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 .

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

After this whole thread, I gotta say, my coworkers totally rock! The concept of not working as a team blows my mind. I think of the unit I work on (behavioral dementa unit) and can only imagine the chaos we'd have if everyone only did "their job" As a CNA, the way I see it is this: I'm assigned certain residents. But they are all "mine." If a call light goes off and it's not my room, I march my happy a$$ down the hall and answer it. The other aides I work with are the same way. We work together in the best interest of the resident. And as a preceptor, my first statement to a new orientee is "We work together on this unit. If that is a problem, please request another one."

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Specializes in Palliative, Geriatics.
After this whole thread, I gotta say, my coworkers totally rock! The concept of not working as a team blows my mind. I think of the unit I work on (behavioral dementa unit) and can only imagine the chaos we'd have if everyone only did "their job" As a CNA, the way I see it is this: I'm assigned certain residents. But they are all "mine." If a call light goes off and it's not my room, I march my happy a$$ down the hall and answer it. The other aides I work with are the same way. We work together in the best interest of the resident. And as a preceptor, my first statement to a new orientee is "We work together on this unit. If that is a problem, please request another one."

Wow! I can only hope & pray that the unit i'll be working on next week will have co-workers like yours! :) I know that i will work my butt off and get the job done, i hope that the other aides will too!:uhoh21:

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Specializes in Palliative, Geriatics.
After this whole thread, I gotta say, my coworkers totally rock! The concept of not working as a team blows my mind. I think of the unit I work on (behavioral dementa unit) and can only imagine the chaos we'd have if everyone only did "their job" As a CNA, the way I see it is this: I'm assigned certain residents. But they are all "mine." If a call light goes off and it's not my room, I march my happy a$$ down the hall and answer it. The other aides I work with are the same way. We work together in the best interest of the resident. And as a preceptor, my first statement to a new orientee is "We work together on this unit. If that is a problem, please request another one."

Wow! I can only hope & pray that the unit i'll be working on next week will have co-workers like yours! :) I know that i will work my butt off and get the job done, i hope that the other aides will too!:uhoh21:

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Specializes in LTC, home health, critical care, pulmonary nursing.
Wow! I can only hope & pray that the unit i'll be working on next week will have co-workers like yours! :) I know that i will work my butt off and get the job done, i hope that the other aides will too!:uhoh21:

Good luck! I hope you have a good experience.

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Specializes in LTC, home health, critical care, pulmonary nursing.
Wow! I can only hope & pray that the unit i'll be working on next week will have co-workers like yours! :) I know that i will work my butt off and get the job done, i hope that the other aides will too!:uhoh21:

Good luck! I hope you have a good experience.

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I wouldn't answer them either SINCE it's technically the CNA's job.

My job is making sure I pass my meds, do treatment, talking to the doctors, AND "SUPERVISE" all these CNA's on their cell phones.

I don't give a rat's butt about callights. If I had to answer callights, what's the point in having CNA's? I'd rather do primary if they paid me a little more.

Excuse me, but ALL staff need to answer the call lights. And for the record, I never talk on my cell phone during work hours. They aren't allowed on the floor anyway. you don't give a "rat's butt about call lights"????? That just seems wrong to me, those are you're patients to begin with! You are just as obligated to answer those lights as the aide is!! I am sorry for all the aides that are on their phones, if that is the case, it would seem that you need to address this issue with the upper management to put a stop to it.

