RN's and LPN's working as Nursing Assistants?

Nurses General Nursing

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If you came into your facility and they asked you to work as a nursing assistant for the day for your regular nursing pay, would you agree to it? Why or why not? If you would, or if someone else would, do you feel they are still accountable to their patients as a nurse?

Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

Well you may function as an aide, but you're held to the licensure you hold. I would say nope.

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No one seems to have any professional accountability any more. My FIRST duty is to my patient--above all else. I've stood between them and MDs when they were about to Rx a med my patient was allergic to since they don't bother to read the chart half them time.

My mother-in-law is my only patient, has AD and had to have ER gastrectomy after which they gave her ativan for 8 days PAST when I demanded it be DC'd due to the horrific reaction she gets from it--it turns her from a sentient human being to appearing to be the victim of a severe CVA. EIGHT FN DAYS THESE IDIOTS KEPT GIVING IT TO HER with me screaming every day to DC it. During this time she pulled IVs DAILY and her PICC line repeatedly!!

Finally I lost my temper and demanded they meet me in her room at 5 pm--her docs, the charge, the administrator and I flat out told them that if the didn't show up, that, at 9 am the NEXT day I would be there will ALL of her lawyers. They ALL showed up and I told them that if they did not stop the ativan that I was signing her out THAT MINUTE, AMA. I told them I could kill her at home for free instead of paying 30 grand a day for the ICU. They were floored--and they complied. 24 hours later, Mom came back. They were so upset they couldn't even look at me because they had been SO wrong.

I'm retired, and Mom is my ONLY patient for the last 4 years. NO one knows her better, no one knows more about her than I do. She was in that hospital 17 days because she laid in the bed babbling for 8 days for the ativan THEY WOULD NOT STOP. I would have taken her home AMA in an ambulance to stop them from giving her more ativan. I'm old and have have been retired for a long time but is THIS the standard of care these days?? I won't even go into the horror show that was her back surgery in January that the hospital FIRED the administrator 4 members the staff over because I documented and videoed their unbelievable incompetence--and I don't care.

MY first duty--and my SOLE consideration is to my patient. No matter what I have EVER had to do to act in their best interest--from emptying a bedpan up to the full scope of my licensure--I did. When I started my nursing career I got $5 an hour--$5.18 for mids shift differential. Today if I were starting out I'd make $90 an hour with my education--but whatever my patient NEEDS is what I am going to do for them. I took an oath and in addition--it was my JOB. Showing my shoes to the resident who asked me "what color was the pt's puke?" was just a bonus.

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No one seems to have any professional accountability any more.

Ok, well that's patently false. There are millions of dedicated, ethical medical professionals working in the US.

My FIRST duty is to my patient--above all else. I've stood between them and MDs when they were about to Rx a med my patient was allergic to since they don't bother to read the chart half them time.

My mother-in-law is my only patient, has AD and had to have ER gastrectomy after which they gave her ativan for 8 days PAST when I demanded it be DC'd due to the horrific reaction she gets from it--it turns her from a sentient human being to appearing to be the victim of a severe CVA. EIGHT FN DAYS THESE IDIOTS KEPT GIVING IT TO HER with me screaming every day to DC it. During this time she pulled IVs DAILY and her PICC line repeatedly!!

Finally I lost my temper and demanded they meet me in her room at 5 pm--her docs, the charge, the administrator and I flat out told them that if the didn't show up, that, at 9 am the NEXT day I would be there will ALL of her lawyers. They ALL showed up and I told them that if they did not stop the ativan that I was signing her out THAT MINUTE, AMA. I told them I could kill her at home for free instead of paying 30 grand a day for the ICU. They were floored--and they complied. 24 hours later, Mom came back. They were so upset they couldn't even look at me because they had been SO wrong.

I'm retired, and Mom is my ONLY patient for the last 4 years. NO one knows her better, no one knows more about her than I do. She was in that hospital 17 days because she laid in the bed babbling for 8 days for the ativan THEY WOULD NOT STOP. I would have taken her home AMA in an ambulance to stop them from giving her more ativan. I'm old and have have been retired for a long time but is THIS the standard of care these days?? I won't even go into the horror show that was her back surgery in January that the hospital FIRED the administrator 4 members the staff over because I documented and videoed their unbelievable incompetence--and I don't care.

MY first duty--and my SOLE consideration is to my patient. No matter what I have EVER had to do to act in their best interest--from emptying a bedpan up to the full scope of my licensure--I did. When I started my nursing career I got $5 an hour--$5.18 for mids shift differential. Today if I were starting out I'd make $90 an hour with my education--but whatever my patient NEEDS is what I am going to do for them. I took an oath and in addition--it was my JOB. Showing my shoes to the resident who asked me "what color was the pt's puke?" was just a bonus.

