Deeply saddened

[recentlycertified]

I recently became a certified nursing assistant, and quickly found a job working in skilled nursing/rehabilitation for the elderly. I was very fortunate because I had quite a few job openings available to choose from. I have been working for a few weeks now for a major company, and have become very disappointed with the behavior of the other nurses. Before deciding on which job I wanted to choose, I wanted to get all the information I could on my company, after doing some research I found a lot of lawsuits against them for medical malpractices, but I met the staff, met the residents, and thought well, if my family members recently passed away, I'd be filled with a lot of sadness and anger, and I'd want someone to blame, so I'd blame the people who were supposed to be providing care. I also understand, that there are a lot of people just trying to get money, and suing for a medical malpractice is a good way to do it.

Before taking the job, I had to meet the residents and understand their needs, I guess they wanted to make sure it was something I could handle before taking the job. I of course, instantly fell in love, and put all the lawsuits in the back of my head, and took the job. The first two days were very stressful because as I'm sure everyone knows, everything is on a need to know basis so I didn't really know the residents needs very much, but they've been putting me with the same residents everyday, and after getting to know them and getting organized, it's been much easier. I'm a very fast learner and very fast paced, and very detail oriented, and organized so being a CNA has been very easy for me. I've been getting my work done so quickly the past few days, I've been noticing a lot of things that really irritate me.

1. The line..."that's not my room." a call light will go off, and the other nurses say,"it's not my room," "it's not my assignment," or the wonderful line from the lpn or rn, "that's not my job."

2. If a resident doesn't want their food, the nurses will eat it. from my understanding we're not supposed to take any gifts, or money, and under policy we're not supposed to take their food.

3. Putting an annoying resident in their room, and than locking the brakes on the wheelchair.

4. Discussing resident issues with people who don't need to know.

These are all little things that have just been getting under my skin, but I've just been putting it off. But the other night, I was working, put everyone to bed, finished my checks, did everything that needed to get done, and decided to just walk around to see if anyone needed help, or if any call lights were going off. and I walked down the hall, and heard some yelling. So I decided to see what was going on, I saw a group of 3 CNAs taunting a resident who had a heart attack, who could barely speak, and has very limited movement with her arms and legs. They were picking at her sweater, poking her, and tugging at her hair. She's known to be very combative, but when I saw that, I had a feeling that the reason she was so combative was that she didn't trust the other CNAs. I was so disgusted. I spoke with her at the end of my shift and told her I was going to be watching everything, and she started to cry.

I had her the next day, and she was very pleasant with me, no biting, nothing. Which further makes me believe, that the issue lies with the CNAs. Is this technically considered abuse? Is this normal for CNAs to be basically **** on by the RNs? Is it normal for CNAs to not want to help other CNAs, because it's "not their room?" I got into this to help people, and I do the best I can to help all my residents, and I feel I do a pretty damn good job. Any advice for a new CNA?

[One Flew Over]

That's straight up emotional abuse, (and tugging on her hair, physical abuse) and these idiots need to be disciplined seriously. Who knows how long this has been going on. If they don't mind doing that in plain view, that speaks volumes as to what goes on behind closed doors.

[recentlycertified]

That was my thoughts exactly. I've been doing a lot more research on them, they're a very big company, and have a lot of employee complaints about the same issues I mentioned above, but I definitely understand that a lot of facilities are short staffed, and good CNAs are hard to come by and blah blah blah all that other stuff, I see a lot of the companies perspective, but I'm more about the care of the residents. I became even more worried when a resident who was much more functional, told me about a situation where, a CNA was giving her a shower, and splashed freezing cold water on her, and when she told them it was cold, they laughed, and when I asked her to describe them, she described two of the CNAs I saw taunting the one resident. We have two units on our SNF, we have one that's for more rehabilitation styled care, and one that handles more critical long term care (strokes, cancer ect.) If the CNAs that I'm thinking of are the same CNAs that splashed the cold water on one of the residents, they put them on the unit where the people can't defend themselves. I'm doing a lot more research, and thinking that I may have made the wrong decision in selecting my job. I think I may report it, and play it by ear, see what happens, than take it to a higher power if nothing is done, and than maybe quit. Because I didn't get into this to witness this kind of stuff or provide that kind of care. If what I'm reading on the internet is correct, I really have to get out of there, fast! Thanks for the advice!

[ItsTheDude]

1. Is this technically considered abuse?

2. Is this normal for CNAs to be basically **** on by the RNs?

3. Is it normal for CNAs to not want to help other CNAs, because it's "not their room?"

1. yes, it's the resident's home, everyone that works there is just a guest.

2. not "normal", but widespread, not limited to rn's, lpn's too.

3. again, not "normal", but widespread.

health care is just a job, no differ from any other job. there are bad apples everywhere.

[recentlycertified]

True, true true. I understand completely. I was watching the news the other day, and it was talking about "recession proof jobs" CNA and RN was on the list of top 5, and I thought to myself, "Oh my goodness, I hope there aren't going to be more nurses coming into the field that do what they do for a paycheck." Because I've met some good ones, and than these not so good ones...and you can tell which ones are there for a paycheck, and which ones love their jobs.

