Let me start by saying I am a CNA and I'm not talking about all CNAs. I have a problem with some coworkers and even some CNAs in the forums here that just complain all day about how hard our jobs are and how the RNs don't do any thing, we do all the hard work they just pass meds, sit, and chart. Even heard someone say we should get paid as much as the nurses smh
1. We all work hard, CNA, LPN, RN, etc
2. There's more to being a nurse then passing meds and charting, and they do their fair share of work doing things we as CNAs don't have the knowledge and skill to comprehend and do
3. CNAs are paid horribly and deserve more, but to say as much as a RN is ridiculous, c'mon lets get real
4. If you feel this way shut up and find away to get more education and move on like I am
Again I'm a CNA, I'm overworked, and sometimes there are lazy nurses but all the whining and ridiculous comments are annoying. Sorry for the little vent.
Thank you. Being a CNA was my introduction to working with the whole human being, and I will never forget it. For people to relegate it to "dirty work" and to care more about what the RN is doing than to care about how *they* are interacting with a fellow human being just ****** me off to no end. I have ZERO sympathy for whiny CNAs. None. Do your work, or get a job flipping burgers. That is a *human being* in front of you! Act like it! Gawd, do you really care who is doing peri care on your Grandma? NO, you just care that it's getting done, and with her dignity intact.
I have a real charge about this issue. I feel like "Really, you care more about what the RN is doing than than what the human being in front of you needs right now? What does that say about you as a human being?".
It's a choice. Not to toot my own horn, just trying to make an example, but when I was a CNA, I took it as an opportunity to grow as a human being by showing compassion and humility assisting people with their most intimate care. It's like a sacred honor to be the one trusted to look at someone else's hoo-hah on a daily basis. For that duty to be treated with disdain because "the RN is lazy" is just messed up. Look at yourself and what you were hired to do, and what your duty to the patient is, not what other people are or aren't doing.
One time, when I worked in an LTC, I was doing my rounds and I heard a blood curdling shriek. I ran down to the room to see what was going on. It was a new resident. It was her first night at our facility. She didn't know where she was, and she wanted to go home. *I* was the one who was there for her, who held her hand and had to tell her she *was* home. I turned on the light and looked at the pictures on her wall and asked her about the people in the pictures. Eventually, she calmed down and was able to lie down and go to sleep. Because of ME. The CNA.
Of course, I had no "training" in what to do in this situation. I had to rely on what my instincts told me as a human being.
I had another lady that would call me several times a night to help her to the bathroom. She always talked to me about her house, and how she wished she could go back there. *I* was the one who held her hand and listened.
Another time, I had a resident fall and sustain a head lac while I was getting her up. EMS came and took her to the hospital. When all the fuss had died down, her room mate looked at me and said "Can you get me out of here, too?".
When I was being oriented, the CNA told me "He hits.". I found out that he only tried to hit when you went into his room and tossed him around like a wet blanket instead of treating him like a human being with dignity.
Being a CNA is its own sacred duty. Being a CNA gave me the foundation for my practice as an RN, and I cannot stand aides who would rather focus on what the nurse is doing than focus on their own practice and the human being that is in front of them.
I don't understand how you can look at yourself in the mirror knowing that you gave more of a crap about what the RN was doing than what the human being in front of you needed.
I mean it. The person in the bed is why I got into nursing. Yeah, sometimes they can be jerks. But it's the CNA that is at the front line, and I can't stand the idea of anyone who resents their job taking care of vulnerable people. As a CNA, it is *your job* to clean up poop and brush dentures and hold hands. I just don't get why that is seen as somehow "lesser" or "beneath". Like I said before, it feels sacred to me. It's certainly more sacred than looking up lab results and calling the doctor. The CNA feel should feel privileged to be entrusted in that role. I honestly believe that.
depends on the area. i was a cna before becoming a nurse and i got to learn alot and got paid pretty decent. i dont think cnas should get paid close to what nurses get paid just because of the different level of critical thinking that is involved in the nurse role. i know that my job would be alot harder without cna's though and i am grateful to have them by my side.
My coworker is a LPN and stunned me by the fact she wasn't required to learn some of the work CNA's do..... she just expects us to have everything to be Finished ( when we are short staffed) on a resident that requires us to have 2 people.... it was frustrating to me that she was angry with me for not having the resident wasn't even started yet..... sorry for the vent.... just had to get a coworkers petty actions out of my head
I got paid barely above minimum wage to be a CNA. It's true, that was wrong and I think CNAs should be paid more than fast food workers.
At the same time, as a CNA, you don't share the same level of liability as the RN. You're not the one who's going to be hauled into court for failure to rescue. So, I think some level of differential in pay is totally reasonable.
