Help with hopeless horrible nurse's aides

Nurses General Nursing

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What to do when stuck with a few bad nurses aide's ?

I have reported and written up . I am getting no back up from my DON ? What's a nurse to do . Any advice would be helpful . I find myself running like a madwoman , toileting people , answering call bells because my aides have disappeared , or are hiding in pt's rooms on their cell phones ? Ughhhh so frustrated .

i was the nm of 70 cna's and during that time i felt like pulling my hair out. the nurses on the floor were charge nurses and they were supposed to manage their aides. most would not write them up. some out of fear of "revenge" from the aide and others just didn't like to do it. then some nurses wrote girls up for the pickiest things on earth like........wrong color socks or some such. but i remember having 70 and then losing the good ones because of pay. other nursing homes began paying more so of course that is where they went. or an accident would happen and the facility would fire them in order to get out of the liability etc.

cnas have one of the most thankless jobs out there. i have had them in my office saying they have to many patients, the nurses don't help them, there is no team work. so the first thing that happened was that the nurses were told they needed to help i.e answer a call light instead of walking past it. 2nd the home created a bath team this way all the patients got their required showers each week etc. then we inserviced more on team work andhow having team work creates a more pleasant atomosphere and better patient care.

i was never a cna but i have seen them talked down to and treated thoughtlessly. so i try to be an advocate for them anytime i can. lazy ones need to be reported but you might try meeting with them and see if they are just "quitting" because others aren't helping or they are frustrated because none of the other aides will team work. sometimes it makes a world of difference. but i do agree, write them up, clock them out and send them home, go to the administrator then to corporate and if corporate doesn't care then get out of there.

good luck

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To the OP: if you are in this type of environment without support from management, you're not able to do your job.

If I were you, I would already be looking for another job.

Put in your two week's notice and get out while you're still sane.....yet another reason to never work LTC again....:angryfire

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What to do when stuck with a few bad nurses aide's ?

I have reported and written up . I am getting no back up from my DON ? What's a nurse to do . Any advice would be helpful . I find myself running like a madwoman , toileting people , answering call bells because my aides have disappeared , or are hiding in pt's rooms on their cell phones ? Ughhhh so frustrated .

My new hospital has strict rules about how CNA's conduct themselves in the hospital. They follow them to a "T".

I like the CNA's I work with. They have backbreaking work, but they keep smiling and treat EVERYBODY in the hospital with respect. They still talk on their cell phones, but not at the bedside.

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Specializes in LTC, home health, critical care, pulmonary nursing.

I am a CNA. Yes, the nurses should help, and yes they should be nice, and yes they should be supportive, but bottom line, I am there to care for the residents. I have worked with TERRIBLE nurses. Being treated poorly is no excuse to not do my job. Those residents depend on us for everything. If those CNAs feel they are being mistreated, I'm sure there is a facility elsewhere where they can take up space.

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Specializes in nursing home, clinic, homehealth.

Do they have the correct amount of staff(CNA)? I know where i worked we were always short and no wonder everyone is always calling in and not doing their job the best that they could if they just had enough staff...What is the correct amount of staff to residents?

What to do when stuck with a few bad nurses aide's ?

I have reported and written up . I am getting no back up from my DON ? What's a nurse to do . Any advice would be helpful . I find myself running like a madwoman , toileting people , answering call bells because my aides have disappeared , or are hiding in pt's rooms on their cell phones ? Ughhhh so frustrated .

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Specializes in LTC, home health, critical care, pulmonary nursing.
Do they have the correct amount of staff(CNA)? I know where i worked we were always short and no wonder everyone is always calling in and not doing their job the best that they could if they just had enough staff...What is the correct amount of staff to residents?

Calling in and not doing their job only perpetuates the problem. Medicare recommends a CNA to resident ratio of 1:5. They're dreaming right? But seriously, being understaffed does not make it okay to do a bad job. I take pride in the fact that I do my best no matter how short we are. My residents count on us.

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our don says i will stand up for my nurses, bah a lot of talk...the cnas can make minimum wage anywhere they go so they don't mind moving on...we have one who just isn[t there the others will cover for her and clock her out....she is good when she is there but she comes in late and leaves early and takes long breaks...no back up from don/management they are so short of cnas now they can't fill a shift

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Specializes in nursing home, clinic, homehealth.

Doing their job badly but when it comes to running ourselves to death because they are short is bull.... I don't mind doing my work the way I am suppose to but I think things would be alot better if they would just keep the staff they are suppose to. I actually liked my job but it was wearing me out because I was the ratio of 1 CNA to 18 residents on a bad hall!!!!!!!!!

Calling in and not doing their job only perpetuates the problem. Medicare recommends a CNA to resident ratio of 1:5. They're dreaming right? But seriously, being understaffed does not make it okay to do a bad job. I take pride in the fact that I do my best no matter how short we are. My residents count on us.
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Specializes in ORTHOPAEDICS-CERTIFIED SINCE 89.

I was an aide during college and I agree it is a pretty thankless job, even though I did learn a lot. How many people does the aide need to report to? Could it be that one nurse doesn't realize that the other nurses are giving directions also?

However I had another job that relates to this question. I had a position that required me to split my time all day long between two units. I guarantee I busted my tukkus doing it too. I would get paged sometimes 30x a day from the opposite units. If you're out of sight they assume you are hiding.

I have worked with some aides/techs/pcas that were OUTSTANDING! I've worked with some that weren't. I don't know what the final answer is. Praise the workers and write up the slackers. If management wants to keep the aides and rid itself of "troublemaking nurses", then you'd probably find a better place than that one.

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Thanks guys and gals for the support . I also worked as a CNA for years , by no means do I look down on them . I have some great aides , and I do realize they are short but honey so are we ! I am often the only nurse on this wing. So I need teamwork . I am very unhappy with LTC in general and from what my collegues tell me it doesn't get much better anywhere else .Thanks again for letting me vent !

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Specializes in Community Health Nurse.

i agree with many who posted that working as a nursing assistant is not a gravy job. i worked as one during my final year of college, and the nurses treated the aides like crap. i remember that awful feeling of being looked down on by nurses as if i were their personal servant/handmaiden. :rolleyes:

being an aide is a very challenging and multitask job that i would not want to do again because of the lack of thanks given by the nurses. we go from treating our aides bad to treating each other bad which only creates a lot of tension and a spirit of uncooperation with one another. :o

i think every nursing student needs to work as an aide prior to becoming a nurse in hopes that when they are the ones working as nurses they will treat the aides working with them with respect and thankfulness. :)

yes, we as nurses are also treated like crap many times by management, visitors, and some of the patients we care for each day. it's like "passing the crap" without remembering to use our manners in the process.

say thank you, please, would you mind, how may i help you, and so forth to one another. why continue to make the job we do harder and more unpleasant in the way we treat one another. our jobs are extremely challenging. as a unified group, we can leave work feeling we did some good with the best staff ever. :)

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I agree. Aides can either make or break a unit. I have had some wonderful aides I would go to the wall for and then some that only felt they needed to do the minimum. It helps if youv've been there in their shoes and are willing to pitch in to make sure that the patient gets the best possible care. Then there are some wh will take advantage of your willingness to get the job done. (GRRRRRR) Teamwork is the best approach if you have a team to work with. It pays to try to develop teamwork. I hate it when someone thinks that someone else is going to make them work harder, why not just work together???? Your'e right about when the nurses treat the CNAs like dirt, that destroys any chance of co operation.I agree why should we make it any harder on ourselves? Remember nurses do tend to eat their own, how sad when we could be someone a new grad could look up to and be a role model. Ok offf my soap box.

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