Do you feel that you were adequetely trained??

ItsTheDude · Aug 28, 2009

a lot depends on the which state your n, some state requirements make the training adequate and others make it a mixed bag. it's hard to get inadequate training in north carolina from a state approved program. sounds like she just wasn't applying herself, her problem, not your's.

ebphillips · Aug 28, 2009

I know in my state (FL) you don't have to have any schooling whatsoever to take the CNA test. And most, that need to get a job ASAP (such as myself), will take a "Prep" course... which means we are "trained to take and pass the test" (my instructor's words)- we don't have actual, hands-on clinicals like the Red Cross, etc. do.

I took and passed the test, but I had to practice at home on my poor husband. In Class, we got a run-through of the skill and maybe 15 minutes of observed time to practice, then it was on to the next skill.

While getting my TB test done with my DON at the LTC I've been hired at, she was surprised I didn't have to have a TB test for my CNA training. When I told her I took a prep class and tested as a challenger, she (very nicely) stated that she thinks CNA preps are a disservice to new CNA's- that we don't get hands-on practice with patient loads and real, breathing patients; She promptly asked me the same exact question you posted.

Time will tell- my first shift will be next week. Do I feel like I can do the job with compassion and care? Yes. That's my nature. Do I think I can deal with logistics? Not so sure. Do I think I can if I had someone like you to assist/train me and take advantage of that? Absolutely.

And PS- at my facility, cell phone/text usage while on the floor on duty is a fireable offense. They have to be locked in your lockers. The facility is very upscale with a few celebrities in it- they don't joke when they say that we are to give the best care available.

greeniebean · Aug 28, 2009

Well our no cell phones policy started with camera phones. They didn't want anyone violating HIPPA. So then they decided to ban cell phones altogether. You can't have them on the hall. I told the trainee this several times and she replied "Well that's a stupid rule. I have kids I need to check on" I told the charge nurse. who apparently gave her a verbal warning and I'm guessing that's why she didn't have it the next day.

My facility has a set 4 day training program. Then the aides go on the floor.

It was actually kind of funny though. She told the aide who was training her after I left that she was going to get some chucks. When she wasn't back 15 minutes later the aide went looking for her. She found the chucks sitting at the nurses station closest to the time clock, with the trainee's badge on top of them! The aide said "well she could have at least brought the chucks over before she left!"

fuzzywuzzy, CNA · Aug 28, 2009

Was this a new hire or a CNA student? Or do you work in one of those facilities that combines them?

I got adequate training at my job- 2 weeks of following someone.

As a student, my training sucked. I think it was the facility we had our clinical at. It was very disorganized and we didn't get to do anything. I've spoken to other people who took the same class, but at another clinical site, and they got to pretty much run the floor. One girl had hers half at my site and half at another, and she said it was like night and day.

KimberlyRN89, BSN, RN · Aug 28, 2009

I'm sorry you had to go through that. To me, it sounds like the trainee was just looking for a paycheck,not to learn anything from you.

My manager asked me the same thing when I had my interview. I did felt like I got trained well. Some things I wish we had spent more time on, such as actually using a hoyer lift(we just got to watch the person we were shadowing set it up) but since I work in an ALF, we dont have one of those anyways(although I think we need one...but that's a different story for a different time!). Regarding my training at work: Since there are four different sections at my facility, I spent 2 days in each section shadowing someone. They were all very very helpful & committed to the residents. But last month, I had to work day shift for the 1st time( i work 3-11 normally), and the other girl working with me was still on orientation! It was terrible. I tried my best to do things & tell her about different residents, but she kept running off for 20 minutes at a time..I had to do many things by myself. And all she talked about was "omg I'm soo tired, I didn't get in to the house until 3 am cuz I was at this new club" and blah blah blah. I was soo mad. I don't think she wanted to learn anything from me, just sit around and play on her cell phone.. :angryfire

greeniebean · Aug 28, 2009

She was a trainee. She said she had been a CNA for 3 years, but I don't really believe her because I had to keep reminding of the most basic CNA stuff like not wearing dirty gloves in the hallway. (she wore a pair that she had just given care with to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee!!)