Sorry about your mom, but what does that have to do with the subject of this thread? It's all fine and good that you wanted to do total care for your patients, but if your patient assignment is too numerous, which is QUITE common these days, you have no choice but to delegate certain elements of patient care to CNAs. Even the most dedicated nurses have limits to what they can accomplish if they are given too many patients.

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Specializes in ER.

I would. You would be held accountable like recognizing a dead body or a stroke but it would be like you helped a coworker out while he or she was in a room.

My state does not prevent RNs from wccepting limited roles although accepting a long term job may be more problematic in a nursing home since they have different rules and the CNAs here are governed by the department of health and not the board of nursing.

there is limited difference in an ER from a float RN and an ED tech

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My point was that MY PATIENT ALWAYS COMES FIRST. If you don't see that as being relevant to the topic of this discussion, then I never want to be your patient. What do you do for a code Blue? Tell them you're on your break? Or go to the ladies' room? I'm old as dirt and retired as I started in 1977, probably before you were born. We WASHED OUR HANDS and staphylococcus infections were rare--not 90% plus like today. When I started, the money was $5 an hour and you didn't go into it for the money--not the case today when so many are there because it pays pretty well these days--and maybe they shouldn't be since so many feel that patient care isn't what they signed up to do. What you have today is a LOT of "paycheck nurses" who have no calling and are there because it's MOST money they can make with a 2 year degree. You can NEVER pay anyone enough to CARE unless they already do. Today's crop of whippersnapper paycheck nurses whose favorite line is "that's NOT my job" have no place in medicine. Do you NOT realize whose footsteps you are following? Have you ever heard of Clara Barton? The Lady with the Lamp? THOSE were MY heroines and I was proud to be in the same profession. Getting my cap was a big day--and being able to add the black stripe to it was huge for me because it meant I could give care and comfort to the sick and suffering--for FIVE DOLLARS AN HOUR. I don't know how many people are alive today because of the skill in my hands, the compassion in my heart and the work ethic that kept me on my feet up to 16 hours a shift if needed. No paycheck nurse understands that and has only money to show for their effort. I have so much more than money. I have the satisfaction of knowing that the many many people I cared for knew that I did care and benefitted from it. No amount of money compares--but it's something that a Paycheck Nurse would never understand. Obviously.

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My point was that MY PATIENT ALWAYS COMES FIRST. If you don't see that as being relevant to the topic of this discussion, then I never want to be your patient. What do you do for a code Blue? Tell them you're on your break? Or go to the ladies' room? I'm old as dirt and retired as I started in 1977, probably before you were born. We WASHED OUR HANDS and staphylococcus infections were rare--not 90% plus like today. When I started, the money was $5 an hour and you didn't go into it for the money--not the case today when so many are there because it pays pretty well these days--and maybe they shouldn't be since so many feel that patient care isn't what they signed up to do. What you have today is a LOT of "paycheck nurses" who have no calling and are there because it's MOST money they can make with a 2 year degree. You can NEVER pay anyone enough to CARE unless they already do. Today's crop of whippersnapper paycheck nurses whose favorite line is "that's NOT my job" have no place in medicine. Do you NOT realize whose footsteps you are following? Have you ever heard of Clara Barton? The Lady with the Lamp? THOSE were MY heroines and I was proud to be in the same profession. Getting my cap was a big day--and being able to add the black stripe to it was huge for me because it meant I could give care and comfort to the sick and suffering--for FIVE DOLLARS AN HOUR. I don't know how many people are alive today because of the skill in my hands, the compassion in my heart and the work ethic that kept me on my feet up to 16 hours a shift if needed. No paycheck nurse understands that and has only money to show for their effort. I have so much more than money. I have the satisfaction of knowing that the many many people I cared for knew that I did care and benefitted from it. No amount of money compares--but it's something that a Paycheck Nurse would never understand. Obviously.

Settle down, lady. There have been very few nurses posting on this thread who say they are not willing to do all aspects of care. You conveniently neglected to acknowledge the fact that nurse to patient ratios have continued to rise in the last twenty years, making it next to impossible to do everything for every patient. Apparently you are super nurse, but even super nurse only has so many hands and so many hours per day to get her job done. There is no shame in delegating some of the care to CNAs. NONE at all, and one can be just as committed, compassionate, and skilled as you claim to be all the while utilizing the help that is offered to her in the form of ancillary staff. You're not the only good nurse to hit the floors running. There are plenty of us out there.

By the way, I'm not a new "paycheck" nurse by any stretch, and I'm not all that much younger than you. I did my fair share of total care in the ICU, but we also had CNAs to help us when we needed, which was fairly often in that crazy unit.

Additionally, there are plenty of good YOUNG nurses in our profession who work as hard as you ever did. You don't have to work for slave wages to prove your worth to the profession.

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Same pay? Absolutely would work as a CNA. I don't see the liability issues. Nurses respond to patients who aren't assigned to them all the time, I imagine it would be the same as if you were "playing cna" for the day. Respond as if you weren't their assigned nurse. Do what you can and call for help.

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