cna and agencies

Nurses General Nursing

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Specializes in Ltc, Acute Care, Rehab.

:confused:I work at a very respected hospital in the area and i have been working as a cna for about 7 months on a surgical floor. I am very unhappy. I thought getting a job at a hospital would be great better than a ltc, but boy was i wrong. There are days when i have 16 patients and there are days when i have as many as 32 because of shortage of staff including nursing assistants. I am so stressed and burned out there are days when i can't feel my legs at the end of the day. I don't know if this is what i want to do. I have also realized that i do not want to be a nurse but i want to move into some other field within healthcare away from patient care i think:uhoh3: I'm not sure anymore. I love helping people as a cna but this too much I would hate to give it up i worked so hard to get my cna certification. My question is should i look into agencies? I am curious maybe i just need a change, i heard some good things about working for agencies flexibility pay is better etc. Any input would be great!!!!!!

p.s. I have applied to more than 50 other jobs in the same hospital to get off my unit and i have heard nothing there must be an awful amount of people applying to this other cna jobs or i am just unlucky i just don't know how much longer i can stay at this awful place

Specializes in Hospice.

hmmm.......I worked agency and its not what i would call 'stable' . i don't know if that makes sense but you go in with no training for that specific facility or those specific patients and you are given a full load..without the benfeit of knowing where basic supplys are so it slows down your flow. for instance i often had 20 to 23 patients on the night shift by myself. I did it and it was definately 'doable' and i would even say i enjoyed it but i got used to going into some places where i was 'hated' just because i was agency by staff and patients. it was kind of a 'fun' game to try and be so good that i won people over....

Specializes in ICU.

Hm, I worked as a CNA on a busy med-tele floor for a little over a year, and I totally hear you about the short staffing and being exhausted at the end of my shift - swollen feet and legs up to my knees, gosh I don't miss that! But I felt like I was getting invaluable experience, so it was always worth it to me.

I transferred to being a Monitor Tech after my first year, and then on to the Cardiology department (EKGs from 3p-11p) - and now I love love love going to work every day. I still get to provide patient care, but just in 5 minute increments at a time, and then it's on to the next one. It's great!

Do you think you could put up with being a CNA a little longer? If so, look into scrub tech or radiology or phlebotomy or anything - depending on how much time and money you have to invest into a program. Once you have a new skill or certification, transferring out of a CNA role is much easier!

I became a CNA couple of years ago just to see if I'd like the nursing field. CNA's are underpaid and do a whole lot of work. No way I'm working as one, lol, but just because you are overworked and tired of running around doesn't necessarily mean you'd hate being a nurse. I would suggest going to school for about a year to become an LVN and then decide on your future. Nobody likes working as a CNA. But this is just a suggestion because only you know yourself.

Specializes in Ltc, Acute Care, Rehab.

Well this is an update things seem to be getting worse... my supevisor pulls me into the office and says that 5 or 6 nurses have complaints about me. Anywhere from i take vital signs too early, to i have to be told to give a patient a bath before i will do it on my own. This are all untrue!!! He says this is a "warning that will go on my record" and the next step is a written notice which is a death nail!!! I think my days are numbered i really believe it is time for me to move on, he kept hinting at things like maybe this is not the right enviroment for you blah blah blah I have worked too hard to be a cna and i will not let a couple of nurses take that from me, I am a good cna i care about people i don't know what more i can do ......

Specializes in Med/Surg, ICU, ER, Peds ER-CPEN.

I'm sorry you got thrown into the deep end of the staffing pool without a life jacket on :( When I worked med/surg I had nights where I'd have given my left arm (gotta have the right one to chart ya know lol) for a CNA that even took vitals, to hell with being early! With that many patients they seriously were expecting them all to be done at exactly midnight or 4am? I want some of what they're smoking. Keep trying to change floors, go in on your days off and shake hands with the unit managers so they can put a face to the application. Hope thing look up for you soon! :heartbeat

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