Don't be that Nurse

Nursing Students CNA/MA

Published

You ever had that one nurse, or group of nurses who expect you to do everything? Even if you had a whole floor to yourself with 15 patients, for example. Did they expect you to do anything with little help. Of course, there's always gonna be people like that.

I'm certain I'm not the only one, but I'm sure that most CNAS deal with people like that. it's hard, but here's the truth. There's nothing we can really do about it. That's the reality.

Yes, nurses have more responsibility and liability than us. YES, they have more education. But here's a question. What's wrong with a little help?

I'm not talking about help for little things, but big things that we can't do even if we think we can. For those things to work, sometimes we need your help. Yes, if there's other cna's on the shift, it wouldn't be much of an issue. But if we can't do it on our own, then we need your help.

With my experiences, I've had so many nurses go out of there way to help me. I've had some who didn't, and even if they did, they would get pissy with me. The point is, anything a nurse does to help, is really appreciative to me because i know that i can trust that person. What makes it more better is when a nurse will completely go out of their way just to help me, which happened to me many times also.

We all have our own jobs to do. To the "Nurses" who has a problem with that, I get that. But, please don't say that in a comment because you're just making yourself look bad. I really don't want to hear it. If you don't agree with me, be respectful or don't say a word. We all have our own opinions.

To the CNAs out there, comment and tell me if your agree or not. Thank you.

I am glad to hear that you are a CNA that feels the need to do a good job and have pride in your work! I have some CNAs that tell me no when asked to do basic things when i am passing all my meds to 24 patients and very busy.I always try to help out but I have two CNAs that dont want me to tell them anything or even question them about how many showers they have to give that day. Sorry you seem to not have a great team it really makes all the difference for everyone!

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Really?

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Before she replied, you were assuming... Plenty of people use nursebound... Or other forms, like a memoir to someone close or what ever, but I guess it's how you word it.

To the RNs that actually took time to read and understand the topic before getting upset and attacking, thank yall.

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Specializes in Telemetry.
Before she replied, you were assuming... Plenty of people use nursebound... Or other forms, like a memoir to someone close or what ever, but I guess it's how you word it.

To the RNs that actually took time to read and understand the topic before getting upset and attacking, thank yall.

It wasn't an attack; I asked for clarification. The post discussed CNAS and the word "we" was used. In that context it certainly seemed as though the poster was speaking as a CNA.

I know there are less than stellar nurses out there, and I hate that they treat cnas and techs poorly (they also often treat their fellow nurses poorly too). I just get frustrated when people don't understand how much licensed nurses have to do

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Trust me, I do know how much you have to do. From passing meds to calling doctors to doctors asking you about the patient to give new orders to get admissions, to discharge, making calls, so much documentation, families, lots of stuff. I've seen and been around that. But still, any help is NEEDED if we need it. As a CNA, I try not to ask for help, because i know it annoys the crap out of some nurses, but in certain situations, we need help. Team work. It's how it is.

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It frustrates me when certain nurses tell me that I'm not doing my job when in fact I'm doing ALL that I can to my ability. I guess sometimes there's nothing any CNA can do. We just have to get in trouble. It's BS. Go figure.

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If nurses were cnas before, then they would understand more. Look, I know they have much more to do, but if they take time to help with anything, that helps. I know they have so much on there hands, and sometimes, they can't do it. I already explained that in my post. I'm tired of repeating myself :banghead:

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Specializes in Telemetry.

Clearly, a pt doesn't suddenly weigh less just because it is a tech doing the care; your back is just as susceptible in injury as mine. I totally agree that if the nurse assigned to the pt can possibly assist you at LEAST once a shift to care for/clean a pt who has mobility issues, it makes it so much better for all involved. The staff is less prone to injury, it takes less time, safer for pt, and is the perfect time for the nurse to assess pt's skin and listen to their back when the pt is turned.

Yep, teamwork is great. When I was lucky enough to have a tech that wasn't pulled to sit or float to another floor (GRRR) I encouraged them to get me if they needed help moving someone AND if there was a pt (or visitor) that maybe did not have the best behavior--remember, with some of these difficult people, sometimes the best strategy is to have someone with you as a witness or someone to back you up. (Or as I've been known to do, get a little abrupt with the pt if I overheard them be disrespectful to the tech. I seem to be better at letting it go if directed at me but get ticked if they go after a coworker.)

What we all really need is more (safe) staffing; until then teamwork -- and understanding if someone not immediately available -- is the only way to survive.

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LMAO!! That's what we're saying as well. Team work when possible. Not downing or saying all RNs are like that. Just a certain few.

I work at an Asst. Living privately owned... The home is classified as Type B or C?? Idk, I get them confused. Pretty much, on my shift there's not an RN. I'm under an RN's license, but she's not physically there. Soo... I do the charting, legal paper work, if anything happens, talk to the family, call/fax the DR, and getting transportation, copi es of all that other good stuff if I have to send out.. Counting and passing of meds. All that!! So with that being said, I have an idea of how busy RNs are. (AND I know that's only a blink of everything yall must do in one night, every night) And I couldn't imagine being on a hospital floor without any assistance.

And I apologize for calling it like I seen it earlier, but you came off as if you were in attack mode. Glad everyone is on the same page now. Lmao!!

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LMAO!! That's what we're saying as well. Team work when possible. Not downing or saying all RNs are like that. Just a certain few.

I work at an Asst. Living privately owned... The home is classified as Type B or C?? Idk, I get them confused. Pretty much, on my shift there's not an RN. I'm under an RN's license, but she's not physically there. Soo... I do the charting, legal paper work, if anything happens, talk to the family, call/fax the DR, and getting transportation, copi es of all that other good stuff if I have to send out.. Counting and passing of meds. All that!! So with that being said, I have an idea of how busy RNs are. (AND I know that's only a blink of everything yall must do in one night, every night) And I couldn't imagine being on a hospital floor without any assistance.

And I apologize for calling it like I seen it earlier, but you came off as if you were in attack mode. Glad everyone is on the same page now. Lmao!!

Wow! You're allowed to perform all these nursing tasks?

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Yes ma'am. The RN who's license I am under trains us and signs off on us. If she hasn't deemed us competent enough, then we don't do it. The facility falls under a different category letter than a nursing home. Like, we don't accept anybody with gtubes or any other patient that has some sort of a specialty medical need we can't legally do.

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