I hope you are not one of those "snooty" nurses. :uhoh3:

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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 am a CNA aand I agree with you I work at Wyoming State Hospital and we have some CNA's that work hard and I mean hard then there are the ones that take 30 minute breaks 3 times a shift and get away with it or dissappear and you can't find them or the ones that like to bark orders and sit on their butts while you work. I went to the RN supervisor and her reply was well I'll Talk to them I finally went to The Director of Nurses and hopefully something will be done. It's fraustrating because the nurse usually depend on the CNA's that work to get everything done which is really not fair while the others that don't work sit on their butts and get paid for it.
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I have no problem helping the CNAs, but I resent it when the more help I give, the less the CNA does. I was in that situation and it led to a VERY bad attitude on my part. There are things that must been done at certain times. Guess we all have war stories, eh? :)

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Why do you turn to your DON or NM when there is a personnel management problem? You're the professional nurse -- and their manager during the shift. Take responsibility for being a manager. Don't pass the buck upwards. Learn from managers (nurses) who have motivated aides. You won't find behaviors like autocracy, subordination, and verbal carelessness in their skill set. You will find that they show respect for their aides and include them in the care process. Your aides are the hands and eyes of the care team. Encourage them to share their observations and let them take part in decision making. You have the ultimate responsibility for decisions, but get the best information by including your hands and eyes. These people aren't just ***-wipers. They too have a brain. Let them share their knowledge of the patient.

Being an aide is very hard work. If you're an RN or LPN who has never tried being an aide for a full shift, give it a try. You'll have a new respect for these people.

Aides need to stay on task to accomplish their duties each day or night. Set some ground rules like (1) no cell phones or personal pagers, (2) no smoke breaks or breaks outside of the policies, (3) off-duty workers need to minimize their time on the floor, and (4) limit personal business during the shift. These are rules the manager follows as well!

I've been a manager in other businesses for many years before I came into nursing. Some of the RN's and LPN's have non-existent management techniques. Some don't even know how to speak nicely to others. Just because they have a degree does not mean they will automatically be good managers. No, management skills are learned and honed over time. (insert scream of frustration here) Good management skills are equally important as technical skills. Heck, I wish schools would require a two semester clinical on management and NOT have the clinical in a medical facility. Front-line management at WalMart will give them the basics. ouch

I could spend another month of writing on this subject. In summary, get off your chair, get out there, TALK TO YOUR PEOPLE, and treat them as they should be treated. That is, as an important link in your chain of care.

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My question...If you organization decided to get rid of the CNAs, would that make nursing easier. Just a question..not trying to anger anyone.

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My problem is not as I see it my management skills. I aquired management skills long before I entered nursing . I do appreciate the aide's on my team and was employed as one before I became licenced. I do set ground rules and enforce them . I have some great folks on my team but there are the bad apples . I as you call it "run to management" because I am following the chain of command . When I wrote up an aide who dissappeared for 2 hours of her shift and showed an elderly woman a playgirl magazine and asked the pt what she thought about the naked men , I was told they will not enforce the write up because she is the only aide who will do doubles on the weekend . I have since secured other employment . I thank you for your input and agree all nursing curriculum should include management training .

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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 .

I was a CNA for 2 years while working toward my LPN. I worked in a County Nursing Home where I had insane assignments like 15 residents that were all 2 assists or lifts. Also, I worked on 1st shift so I had to have 4-5 of them up in the dining room by 0900!! Impossible, but I did it and for very little money. I am now working 2nd shift on a sub-acute/rehab unit with 40 patients. There are 2 Nurses on the shift and 5 CNA's, yet I found myself answering lights while trying to pass meds, do treatments, take off orders, finish charge duties etc.! After several trips to the DON's office without result, I decided one day to be brave and hand carry 5 write-ups (one for each of the CNA's) directly to the facility administrator, along with a 3 page typewritten report of my problems with the aides and the lack of response to my requests for disciplinary action by the DON. I sat and had a 45 minute conversation with him about the issues and he thanked me for my input. 2 days later 2 of the aides on that shift were terminated for inadequate care and the other 3 were suspended for 3 days and forced into remediation for 20 hrs if they wanted to keep their jobs. The short of the story is, you arent there to make friends, so take control of the situation. If your DON or NM isnt listning then go to the next in charge. Most places have an open door policy. As for the DON and the aides where I work... THEY HATE ME!! But the NM's all know I know my stuff and the aides all know they will be written up for everything when I am on so they just work instead.

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