Nurse Aides

Specialties Geriatric

Published

We have always used the term nurse aides but just recently our staff said they wished there was another title for them. As they say, they really help the residents, not the nurses. What titles do other nursing homes use? Also, do you have any nurse aide levels or categories that change as they gain senority and experience? Do they get more benefits or responsibility? Am trying to push for some extra's that won't cost the facility money, or at least not a lot of money.

Thanks for any help.

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Hi Judy...

At the facilities where I work here in Canada, the aides are referred to as Long Term Care Aides, or more simply Resident Care Aides. Hope this helps.

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Judy T,

We use the term certified nursing assistant at the facility where I work. However, I have heard them called patient care associates and resident assistants in other facilities. As for finding cost effective

extras for your cna's, you may find a few ideas at: http://www.cna-network.org

I saw this post a couple days ago so I asked the cena's at work what they thought. They have no trouble being called cena's but resent being called aids. Many of them prefer to be called by their first name. I asked them if they were happy to work with in their scope of practice many were and had no desire to over step their bounds. Regarding the topic of education several of them reported that nurses made them feel inferior and less inteligent. Respect was a big issue.

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Nursing assistant

My state refers to nursing assistants as State Tested Nurse's Aides (STNAs). I know of a hospital in PA that has nursing assistants who have more training than the STNAs at my facility; they are trained in phlebotomy and actually draw labs on patients, along with the other usual nursing assistant duties, such as bathing, feeding, toileting. At the hospital, the wage is considerably more than the LTCF where I work, but it's difficult to get full time work there, and when census is low, they call you off.

Here in Mass., the "legal" term is Certified Nursing Assistant. Depending on the job you take, your "job title" can be different (ie Patient Care Assistant, Resident Care Aide, etc.)..

In Mass (is it Nationwide as well? ) it is a matter of law that we wear nametags with our full name and licensure/ certification. Some places include your "job title" as well.

ie- I've been "Annette A..., LPN" or "Annette A..., LPN, Clinical Nurse" etc..

So, here in Mass., I'm not sure if CNA's (as they are certified/ licensed) are able to choose what they are referred to, from a legal standpoint, at least. I, personally, refert to CNA's as CNA's. Of course, staff and patients refer to CNA's and nurses alike by their first names, if they choose.

Annette, LPN from Massachusetts

[This message has been edited by AnnetteLPN (edited February 08, 2001).]

In my hospital, "nurses aides" are titled

Personal Care Assistants -- PCA. There are no official levels/pay differences for tasks performed, although I do not believe this is fair and have brought this up to administration with little luck.

My facility offers a 6-week orientation with close follow-up by the nurse educator. After several weeks of classroom time, a PCA will be precepted 1:1 by another PCA, and will be precepted 1:1 with an RN. We really try to make the transition easy, but there are so many responsibilities for the PCA that it can be overwhelming.

Although it varies from unit to unit, in addition to regular responsibilities, PCAs on my floor perform EKGs, phlebotomy, and foley removal. Currently/in the near future, PCAs will d/c IV sites, measure chest tube output, and change simple dressings. I take exception to the dressing changes & will change ALL my own dressings as I want to know WHAT is under the dressing -- this is part of my assessment and I document my findings.

On my med-surg floor the maximum PCA/patient ratio is 8:1 on days/evenings; 12:1 on nights.

Hope this helps. To all the PCAs, nurses aides, etc. -- thanks for all you do. We're all valuable members of the health care team who are here to help the PATIENTS.

[This message has been edited by susanmary (edited February 09, 2001).]

Now this is getting complicated! Just to throw another spanner in the works, hospitals in our area have PCAs and PSAs (Personal Service Assistants), however their roles are totally different! PCAs/PSAs in our area bring equipment and drugs from other units, help transfer patients to theatres or other units, and help move patients to and from bed and reposition them in bed. They also do some cleaning, such as carbolizing the beds in between admissions and giving everything a wipe with disinfectant.

Doc

I agree w/ DOC. I was a nurse's aide many moons ago. Well before Certifications. Always considered myself as a nurse, (but no credentials). One thing for sure I am an ADVOCATE for Nurse's Aide's, CNA's, whatever they are called (highly respect them). They should be called (RN Assistants). With No More Testing. Just the DESIRE.......and COMMITTMENT.

Specializes in LTC,Hospice/palliative care,acute care.
Originally posted by Judy T:

We have always used the term nurse aides but just recently our staff said they wished there was another title for them. As they say, they really help the residents, not the nurses. What titles do other nursing homes use? Also, do you have any nurse aide levels or categories that change as they gain senority and experience? Do they get more benefits or responsibility? Am trying to push for some extra's that won't cost the facility money, or at least not a lot of money.

Thanks for any help.

In our LTC facility our CNA's are Nursing technicians....we also have personal care aids in our assisted living unit-they are paid less then the techs...we all like the term nursing tech-because they are not assisting the nurses but working for the residents....

We use CNA in our facility. These employees earned their certification and I feel their name tag should reflect that.

We are currently working on strengthening our Preceptor CNAs )CNAs that train new CNAs to our facility) role. As part of that, we would like to have a differential for these Preceptor CNAs. Our board wants very specific information that outlines how these CNAs function differently than our other CNAs. So we are trying to work on describing and formalizing what role these CNAs play in our facility.

I wish we could afford more money for every CNA - the majority work so hard and face a lot of physical and emotional stress at work. Not every CNA is a good candidate for Preceptor - CNAs have different strengths just like nurses. So hopefully Preceptor will be the first of many recognitions of the special roles some CNAs fill.

We call them CGA (Certified Geriatric Assistants).

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