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

postmortRNhere · Mar 8, 2006

Hello, Dream Nurse I apologize if you do not like the term "aide" I did not mean anything "less than" by that. I do understand your disapointment because thats what you seem to project in your post. I would wonder about boasting in respect with never changing a complete bed??? Do you mean at one time??? In THEORY beds should be changed daily whether you work acute, Ltc, or rehab. Also do not take offense but you have alot to learn if you want to be a nurse...in school you will not be able to do the minimum and be successful and that does not even begin to address the enormous amount of different attitudes you will be exposed to as a student. You cannot talk back to your teachers and cop attitudes to staff nurses ....you would probably be suspended and terminated from the program. Nursing is something very unique in that you really are driven to do the best for your patients always. Even when you may not want the others to know....It is in your heart.

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Mar 8, 2006

You are going to hear about this happening more and more as CNAs are making their way back into the acute hospitals to work. LTC has been dealing with the issue of bad behavior and attitude in CNAs for a long time. The strong charge nurses learn how to deal with it. The problem is that many RNs who have only worked with RNs exclusively are shocked when met head on with CNAs like this. We can't believe that there are people in health care who would act like this. You guys have to break out your old leadership textbooks and bone up on assertiveness and communication techniques, especially if your management is not giving you much support with this. If you see any one day seminars on Dealing with Difficult People in the workplace, take it. You'll learn a lot. It's sad that this has to go on, but unfortunately, it does come with the territory of being an RN. It is always going to be better if you confront these bad attituded people yourselves rather than passing it off onto someone else. It carries more emphasis and gets the point across to them on the spot. It also confirms your authority over them. It's OK to acknowledge that you have authority over them. You are responsible for what they are doing with your patients. I have been watching for the last few years as this phenomenon has been occurring more and more in the acute hospitals. All because the facilities are trying to save a few bucks and hire CNAs rather than RNs.

tiffanycmt · Mar 8, 2006

Hmmm beds should be changed daily? I have only worked ltc so i can not comment on anything else but i have worked in four different homes in the last six years and i have NEVER changed a bed daily UNLESS it was soiled and needed it which we do have numerous of residents that end up getting bed changes daily for that very reason. But....we do weekly bed strips where we strip everything off the bed lay out new linens and the next shift will wait for the bed to be santitized and then they remake it with the fresh linens. As for the previous post from dream nurse i could agree with alot of what you said i sometimes to the min. and i sometimes have a bad attitude but i don't try to make a habbit out of it and correct me if i'm wrong but it almost sounds as if you are the best aide and it's going to be your way or the highway?? I don't care who you are or what you do NO ONE is irreplaceable Tiffany

nurseby07 · Mar 8, 2006

Well there are always two sides to every story, and in my case as an aid on an extremely busy oncology unit and as a full time nursing student I am in the position of seeing both sides. I scoff when agency aides say "they make $35 an hour and we do just as much as we do" I now know through studying my orifice off that nurses are paid for their education. BUT as an aid, making $11 an hour it is really difficult to be at EVERYONE'S beck and call. I always chuckle (or cry or swear) when I see the 50+ year old nurses who hardly EVER EVER EVER ask me to do anything, unless it is dire or unless they want to teach me something, while the new grads always give me a ton of work and treat me like I'm their personal slave. I end up working harder than ever for the respectful older, smart-as-hell nurses, than the new, too good for me, can, uh-oh-now-she's almost a nurse so I may actually get off my ass from behind my computer to ask her something rather than hollar for her to "come here!" as she runs her ass off again to ask "what?" only to hear "Did you put the vitals in?" Yes, 3 hours ago, log on and check it out while I go take care of MY patients. But yes, it's all teamwork. Teamwork. Teamwork.

Now I have to get back to studying for that big test. Damn fluid and electrolytes and therapeutic communication!

FocusRN · Mar 8, 2006

First since it is fresh on my mind , beds are stripped cleaned and sprayed daily, just not by me. That is in the category of housekeeping. The only time I would have to do a complete is if I didn't do my job and check my pts. But since I do my job I have never had to do it and don't anticipate it. And again I don't like being called and aide, just because of what I said before, if you have to call me something either call me by my name or call me a CNA, just like that those three letters. I never said I had a bad attitude because I don't. But I do work the way that I see fit, and since I know that I do my job, I don't have the time or energy to waste on someone telling me how to do my job. For example,when I say that my work is done you could walk down my floor ( I have 16 rooms, and 30 pts minimum on a normal day) and no that wasn't a typo, and you will find each on of my pts with everything they need done, done. Notice I didn't say everything that they want, but everything that they need. Needs in my book in this situation are, being clean, fed, having cold fresh water right there, to pick up an drink, and laying down, or sitting in a comfotable position, and comfortable lighting and call light at reach. A want just to name one is telling me to do something that can wait. Anyway, that as to say I do my job, and I know I do it well. I am not afriad to speak my mind and will do it in any circumstance. if I see my nurse sitting on her butt watching TV, while on the phone with her mama, and eating a snicker, while a ligh is going of, and the pt is requesting for the nurse to come down, well guess what I'll tell her about herself. I won't be an errand girl and get it for her. But as I tell all if it isn't being done right do it yourself, and I may just go get the light, but I will let her know about herself. I'm no mean, or bad spirited, but I am assertive and firm. In any industry esp in healthcare you must be this way. Just like Docs will try to run over Nurses Nurses will try to run over CNAs, but only if you let them. I cut it off before it even starts. I don't think that I am the best CNA, but on my hall it is my way as far as MY duties go. Having that way cuts down on confusion. I am not running up and down the hall like a chicken with it's head cut off. I am not a follower never have been and never will be. And no one could ever attemt to intimidate me into being one, so no matter how much leadership training a person (not just a nurse) has, it won't matter. When in comes down to it the only one you can truely "lead" is yourself, and I live just like that. Think about it if more people were more concerned with their own hand insted of in the left hands business, how much more productive "THAT PERSON", would be. And when you are doing do hat you have to do, then maybe you can give me a few pointers. I am not a difficult person to work with at all actually I am very friendly, as long as you do your job and leave me be to do mine. It's quite simple. It is not always about "copping" an attitude, but I ill let no one think that they can just attempt to belittle me, because of the letters behind their name. When it comes down to the come down, we are all people, no one is superhuman, therefore I don't care who you are and what you have to say to me if I sniff out an "I'm this or that so i am superior to you attitude", from a nurse, doc, teacher, ect just like I would treat anyone else. A person's profession does not demand respect, not from me, a person does. So do you and what you need to be done, I'll do the same and we will be in perfect harmony. All that to say yes I can talk back and I do, if a person is trying to "handle" me, that is what they are asking for, period. Now, there are people who supposedly do their very best, and look how below average the world is, so my doing the minimun is pretty good. Look st it like the our world and our country better yet are full of people doing their best right? Well, tell me why my people in my city ( New Orleans), and still not taken care of. Tell me why my people in my city and my home had to be full of at least 10 feet of water for days. Tell me why over 1000 my people in my city, including two of my family member had to drown, and die on the streets while the whole country (the richest one in the world mind you) was watching. I know that doesn't exactly relate but, it goes to show that many people doing their "best", doesn't have an effect on how great, average, or below average things are.

