extremes of the job?

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I am taking my cna class right now. I go 8 hours a day 5 days a week for 10 days in class 10 days in internships starting 2 weeks from now. Any way we were given a lot of lectures about how to do things and what we will be expected to do. I was just wondering how often I'll see things that are towards the extremes of what they talk about in class every day. Like doing anal stimulation with your finger on a constipated patient to get them to have a BM. Is stuff like this something I should expect to see everyday or is kind of stuff something they cover just in the off chance you run into it some time in your career?

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I'll be waiting for responses to this one too....I'm starting my CNA course tomorrow and want to know as much as I can of what I should expect when I start working!! :p

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Specializes in Peds OR as RN, Peds ENT as NP.

Yes, there are some extremes that you will see because we are the ones closest to the patients. However, we were not taught "anal stimulation." If a patient is constipated the nurse takes care of that. I did the same class you did-- 8 hrs a day for 10 days then 3 week orientation. Keep in mind that even though you are "taught" things in class you will actually "learn" and see things totally different on the floor.

The most important advice I could ever give you is...

-Learn how to manage your time, 2 hr rounds come by really fast when you are busy(lots of patients, baths, meals, etc.)

-use lifts when you are supposed to(especially when you are alone)

- ASK questions no matter what.

-Not every CNA on the hall with you(let alone in your entire workplace)is your friend, they can turn on you in a second:hlk:

-expect the unexpected meaning don't be too quick to get stressed out

-sometimes you will be treated badly

hope that helps!

Oh and check out the CNA personalities post. Its so true and will definitely give you a heads up

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good luck starting your class tomorrow. I hope you enjoy it my first day was really really boring. We spent the whole day going over the legal stuff and gray areas of the cna job like putting a seat belt on a patient at risk for falling in a wheel chair is false imprisonment unless you have a doctors order to do so.

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Specializes in LTC.
Yes, there are some extremes that you will see because we are the ones closest to the patients. However, we were not taught "anal stimulation." If a patient is constipated the nurse takes care of that. I did the same class you did-- 8 hrs a day for 10 days then 3 week orientation. Keep in mind that even though you are "taught" things in class you will actually "learn" and see things totally different on the floor.

The most important advice I could ever give you is...

-Learn how to manage your time, 2 hr rounds come by really fast when you are busy(lots of patients, baths, meals, etc.)

-use lifts when you are supposed to(especially when you are alone)

- ASK questions no matter what.

-Not every CNA on the hall with you(let alone in your entire workplace)is your friend, they can turn on you in a second:hlk:

-expect the unexpected meaning don't be too quick to get stressed out

-sometimes you will be treated badly

hope that helps!

Oh and check out the CNA personalities post. Its so true and will definitely give you a heads up

Yeah the time management was probably the most important thing to me. Anyone can learn how to take a BP and most people don't even need to be taught how to wipe a butt (at least I hope not lol), but you have to do these things fast and be organized or you won't succeed.

But to answer your question, yeah, a lot of people's poop gets "stuck." They'll be the same people over and over again. Then you'll have people who practically spend their life on the toilet. I would say that about 90% of nursing home residents are completely and hopelessly bowel-OBSESSED. We get a lot of rehab patients with c-diff too.

What other things do you consider to be "extremes?"

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