Showing Appreciation to CNAs, LPNs and others in the team

Nurses General Nursing

Published

As I plan on being an RN and will rely on CNAs, LPNs, etc., I definitely want to be able to let them know that I appreciate their hard work.

I would like to know from CNAs and LPNs what you would look for in a supervising RN other than the respect you deserve.

RNs how do you treat the CNAs and LPNs that report to you?

Kris :nurse:

Specializes in Mostly LTC, some acute and some ER,.

First of all I would like to say THANK YOU!

for the recognition that CNA's and LPN's hardly ever get.

I am a CNA. I'll tell you what I look for in an RN. I have no respect for the RN's who think that they are God, and think that they shouldn't have to do anything for LPN's or CNA's.

I have a great respect for RN's that are willing to jump in there and help those lower on the totem pole when the times get tough. I also respect the RN's who look out or the emotional needs for other staff members. When you see a CNA or LPN upset, crying, or discouraged about their job, give them a hug, and give a pep talk. It helps, believe me.

I hope that I gave you some decent advice.

Mandi

Specializes in LDRP; Education.

I treat CNAs and LPNs no differently than I treat anyone else who is a team-player, is responsible, and a good employee.

Specializes in Corrections, Psych, Med-Surg.

You probably know there is also an "LPN Corner" forum on this BB, where more LPNs are likely to see your question if you post it there as well.

Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.

At the end of the shift I thank the CNA's for the hard work they invariably have done that night. I also try to chip in and help when I can, and not be one of those charge nurses that runs up and down the hall looking for the CNA to wipe a butt.

The LPNs I work with are on equal footing with the RNs in my eyes. I don't treat them any different, they are my peers, I value their experience and assessments.

When I see an LPN or CNA getting stressed, I send them off on an extra break and I take over their assignment until they're feeling better.

Every payday, I have pizza night and order several large pizzas to thank everyone.

If we have to work a holiday, I bring in goodies.

I fight for them religiously and continuously in the DONs office and to admin. NO ONE criticizes or gives them crap if they work my shift!

If we are short on the floor, I take a full CNA assignment, and finish up my own work after the shift ends.

I take EVERY concern they bring to me seriously. If they are worried about a patient, I go ASAP to assess that patient, then I go hunt the person up to tell them what I found and what I did about it.

I think you get the idea. Those things are what I "do" but it is mostly an attitude of respecting everyone, ignoring the warts and encouraging the strengths, and seeing every person as a valuable member of your team.

I treat my team members all the same ... I don't really give a damn what the letters behind their name are.... hard work is hard work and I respect those who do it with me.......

sjoe.......thanks for pointing out the 'LPN corner'.....but the question was poised for RN's...not LPN's.

Youda....sounds great!! Thanks.....I work with great nurses and techs...(cna's) and we all do that for eachother.. Great flip side to that---we LPN's have sent some of our RN's off for a 'extra break' and helps lighten their load a time or two......isn't it great to have 100% teamwork where everybody pitches in to help the other for the good of the patients??? I love it!!

I worked in places where you were basically 'on your own'.....emergency come up?? sorry, I'm too busy.....you know the speel.......

Again, thanks for the cyber pat on the back, we ALL need it now and then.....:kiss

Specializes in Trauma,ER,CCU/OHU/Nsg Ed/Nsg Research.

That was a very sweet sentiment 2B!!! I think you're already showing signs of a great prospective supervisor. And Youda, would you be MY boss? :)

I just feel that nursing is a tough profession as it is, having to deal with people sick and in pain. I figure that by having good working relationships with your coworkers will make a stressful job less so.

Youda, I too like your idea. That is something I too would do besides letting everyone I work with who is acting as part of the team how appreciative I am. I also figure if there is a hesitancy, past experiences may play a large part in not working as a team. For me, I know that seeing is believing.

When I worked as a CNA the thing I admired and respected most from my superiors was respect.

Being older than most of the nurses I worked under for the most part, was not an issue. Every now and then I would run into a RN with an attitude. I would gently remind them that respect is not commanded it is earned.

CNAs know without being told that there education is not that of a RN or an LPN for that matter, but the compassion that is at the heart of nursing does not know educational boundries.

So to the hundreds of thousands of you who see CNAs as co-workers, I say THANK YOU. To those few who don't, open your eyes. CNAs are literally the back bone of the nursing team, don't bite the hand that feeds you.

I am a senior nursing student and I have been working as a CNA for 2 years. I hate to say it but more often than not, I get treated like crap from RNS, LPNS, doctors, unit assistants, families, etc.Especially when they don't know I am a student. I am treated as though I am inferior and uneducated. I see this more from the RNS when I float to the the units(ICU, CCU, telemetry, ER). I get it from the docs, families, and UA'S all of the time and occasionally even some of the LPNS, who have probably been treated similarly and maybe it makes them feel better to do it to someone else. Where I work, CNAS are often the people patients see the most and CNAS are the ones who answer the call lights.(God forbid a nurse answers a call light or wipes an ass in the hospital where I work) So if a patient needs something that we cannot help them with and we go and tell the nurse and the nurse ignores us, CNAS often take the abuse from the pt or the pt's family. Yesterday, a pt was very clearly SOB and was struggling to even talk so I told the nurse who rolled her eyes at me and said, " He just had a treatment" and she went back to her charting. As though a pts status cannot suddenly change. So I told her again, " Well, he had a hard time even talking, so maybe you should go and check him out," He wound up being intubated. I may be merely a nurse's aid but I can tell when someone can't frigging breathe. By the same token, if we do NOT report something to the nurse and something goes wrong, we get, " Why didn't you tell me?" When we do report something, we are often ignored or snapped at. It's like I am damned if I do and damned if I don't. I dread working with certain nurses sometimes for this very reason. I am not saying ALL nurses are like this but I find I have to deal with this problem a lot and it really sucks. I am graduating on June and will remember how I felt when I was treated as though I didn't matter , so I will never make anyone else feel as crappy as I do when I am just trying to do my job.

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