I'm currently working as a CNA at an un-named location. Previously i've been in an RN program at the local college but wasn't ready for it and so am doing this for general experience until i resume nursing school. I love what i do. Now some days the residents get more cranky and needy then other days and we workers get on each other's nerves but that's life. I've worked at another home over the summer, then home care and now this place. I have my own routine to get things done, i always do my share of the work, offer help and sometimes have to ask for help but not often. The point is at the end of the night the charting is done, vitals, outputs, bm's, everyone is in bed, dry, comfortable, positioned, warm, skin care, mouth care, snacks if need be, and i make sure they're on their pads esp if they are incontinent and i lay out some washclothes and diapers on each bed and tube feeders and those with diff breathing while flat are raised up. I forget to do stuff sometimes like one night i didn't lay diapers out. But different aides act like they are know it alls and give me a big speech about something usually stupid and it makes me feel like a complete retard. I was trying to do oral care on this one lady and she had all this mucous in her mouth and i'm there swabbing can't get it to come out, she chokes a little, i take a clean washcloth and manuallu try to retrieve this slimy crap and still can't get it. I ask the nurse if he'd recommend suctioning. he goes it's called mouth care, i was like no kidding ( didn't say that of course). eventually he gets it but not before near ramming the swab down the back of her throat. I care about my residents, sort of like kids really esp the frail ones on death's door. if they need something i can't give like meds or oxygen suctioning or whatever i tell the nurse. I try so hard to get a long with my coworkers and the nurses. Then I was helping another aide change a lady that was pooped and she was a real mess, also extremely feisty, he asked me to get the male nurse to assist( he was currently not doing anything) and the nurse gets snippy about it and i said we have to clean her up now she is a mess. He goes what did i say? real mean like. Then the charge nurse comes in watching us struggle says what are ya killing yourselves for? I actually do say fine you and that other nurse take care of her then. I just feel like i'm not as important as the nurses or very smart. My partner keeps telling me dont' let them get to you, that's how they get their kicks basically. I said why would they want the new staff gone? My first week i got a list of 17 or 18 residents to care for, now we have about 10, we have more time to do things the right way, spend time with some of the residents, we get done earlier, more down time, so why would they want to mess that up is beyond me. Sometimes if a resident is upset we let them cool down and come back but for this one in particular no time is good, and the later at night it seems the wilder she gets. and i didn't want to leave her laying in a pile of poop and pee til she calmed down. Needless to say i just didn't go in today, went shopping instead. I remember in high school the teachers wanted me to take advanced tech prep program, honors level, and pre-college type courses like anatomy and chemistry. I've always gotten good grades, am in the college honor society, but now i feel like i'll never be anything. i feel like i've wasted so much time in college to be an aide. even aides that have only been doing this type of work for a couple years act like they are superior to me. They'll talk down like condescending telling me what to do and when and how to do it.