ljds · Mar 9, 2006

I just don't think that striving for average is a positive character trait.

I can't even begin to address the positives and negatives in the PPs stream of consciousness, but I think she does hit on a point. I wonder if we as nurses respect the profession of the nurse aide as much as it deserves? Do we look on it as a stepping stone to a "better" profession, or as one in and of itself? I think I probably have been more inclined to look at it as a stepping stone, since that is what I used it for; yet I've become more aware of the aides who make it their profession. They are no better or worse than the ones who are passing through on their way to nursing school, but I think they are a different sort, who perhaps don't get the respect that the prenursing aides get. These seem to be the ones that have the most "attitude," yet I wonder if that is an artifact of a subtle vibe from the nurses that career aides aren't as good or as smart as the prenursing ones, that they've "settled." I see this myself in the role of LPN; everyone is always asking when I'm going for my RN. While I actually *do* have plans to eventually get my RN, I don't think that being an LPN is something shameful, and it does grate a bit after a while, the assumption that I should be "bettering" myself, instead of settling for being an LPN.

The way our healthcare system is currently set up, a great aide can make a huge difference, and a poor aide, well, they stink everyone up. Same as pretty much every other healthcare team member. I can't believe that anyone with two brain cells to rub together couldn't recognize this, but it is difficult to have personal perspective sometimes.

I still think that viewing the nurse/aide as a team, especially in an acute care setting is preferable to having the individual people seemingly randomly assigned patients. I also think we as nurses need to remember that being a nurse's aide is a skilled profession in and of itself, and extremely valuable to us.

No one person should "run" the floor. It has to be a team effort to go smoothly. But an in-your-face attitude isn't the most conducive to a healthy work environment, either.

HappyNurse2005, RN · Mar 9, 2006

Dream Nurse-

break your thread into paragraphs-it'll make it easier to read. I'm trying to read your posts, but my eyes keep crossing.

Thank you.

leslie :-D · Mar 9, 2006

i have always recognized aides as the backbone of the facility. i have worked with so many that are worth their weight in gold.

and then there are the real crappy ones.

SAME GOES FOR NURSES....good & bad.

i have always resented the mindset of "this isn't my job".

now....provided that everyone is doing their jobs, the only reason aides would or could get away with insubordination is because a) the nurses do not assert themselves in speaking up; disrespect should be zero tolerance-period. or b) mgmt. ignores the pleas of nsg and are totally unsupportive. i've worked in both environments.

i recall one nurse who complained that the cna's ran the floor. i retorted that if that was true, it was only because said behavior was tolerated/not dealt with. once all the nurses (who were ALL team players) put their foot down and started writing the guilty aides up, it stopped completely. we all listened to aides' concerns; made certain we all worked together as a team and showed them the respect they deserved. after doing all that, there was not any credible reason for the defiance.

if i noticed an aide who behaved unacceptably, the first intervention was a 1:1 talk with a verbal warning. but it was most important to ensure anyone's concerns/complaints were heard and understood. either a little chat with reassurance was successful or it wasn't.

the bottom line, i think, is the reason anyone can get away with disrespect, is because it's allowed. this applies for anyone....not just aides.

isn't it the best when we all work together?

leslie

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Mar 9, 2006

The term "aide" never bothered me. I aided/assisted people with ADLs, maybe that's why i wasn't bitter about the term.

leslie :-D · Mar 9, 2006

oh.....:imbar i hope i wasn't offending anyone by using the term "aides". there are sev'l terms which are interchangeable and if anyone got upset, my humblest apologies.

leslie

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Mar 9, 2006

"Aides" i never minded, because that's what i was. Now that one nurse i worked with who called the CNAs 'mules', i let her know i wouldn't take that (she lasted 6 days at that facility).

leslie :-D · Mar 9, 2006

omg.....how friggin' rude is that????

i'm surprised she lasted as long as 6 days.

that nurse should have been written up the very first time she said that.

and there's nothing that states that nsg assts can't write up nurses.

leslie