. I had no idea then how stressful it is to be an RN. In my eyes at that time I thought my job was just as stressful, if not even more important because I was assigned so many tasks. Now as an RN I realize i'm not only responsible for my own actions but those of the CNA's and LPN's I work with. One of the LPN's I was working with was upset because I did my own assessment before I signed off hers. It's my license on the line and was only done to cover myself. And when I'm charge I not only get written up for my own mistakes or oversights but also everyone elses. We are all part of a team, we do however play different roles.
I thought CNAs did "all" of the work- even as a nursing student. Nurses were always "sitting around" flipping through charts and hitting keys on their computers while the CNAs ran. I guess the harder physical tasks look more like work.
Of course, I know much better now...but I understand how perceptions can be skewed by people who haven't actually worked as nurses.
Me too! I see the same thing going from LPN to RN. The LPN's I worked with would say there was no difference between an LPN or RN and they made extra money for nothing. Of course, now that I'm an RN I know differently lol.
I'm gonna go against the grain and say that being an RN seems to be MUCH easier than being a tech or a CNA from anywhere from 13-37 patients (on my units respectively). Yes, you are ultimately responsible, and that's a risk and concern I understand.
As a student nurse, I'd MUCH rather do paperwork, pass meds, and do more advanced skills for SIX patients than have to worry about doing all the "physical" work for a whole floor of patients (turning and washing 10+ 250lb patients with hip fx, knee fx, gastric sx, urinary sx, etc...). During clincials, I feel lot better about doing what I'm doing. I feel as though as long as you have the knowledge base down for your job and a thorough understanding of how things work and a little bit of common sense and practicality, then any job is easy... provided you have the right accommodations to help you do it. To me, working with my mind is way easier than working with my body and is something I'd rather do.
I'm gonna go against the grain and say that being an RN seems to be MUCH easier than being a tech or a CNA from anywhere from 13-37 patients (on my units respectively). Yes, you are ultimately responsible, and that's a risk and concern I understand.
As a student nurse, I'd MUCH rather do paperwork, pass meds, and do more advanced skills for SIX patients than have to worry about doing all the "physical" work for a whole floor of patients (turning and washing 10+ 250lb patients with hip fx, knee fx, gastric sx, urinary sx, etc...). During clincials, I feel lot better about doing what I'm doing. I feel as though as long as you have the knowledge base down for your job and a thorough understanding of how things work and a little bit of common sense and practicality, then any job is easy... provided you have the right accommodations to help you do it. To me, working with my mind is way easier than working with my body and is something I'd rather do.
I kinda agree.... and you actually make a good point
I guess you could say that the Physical demands of being a cna or tech may be equivalent to the Mental demands of being an RN?
maybe not IDK I'm tired lmao
I can definitely see this for my job in ICU. The nurses are caring for 2 -3 critical pt's, and the techs are caring for 8-16 critical pt's
The nurse does her thing while the tech... transfers..turns...pulls... pulling/pushing those ICU beds isn't easy! and those portable monitors are heavy! all for 16 pt's
In the ICU I can see how the physical demands of the techs job may be the same as the mental demands of the nurses...
SOO HOORAYYY for the RN's who manage the stress of there own job and are STILL willing to do that "aide work"
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
this is not a new phenomenon, it has always been thought that rn's do nothing! i once got told i can do your job anyday of the week-you just pass a few medicines
way back in the 70s, my mother encouraged me to be a nurse because "they just sit at the nurse's station drinking coffee all day while the aides do all the work."
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
i kinda agree.... and you actually make a good point
i guess you could say that the physical demands of being a cna or tech may be equivalent to the mental demands of being an rn?
maybe not idk i'm tired lmao
i can definitely see this for my job in icu. the nurses are caring for 2 -3 critical pt's, and the techs are caring for 8-16 critical pt's
the nurse does her thing while the tech... transfers..turns...pulls... pulling/pushing those icu beds isn't easy! and those portable monitors are heavy! all for 16 pt's
in the icu i can see how the physical demands of the techs job may be the same as the mental demands of the nurses...
soo hoorayyy for the rn's who manage the stress of there own job and are still willing to do that "aide work"
i've worked icu for a long time . . . usually, there are no cnas. the rn does both the mental and the physical work.