I know how hard it is to be new. You don't know where to stand, what to do, where to get supplies from (i've written threads about it). But that's what training is for. I can't kill myself trying to train someone who would rather be playing with her phone. It just really made me mad that she blamed me and another aide for her walking out in the middle of the shift because we "refused" to train her properly.

KimberlyRN89, BSN, RN · Aug 28, 2009

She sounds lazy..you have to ask yourself: if she's been a CNA for 3 yrs, what do her former employers say about her job performance? Has your manager approached you and the other CNA about the situation? If not, than I think you both should tell her what you observed. Best of luck to you :)

ebphillips · Aug 28, 2009

Yeah, sounds like someone wanting to collect a paycheck, not someone wanting to do their job well. I have kids too- that's a BS excuse. I've already told my husband that I can't have my cell with me on the floor, but he will have every phone number and extension in the building for emergencies... she very easily could have given her childcare arrangement that same information.

And I'm going to be watching my shadow CNA (preceptor) like a hawk. Our floor only has a 3 shift shadowing period. But SNF is only 60 beds, 49 occupied, so that seems about right, proportionally. Well, it's more, but they separate Memory Care from SNF...

I can't believe she was an effective CNA, if she was even one at all... gloves off as you're leaving the room is CAS (common a$$ sense), forget aseptic practice/training.

Commanderzoom · Aug 28, 2009

I work in a 100 bed facillity and was only trained for 2 days before being tossed out on the floor by myself. However, I was trained very well during those 2 days and did fine on my own. I wanted to learn and do a good job. The woman you were training sounds like she just didn't care.

jaratarRN · Aug 29, 2009

I am actually a trainee right now. I am a brand new CNA, so I was told I would be training for about a month before I am on my own. I just ended my 3rd week and I have had some wonderful CNA's who have trained me. The facility trains us on all the floors in case we need to be floated around, so I have been with a few different preceptors. I have learned so much more than I ever expected, like the small things that you don't learn in class and even the politics of the floor- who to watch out for and who will have your back. They have even checked up on me when I was on other floors or with other people. I had one person that just kind of handed me some people off her assignment without really teaching me, but I was only with her for one day. I am so grateful for the trainers I have had and hope that one day I can show someone the ropes the same way that I have been taught. I was so nervous starting my first CNA job, but now I feel pretty comfortable for when I will have my own assignment. And I know that I can always come to my preceptors for help when I need it. :heartbeat

lorelei1973 · Aug 30, 2009

That's an excellent question. I finished my training last week with the required 78 hours classroom and 75 hours clinical. Sounds like a lot, but no, I KNOW I'm not adequately trained. Not for the real world, anyway.

When I got to clinicals I was assigned (along with my group of nine others) to various CNA's on evening shift at a local LTC. Yesterday we came back to campus -- the local community college where we shelled out over 1K to do this -- and confided that nothing we saw or helped with during clinicals came even close to the way we were trained. We all knew that we were shadowing people who were battling the clock, so we adjusted our collective mindset for the month. I know I saw things like NO oral care, using gloves repeatedly between rooms, throwing things onto the floor, minimal handwashing, very rough handling of the patients, and peri-care ONLY when there was BM involved. The smell of stale urine would stay with me for hours after I left. Imagine putting dirty underwear on over and over. That's what it was like. Sure the brief might be clean, but the patient was nasty.

And the transferring was all wrong. Yesterday during our mock skills one of the instructors said, "Forget everything those CNAs told you" and she said it several times.

So, if we can't trust board-certified CNAs to help us do the right thing, then in my mind, the right thing is just a delusion meant to keep in the freezer until the state exam, sometime in October/November.

Was I trained adequately? Well, the answer is subjective I guess. I managed to learn how to be a CNA in a fast paced LTC, doing things in a way that flew in the face of my training. In retrospect the training I got in the classroom had very little bearing in reality. I was trained adequately for something, just not for the reality that most CNAs face. Doesn't mean I don't know how to do the right thing... :confused: I just wish the staffing ratios of most facilities could enable CNAs to do things the way they should be done.