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I'm sorry you had a rough night. These things happen once in a while.
I wonder, was the Nurse running her butt off too? 6 patients for a nurse can be just as demanding. She may have been just as frustrated as you were. She may not have been directing the comment to you. Many times we are short staffed and not only with RN's. PCA's and CNA's are very valuable to us. Yet, staffing is not done by how much care a patient needs, unfortunately.
Please try to get past this. There will be other nights that should be easier for you. Thank God, these nights don't happen to us very often.
Hang in there and good luck in your last year of school. I know you will have compassion for PCA's when you are a nurse.
That was a bad comment. Hopefully she was just venting,but it hurt anyway. I don't work with aides in the ICCU,but know they are extremely valuable on the regular floors. My daughter is a CNA. She has told me some bad stories about lazy nurses who treat the aides like a personnal slave...but it was mostly just one nurse. Unfortunately there are always ones like that ,that give RNs a bad name. The good RNs will treat you with gratitude and respect.
Thanks everyone...
Just want to clarify I was NOT saying the nurse was being lazy by any means.. She is just the type of person that stresses VERY easy.. We have had a disagreement before, and we got over it.. I love her to death, she is a great person... But if she has more than 5pts she starts to freak, whether it is busy or not... It usually isn't like this, but this was one of the worst nights I have had in a LONG time...
I guess the main thing that bugged me was the fact, that I had been going NON freaking stop all night, and JUST because I couldn't get one lil patient bathed, she throws out that comment and makes it sound like I had been doing nothing...
Oh well.. That is in the past now :)
We've allllllll had those kinda suckie nights unfortunately and unless everyone works together things are left undone,and feelings are hurt. It just amazes me that one person can "watch" as another busts his/her butt and won't step in to help out.Be it RN,LPN,or CNA.......for the love of GOD people help each other OUT!!! isn't that what we are ALL there for???
Ortho_RN
1,037 Posts
UGH.. Work last night was horrible.... I work on a Ortho floor as a PCA... Well our hospital census has been so low, that we have had 14 maybe 15 pts at the most for a long time... With 2 PCAs and 2 RNs.. That always works well, plenty of time to get everything done... Well last night we went to hell and back... We had 27!!! With 3 RNs, 1 LPN(she only passed meds) and 2 PCAs... Well that sounds like it would work out just fine.. Well it didn't.. I had 14 of my own, with 4 being fresh post-ops
Needless to say I never got caught up... I was constantly running back and forth between the post-ops, then trying to take care of everyone else.... Had one guy who thaught it was fun to vomit 30mins after we changed his bed... He did that 3 times.. And he has a broken hip and was in Bucks traction, so his bed was ALOT of fun to change... Well PCAs on our floor also do I&Os and chart them along, with a flow sheet and charting vital signs. We got a fresh broken hip at 11pm.. Shift is over at 12... Nurse tells me that she will need a Pre-op bath, and I said I'm behind, but if I get caught up, I will get it.. Otherwise I will tell the night shift PCA.. And that is what we are suppose to do.. If we can get it done, then we do it, otherwise the night shift can do it.... Well new shift comes on at 11:30, I still haven't charted ANYTHING.. Everyone decided they needed a bed pan.. :) So I tell the new PCA coming on that room 97 is gonna need a pre-op bath, and she says ok... Well I'm charting at 12 and the RN comes up to me and says "Don't worry about that bath, I did it" I was like Ok... Not much I can do.. We get into big time trouble if we go OT... So I was trying not to... Well at 12:15, I'm finally done and ready to go.. And I hear the RN say to someone else.. "I shouldn't have to do these baths"
WTF.. It was ONE bath, and she was finished with everything... GEESH.. Sorry this is so long, but I was very aggravated by that comment, ONLY b/c she makes it sound like I wasn't wanting to do it, rather than I have ran my butt off all night with 14pts, when she only had 6