FED UP CNAS!!!!

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ANYBODY THATS A CNA PLEASE EXPLAIN WHY YOUR SO FED UP!!!!:down: BECAUSE I AM!!

I'm new here, but I understand why everyone is fed up, and it's pretty sad that I can identify with most of the posts in this thread. My thing is people passing medications and not giving a hoot, and not following protocol at the risk of the resident's well being. It's hard to work somewhere where you really care, and it seems like no one else gives a crap.

-Rachel

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I agree with everyone saying that CNA's do a lot of jobs that belong to other people. Our CNA responsibilities are to pick up, pass out, set up and clean up the food. To clean up the rooms, take out trash everytime there is a dirty depend in the bag, make the beds, clean wheel chairs, and do the laundry. We do vitals and put creams and prescribed ointments that are the RNs responsibilities on the residents. Plus, if you're not on the nurse's favorites list, you end up being the one that does everything while the favorites sit it out and chat. I'm sick and tired of the drama that goes on at work with the nurse's siding with their favorites who slack off, while I'm having to rush and pick up their jobs, then having them complain about me not doing my job and reporting me for every little thing that they can to get me kicked out. The duties are already enough stress but the coworker drama that is added on with it is even more stressful. I don't want to pick up more days or hours because I am unappreciated and mistreated.

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All theses complaints I have just read is the very reason I am trying to become a Medical Coder. Do not get me wrong! I love my residents at the ALF but I need a challenge of a different kind and better pay WITH RESPECT!

Good luck to you......I have worked as a medical transcriptionist, medical biller/coder, medical records clerk, front desk receptionist and medical assistant, and I'd love to get back into the administrative side of the healthcare field. However, I live in a small town with horrendous unemployment and those kinds of jobs around here are extremely hard to land. I really do LOVE being a CNA, but...........I know I could get better pay than what I'm making right now if I worked in a facility that would take my years of experience into consideration and pay me what I'm worth. Come to think of it.....maybe that's why they don't want to hire me.....I'm overqualified ??:rolleyes:

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Float Pool, MICU, CTICU.

Hmmm...

Let me count the ways:

1. Patient load not reasonable for proper care.

2. Co-workers who complain when you ask for help on a "two-person assist."

3. Residents that do not cooperate! "I am here to help you" *sighs*

4. Management talking down to nursing staff during meetings.

5. Management thinking they are above and beyond the nursing staff.

6. Family members who don't understand how busy your shift is, but demand for you to attend to their every whim. They seem to travel in packs to raise their intimidation factor.

7. Supplies never in stock; Always making trips to the supply room.

8. Aides who gossip

9. Nurses who gossip

10. Having your name paged 2-3 times when they know you are in another room helping a resident.

11. Never having time to take a meal. Yes, that growling sound that you've been hearing for the past couple of months would indeed be my stomach.

12. Aides that go on break together leaving you by yourself with a plethora of call lights on.

13. Aides who complain about what hallway they are on and I end up getting the hall they didn't want. (It's sad when it comes to that point cause these are human beings and I know they all wish they had their independence back, but for health circumstances, they can't do what they use to by themselves.)

14. Pay...need I say more???

Other than what was mentioned above, I love my job as a cna. Resident interactions makes my job worthwhile. I finally left that environment for a better one though. LTC isn't for everybody, especially in my case, but I applaud anyone who is able to put up with it.

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Specializes in CNA.

Wow, good job over 171 replies!!!

Things that frustrate me being a CNA:

Lazy co-workers

Lack of staffing

Little pay

Bi***y Nurses who forget what its like to do this job (God help me to never forget)

Family who think their family member is the ONLY resident I have to take care of

Co-workers (including nurses) who will not help answer call lights.

Feeling pressure to rush through care just to get it done.

BUT I do like my job despite all of this. This is what I want to do for a living (Nursing). But I would like to see things within this profession change to where Admin puts safe patient care and adequate staffing above money issues. You either have to have more staff to get and keep everyone clean and healthy(-ier?) or dont rush me. These people are old & or sick, I aint rushing the process just so Admin saves money on hours. Just my 2 cents.

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'I aint rushing the process just so Admin saves money on hours. Just my 2 cents.' Yes !!! That's probably my biggest gripe about being a CNA. We are the ones most responsible for the quality of care that the residents in a LTC facility receive, yet we're not compensated as well as employees at the local Walmart who do nothing but stock shelves at night.......we have to take the brunt of 'cost containment' by working our *sses off for as little as these facilities can get away with paying !!!!

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Specializes in Long term care.