I've been a CNA in a nursing home. I don't think there is any job in healthcare (and really, few outside healthcare) that is more taxing physically.
I was a tech in a hospital. That wasn't a bad job. Even when I had the entire floor.
As an RN, the mental stress is what kills you. And I remember thinking just what they do, that the nurses are always just sitting. But being on the other side has sure changed my mind.
Specializes in ED, Telemetry,Hospice, ICU, Supervisor.
I think most people associate the word "work" as a physical activity. So when some people see an RN charting, calling the physician, discharge paper work, checking the MAR, etc it is not seen as work. They cannot see the internal processes going on in that RN's head. All they see is an RN standing looking at a piece of paper. People have to remember there is intellectual work and physical work.
I ran into this same problem before with old supervisors. I thought all they did was sit in their office all day. Until I actually saw what they had to do on a regular basis. Ever try to negotiate training for 1500 people on I.Vs, it is not as easy as you think. Proper clearance for instructors, approval from higher up, the sheer logistics involved takes some work.
Think about it this way, you can build one building brick by brick one at a time. You can also design the architecture of a building using tensile strength and material data. Both of them require work to achieve, but if that building ever comes tumbling down who do people blame. It won't be the individual brick layer, it will be the guy that designed the structure in the first place.
RNs get paid the big bucks cause when crap hits the fan, its most likely gonna be the RN thrown under the bus. They have enough scope of practice/education to be placed in charge of other people. But not too much scope of practice/education that they become really difficult to replace.
If CNAs wanna be responsible for other peoples mistakes then come on down to RN school and you to can make some big bucks. :)
Specializes in Aged Care, Midwifery, Palliative Care.
I was talking to the mother of my daughters friend on the phone and she is an AIN (Australia's version of CNA). I think it is because I'm almost finished my degree, she went on and on about how when she worked in the hospital the RNs thought they were God and some of them thought they knew more than the DR, that none of them were TRAINED in bedside care (I worked out she meant therapeautic communication) she said that she told the RNs that SHE was trained and knew more about bedside care than they did. I stopped her there to clarify that I actually have done 4yrs in bedside care, which is how I then found out she meant communicating with the patient at the bedside I told her no, she's wrong, the RNs have extensive training in all types of communication... Ooooh Noooo they don't apparantly... us dumb ole RN's LOL. I tongue in cheek said to her that I can't beleive that I've done 4 years study when I could have just done 6 months like she did.... She said 'more fool you' :uhoh21: ... I really couldn't beleive my ears, and just sort of mentioned that it will show in my pay packet. BUT I was really offended, and now after rehashing this I think I will go and delete her off my friends list on facebook
I have always gotten on really well with AINs when I've been on a ward with an AIN (if the ward was lucky enough to have them), because as a student I learned a lot from them. But her attitude just threw me completely...
Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
Many people in society have a 'factory-worker' mentality, where the employees who appear physically busy are the ones with the greatest value. The 'factory-worker' mentality accounts for physical labor, but does not incorporate intellectual work.
Therefore, someone with this outlook would view the RN as lazy and lacking value if (s)he is seated, charting, on the telephone with a doctor, reviewing a H&P, assessing bowel sounds, or performing any number of tasks that are not physically laborious.
Nurses are not paid for what we do. Rather, we are paid for what we know. Plenty of thought goes into every intervention that we carry out. Hence, we are knowledge workers, but someone with a 'factory-worker' mentality would never fully be able to grasp the difference between knowledge work and factory work (rote tasks).
I told her no, she's wrong, the RNs have extensive training in all types of communication... Ooooh Noooo they don't apparantly... us dumb ole RN's LOL. I tongue in cheek said to her that I can't beleive that I've done 4 years study when I could have just done 6 months like she did.... She said 'more fool you' :uhoh21: ... I really couldn't beleive my ears, and just sort of mentioned that it will show in my pay packet. BUT I was really offended, and now after rehashing this I think I will go and delete her off my friends list on facebook 
RNOTODAY, BSN, RN
1,116 Posts
I couls say pages and pages on this topic, as IM SURE there have been..... I will sum it up with one sentence "some people, just dont know, what they dont know"