Hi I know this site is for nurses and i have been lurking here forever....a bit about my background ..i have a 3 yr old son who i had by c section and that sparked my interest to go back to school to pursue nursing after working in retail for YEARS. i am planning to apply to many schools as it is very competitive here ADN and BS programs ..i have two more sem of chem to tackle b4 i am done with all pre reqs and feel ready to apply..
i decided to do a CNA course this summer just to get patient contact etc
today was my first clinical...wow what an eye opener ..now i know why my ma is putting away money to be taken care of privately. we do our clinicals in a "supposedly well run long t c f ...you know what i mean"
i felt thrown into situations..today i "helped" give 2 people showers ...which was already a bit stressful ....yes suck it up ..but it was community like and i would not want a bunch of people staring at me while showering . plus they brought men in while the women were still changing .naked etc..then i was asked to "go change her diaper" ..the cna i was shadowing told me to go do this..ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh yes i have changed a million diapers but i got no instruction on technique for people my size ....i was so annoyed by the end of the day and all the instructor said was "you should have asked for help" i could learn this much just by volunteering ...UGH
i am glad i am doing this course and i already realized i do not want to be a cna in a LTF too much negativity ...is this normal ...should i keep trucking ....is this really what be an rn is about ?????????????????????/
If helping to shower two patients "stressed you out". You may want to reconsider becomong a nurse. I strongly recommend that you get a job as nursing assistant in a hospital or LTC facility, before you enroll in nursing school. You will get a better idea if this is something you really want to do and will also be ahead of the game when it comes to clinicals. I have witnessed many students fail their first semesters because they couldn't handle the clinicals. I have also seen many nurses quit in there first week because it was not what they thought it would be. Good Luck.
not a nurse yet, but it sounds to me like it wasn't the showers or changing "diapers" that really bugged you, as much as concern for how to do things correctly when you didn't have adequate direction. Also the lack of regard for the privacy of the residents is INAPPROPRIATE. The residents have the right to privacy. It sounds to me like you were simply concerend with providing respectful care for you assigned paitents and that is a great thing. My advice is to try to get a job in the hospital because it will be vastly different from the nursing home, and since you c-section is what drew you to nursing, i am assuming that a hospital is where you envision yourself working at this point anyway. My first day at the nursing home for CNA cliniclas was a revelation as well, and I know some had a hard time not calling an ombudsman because of some of the things we saw at a supposedly "nice" ltc.
the bathing and changing diapers did not stress me out ..it was the lack of direction. i felt like a volunteer who had been asked to do stuff i did not feel like i had been trained to do ...i mean is it really appropriate for men and women to be naked in the shower room together? i would not want that for my family member
also there was definitely a lot of disrespect for the residents... many of them do not speak english and the cna's were talking about them in a very derogatory way....
also when i went to change the resident's diaper by myself, her husband was watching me ..then he handed me some cream to put on her - i had NO idea what the cream was for or were to put it and he did not speak english so i was fumbling around in her groin area with the cream like and idiot....
so basically i just want to know if this is a normal clinical experience for CNAs or if i need to find a new place !
why does CNA get paid so low with the things they have to do????
Although being a CNA is the most physically demanding thing I've ever done it only takes 6-8 weeks (in CA) to be one. You're getting paid for the level of education, not the amount of physical work you do.
smk1, LPN
2,195 Posts
not a nurse yet, but it sounds to me like it wasn't the showers or changing "diapers" that really bugged you, as much as concern for how to do things correctly when you didn't have adequate direction. Also the lack of regard for the privacy of the residents is INAPPROPRIATE. The residents have the right to privacy. It sounds to me like you were simply concerend with providing respectful care for you assigned paitents and that is a great thing. My advice is to try to get a job in the hospital because it will be vastly different from the nursing home, and since you c-section is what drew you to nursing, i am assuming that a hospital is where you envision yourself working at this point anyway. My first day at the nursing home for CNA cliniclas was a revelation as well, and I know some had a hard time not calling an ombudsman because of some of the things we saw at a supposedly "nice" ltc.