It's like child care. Child care workers in this country earn little less than minimum wage. People entrusted with the care of our vulnerable populations should earn more. But, they should also be held accountable to perform to a certain level. Some of the CNAs I've seen in my day should not be entrusted to take care of anyone's pet rat let alone anyone's Grandma.
Please, if you are a CNA and you do a good job, I'm not talking about you!!!
I've been a CNA, an LPN, and now an RN. We all work hard.
When I was a CNA, I worked my tail off.
I cannot believe some of the patients I was given when I was an LPN. That was wrong.
As an RN, I work harder than I ever did as a CNA. I would never have believed this if you had told me when I was a CNA. Back then, I thought I did all the hard stuff. I was so wrong, and I owe a huge apology to any RN I ever disparaged or thought was being "lazy".
Ditto....except to the nurses who truly are lazy.....you all know the "wait til you graduate, you'll never have to wipe a butt again" and walks away from a you and an assist of 2 covered in number 2....(CNA, now RN, if wondering)....
I'm sorry, but if I walk away from an assist x2 covered in number 2 because I have a patient in respiratory failure who needs immediate life saving intervention, guess what I'm gonna do? I make no apologies. Go clean up the BM while I keep dying this person from dying, thank you.
My coworker is a LPN and stunned me by the fact she wasn't required to learn some of the work CNA's do..... she just expects us to have everything to be Finished ( when we are short staffed) on a resident that requires us to have 2 people.... it was frustrating to me that she was angry with me for not having the resident wasn't even started yet..... sorry for the vent.... just had to get a coworkers petty actions out of my head
I get annoyed when I interrupt my nursing duties to help a CNA change a resident, and the aide hasn't even started. I'm sorry, but I do feel you should have as much done as possible before I even step in the room. If I have to wait for you to run and get some briefs or wait for you to pick out an outfit from the closet, I'm gonna be annoyed.
I'm guessing you work in LTC. You have to realize that while you have a fraction of the residents on the unit, The nurse has the entire unit. This isn't like the hospital, where the nurses have 5 patients. All I really have time for is the licensed duties. Each time a nurse helps an aide out, he falls a little more behind on his duties.
If you stop and think about it, who are the ones staying over on a regular basis to finish? It's the nurses far more often than the aides. As I said earlier, we can help with your job, but you can't help us with ours. How fair is it for me to watch the CNAs leave pretty much on time, while I'm staying over? And staying over partly because I interrupted my med pass 18 times to do work that could be done by an aide?
I'm a CNA and an LPN student. I had a different career previously in a totally different (non-health related) field. I wanted a change and started working as a CNA to see if healthcare was for me. And yes, I have seen lazy, useless CNAs. And I've seen very good ones. Usually good ones. However, even the good ones have a very high turn over rate because of how poorly they are treated. Much higher it seems than nurses. In general, I have been shocked at how grossly over-worked they are and how little they are paid. Yes it is "unskilled" labor in the sense that if it only takes about 2.5 weeks to get certified. However, to be a good CNA, it takes innate caring, good intuition and *very* hard work (both physically and emotionally). My response to this whole thing that comes up often (CNAs complaining about nurses or vice versa) is that I think there would be less complaining about CNAs if they were treated better and paid better. No, not as much as nurses. But goodness, they are the ones who spend most of the time with patients who are in any type of LTC or rehab type setting. It seems that since they are entrusted with so much responsibility (and they are) they should be better compensated. I think in that case the job would become more desirable, the competition more stiff, and ergo the quality of worker much better. Otherwise, yeah, you might end up with a lazy, bitter, obese tech who ignores granny and spends too much time complaining. In essence, a facility gets what it pays for.
I had asked her before the shift start if she could give me a hand . She said yeah.... but when the time came to help me she had an all around bad attitude about me asking ( mind you the residents care plan carefully states that there is to be 2 workers in the room when changing or getting the resident up oh and not to mention I can't physically turn a almost 300 pound person by myself). I even told her if it was a huge deal I could see if someone else can help. All I got was a snotty reply “ I'm going to be down here anyways". I would fully understand that if another resident was in trouble and she had to leave , but I don't understand why she had to give me such a poor attitude about it, a simple yes I can help you or a no I'm busy would have sufficed. Oh and the other nurses don't have a problem helping with anything like that.
Anna Flaxis, BSN, RN
1 Article; 2,816 Posts
Thank you. Being a CNA was my introduction to working with the whole human being, and I will never forget it. For people to relegate it to "dirty work" and to care more about what the RN is doing than to care about how *they* are interacting with a fellow human being just ****** me off to no end. I have ZERO sympathy for whiny CNAs. None. Do your work, or get a job flipping burgers. That is a *human being* in front of you! Act like it! Gawd, do you really care who is doing peri care on your Grandma? NO, you just care that it's getting done, and with her dignity intact.
Geeze.