do you feel like the CNA's run the floor?

[babynurse223]

I am a new nurse of about 2 years and work on an acute med-surg geriatric floor. It is an 18 bed unit and we work with 3 RN's and 2 CNA's. THough this ratio seems fair, myself and the other nurses constantly feel like we are doing everyones work. When we do ask for extra help from the aides, it is usually accompanied by an attitude or a smart remark. The nurses on my floor feel as though it is unfair that we have to sacrifice our nursing time with our patients to do aide work. (We do perform these duties anyway, but can not do both jobs for the whole shift). The aides seem to do oly the minimum to get by per their job description. Has anyone else encountered this issue?:angryfire

PS: When this issue was brought to attention to administration, we were told that they cant change anybodys personalities and do the best we can.:uhoh21:

[tater.jake]

I worked as a CNA for 2 years before I graduated nursing school. I have to say that CNA's usually get that way because of the handful of nurses who abuse the help. It's a defense mechanism that CNA's develop. If aides give nurses an inch, sometimes the nurses take a mile. I know that some people have rotten attitudes, but the solution to this problem is to scorn those nurses who will spend more time looking for a CNA to do a dirty job than it would have taken to do the job them self.

[nursemike, ASN, RN]

I once told one of the more experienced aides I work with that I thought she was the perfect aide, because she was just lazy enough that I could usually find her if I needed help with something. I said it with a grin, and she has known me long enough to know that if you called me a wit, you'd be half right. But, really, there was a lot of truth in it. She's very efficient and does all of her routine chores in a timely manner. If you're swamped and she needs an extra pair of hands, she grabs another aide, and returns the favor when she's needed. When she isn't busy, she looks at a magazine or gabs, but she never gripes (except in jest) if you interrupt her downtime for a bedpan or some extra task. She, and most of the newer aides she trained, are just a real pleasure to work with, and if one of them needs my help, I'm glad to give it, even when it hurts.

I can't say I never envy her or some of the other good aides. Sometimes the only rest I get in a 12 hr shift is charting, and I'd rather do colostomy care than chart. But I recognize two simple truths: she's a lot more efficient at her job than I am at mine, and I get paid twice what she does.

We have other aides who are always busy with a bath down the hall when you need a set of vitals stat while you page the doc, or your 300 lb LOL is climbing over the bedrails. I don't fault their work ethic, but it makes me appreciate a little judicious laziness. And then, sadly, we do have a few who see any form of work as an intrusion on their gabbing, smoking, or surfing the 'net.

PS We have a few aides who truly think they run the floor and love nothing better than giving orders to nurses. By an odd coincidence, they are invariably the ones who won't or can't do their own jobs. The experienced aides may, at times, nudge you a little in the right direction, but never inappropriately. Even when I'm the one being nudged, I have to admire them, just as I admire my more experienced fellow nurses who can make a new resident think an order was his idea.