Isn't that the truth? I hate that the healthcare field thinks that nursing assistants are comparable to retail and fast food; however, I happen to be lucky enough to work at a facility that compensates their aides rather well ((when you don't take the benefits)); however, when I no longer am able to be without benefits I am going to have to probably take a huge pay cut in my base pay. I think that the entire nursing staff should get a $3.00-5.00 raise in their salaries because this would get the nurses what they want and a decent living for us aides.

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Things arent likely to get any easier for CNAs. The reality is people are only willing to spend so much on taking care of gramma when shes too old to care for herself, but at the same time they demand she get the best care possible.

The way the economy is going along with increasing concerns about the costs of health care, means things are likely to get tighter, and CNAs will take the brunt of this cost cutting.

The answer is education. People who are paid for their education and knowledge rather than how hard they work will always have better pay and conditions, so thats the way to go in health care. CNAs have the least amount of professional education in a health care setting, so they are the ones who get shafted, even though in a LTC setting they probably have the biggest impact on the well being of residents.

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"The answer is education. People who are paid for their education and knowledge rather than how hard they work will always have better pay and conditions, so thats the way to go in health care. " Don't I know it!!! I'm educated and very experienced in medical transcription...yet can I get a job doing that these days?? Hell no !! I'm educated and experienced in medical billing and coding, claims processing, front office and back office work, even some limited medical assisting. Do medical offices and hospitals want to hire me?? Hell no!!! In this economy, if there's a job posted it ends up going to someone less experienced than I am so they don't have to pay them as well. Becoming a CNA seemed the only way in this unemployment-rampant little town I live in to get a job in the medical field. Little did I know I'd end up a beast of burden working for slave pay in the senior care industry. This blows.

~~Sorry about that tirade. I really do enjoy my new position working in the Alzheimer's/dementia unit.....however, there are times I long for doing a desk job once again......having normal 9-5 hours with great pay and benefits, not working every frickin' holiday........and the only rear-end I clean is my own. :no:

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I'm a certified home health care aide ,but in most states you don't have to be certified. Go for it! The pay may be a little less and you may be forced to work a double here and there but it alright. one client beats 12 or more residents.

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Wow!!! I thought I was the only one going through ALL this crap. I have been a CNA for almost 5 years (working through school VERY slowly due to children, schooloing and work) and the more and more I see this crap going on it REALLY frustrates me to no end. I too have a CC who has favorites and IF youre not actually in the nursing program (not yet for me) you might as well be the janitor. Not sure how much longer I can put up with others not doing half the work I put into my shift and me always being micromanaged. Just know when I become an RN I will NEVER treat my pts or CNA's the way most of these RN's, CC's and Dr's do.

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Specializes in LTC.

1. ANNOYING F-ing people! I know this is not unique to nursing by any means, but that doesn't make it any less aggravating. I'm talking about loudmouths who blab on incessantly about nothing, gossips who can't get their story straight (but that doesn't stop them from yapping), people who abandon their kids with mom every night and come in hungover the next day, and straight-up DUMB and uncultured people. Would it be too much to ask to have just ONE intelligent conversation once in a while and not be looked at like I have 2 heads if I mention anything more advanced than last night's episode of Jersey Shore?

2. Noise: constant alarms of all kinds, call bells, residents who scream in your ear the entire time you're doing care of them. TVs blasting. Music blaring in the dining room. Even worse, TVs in the break room. Vacuums being run across the floor 18 times a day. Enough!

3. Management people interrupting you because Mrs. X wants cookies and they want to know why you "won't" give them to her. Um, because I'm working on other things right now. And Mrs. X wants cookies every minute of every day. Literally, she asks for more as soon as she finishes a pack. I've given her cookies 5 times today. So please don't assume I'm being lazy and insolent just because I decided to ignore her cookie tantrum, which takes place just about every 20 minutes all day long, to get some actual work done on other residents. If it's so easy to drop what you're doing and fetch cookies then why do you insist that I do it instead of getting them yourself?

4. PT/OT treating you like a piece of poo. This is what I was working on going to school for, but too many bad experiences with almighty, holier-than-thou therapy workers have nearly turned me off of it altogether. I can't even talk about it right now.

5. Lack of appreciation. I work my butt off. I take a shower from 2nd shift so they don't have to do it. Do I get a gee thanks? No, they just continue to stand there and look miserable. On Fridays we have a TON of showers scheduled, so every Thursday I pick up an extra one to make things easier the next day. When I'm off on a Thursday this doesn't get done, but now they EXPECT me to take the extra shower every week. If we have good staffing and I'm scheduled to be the "extra" person for that day, I end up doing more work than if I had a regular assignment. When someone else is the extra they fool around all day. It's just so frustrating! Why is it that I can do these things and others won't? I come in after a day off and men haven't even been shaved! People's dentures are covered in sludge. How can you leave knowing that you fooled around all day? It's so annoying.

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