[fuzzywuzzy, CNA]

I would be careful. Aside from the abuse, these other issues (nurses who sh*t on you, people not falling all over themselves to answer a light that's not theirs, picking at food the residents don't want) happens everywhere and it can be annoying but it's not a big deal. If someone new came to where I work and started waggling their finger at everyone over stuff like that I would be annoyed, and I wouldn't be the only one. People are going to think "oh great, another brand new cna who thinks she knows everything, well she doesn't know the half of it" and then they're NOT going to help you; they're going to make things worse for you. I've seen that happen.

[recentlycertified]

I haven't said anything to anyone out of fear of that happening. I've heard stories where one CNA didn't like another one, and they lied and said they were doing something inappropriate when they weren't and I've heard those stories so I never made too much of an issue about the little things, because I was prepared for that. I definitely don't know everything, that's why I decided to not work from an agency, so I could see more and learn more by working with more people. I knew it was going to be hard and I knew I wasn't going like everything I saw, because I understand that there's a lot of issues with staffing, but, it just kind of hurts when you try to do your best, but you feel like your teammates don't do the same as you. Do you consider yourself a hardworking CNA?

[fuzzywuzzy, CNA]

Yes I do consider myself hard-working. I'm a planner; I have every assignment down to a science so that I don't miss out on toileting, turns, or mouthcare for anyone. If I haven't had that assignment many times I ask a lot of questions and adjust it each time until I get it right. I also don't shy away from helping my coworkers.

I work with a lot of great people and some who, as you said, don't do the same as me, either because they're lazy or they're too scatterbrained to be efficient. Either way, it's not getting done, and preaching doesn't help. The lazy people resent you and the inept ones just get even more flustered and screw up more. Sometimes you can give suggestions (in a nice way), but if you're new I doubt you know the residents any better than the established CNAs.

And when i say they can make it harder for you, I'm not even talking about them making up stories and reporting you. I'm talking about them making it harder for you to get things done on the job by doing things like avoiding you or making you wait longer than necessary for help with 2-person transfers, and only helping each other so they get done that much faster than you. Also the light thing- they'll avoid your call lights, your vitals, your feeds, snacks, and waters; anything for "your" resident so that if it doesn't get done, they can blame you even though these things are generally done by everyone. During rounds they'll work together on doubles and stick you with the singles... stuff like that. After they finish first, instead of helping you they'll sit back and watch you struggle. Then they'll complain to the nurse that you can't get your **** done.

[recentlycertified]

Thank you very much, I appreciate your honest advice. It means a lot to me, and I'll definitely keep that in mind. I get the feeling that they're doing that, but not because I've said anything about them, but because...I feel like they may be jealous for some strange reason, which makes me hurt even more. But I do my job very well.

Good Luck to you! And thank you again for the good advice. I appreciate it a lot. It's good to know that there are nurses who do care, and have been there already who can give me some insight.

[x0pinky_x]

I have just started taking my cna class, so I can't answer any of your questions. But I wanted to comment because, your story really saddened me as well. All of these issues are things my teacher has gone over, of what not to do!! To you and me it seems like common sense, but I guess to some it's not.

1. The line..."that's not my room." a call light will go off, and the other nurses say,"it's not my room," "it's not my assignment," or the wonderful line from the lpn or rn, "that's not my job."

I think this happens no matter what kind of job you work, personally I think it's rather ignorant to do that when it involves someone's personal needs.

2. If a resident doesn't want their food, the nurses will eat it. from my understanding we're not supposed to take any gifts, or money, and under policy we're not supposed to take their food. 3. Putting an annoying resident in their room, and than locking the brakes on the wheelchair.4. Discussing resident issues with people who don't need to know.

All I can think of is why all these things are wrong & where they fall under discussions in class.

Hearing stories like this only makes me want to be the best cna I can be! :redbeathe:heartbeatI don't know how often this happens, but I would keep my mouth shut at work & try to make a confidential report. But also I wouldn't want you to get "bullied" for doing what's right, if someone suspected something. And possibly search for a new job in a facility with better reputation.

[NM nurse to be]

If you really want to keep this job, you've gotten good advice above about dealing with the other aides. They can and will make your life miserable just because you are new. Or even for experienced ones that the group decides they don't like, they can really make your life hell. The shift before you can do a LOT to make your shift bad, taking your briefs or supplies, making sure your residents will be wet/dirty when you arrive, there's a lot of obnoxious things they can do. And that's really sad to me.

If it were me, I would have a real problem staying with the company you're with now. THere is always a number for the state board that you can call anonymously and report the hair pulling, teasing, all that stuff. That would make me flip my lid. I would be out the door and calling state, if it were me. You said you had other options, maybe it's worth it to investigate some of those. There are places that aren't like that. I hope you find one that fits, you sound like a good egg :)

I have NO patience when it comes to that kind of stuff with other aides and I have probably not made a few friends because they know I will report stuff. I don't mind being the b!tch if it gets my people better care. I overheard some off-going aides a few weeks ago saying to each other that they had better make sure my people were clean and poop free or I'd report them Yeah, you bet!

[fuzzywuzzy, CNA]

I feel like they may be jealous for some strange reason.

I don't think so.