High priced nursing home

Nurses General Nursing

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I have been a CNA for about 3 years. I previously worked on a surgical stepdown unit and now work on a cardiac floor. I worked in LTC for a minute thinking it was the worse, but I am beginning to think I was wrong. I feel like quitting alot of days. I feel like I am working in some high priced nursing home. Most of the patents are totals, they are not self sufficient. They poop every 30 minutes, they have C-diff, they are falls precautions, they are confused. I can go on and on. I am so tired of this. :eek: I am trying to get another job or transfer off the floor but people who have worked here for years, have told me that management makes it hard to leave. They blackball you to other unit managers, they don't give references, they write you up for things that did not happen. Management only cares about if we are over budget, and if you are walking patients! Are you kidding me!!!! :mad I barely have time to breathe!! It's all I can do some days to walk to my care because I am so tired. I am taking prereqs for nursing, but I am not going to be able to make it like this through nursing school. I am even questioning now if I even want to be a nurse anymore. I am at my wits end!!!!!!!!!!!! Should I quit or resign before I lose my mind. I am depressed. :crying2::crying2::crying2::crying2:

Sorry for the long post I had to vent.

Hi guys

I just passed boards the other day:yeah:I have been a CNA for over seven years and I work in LTC and I worked during nursing school. Short staffed. . . ishy hours and underpaid:twocents: Being a CNA is very challenging and very stressful and the combination of nursing school adds alot of extra stress. However being a CNA is very rewarding and it deserves alot more credit then what we get! I am an RN now but I will always be a CNA at heart and I will never forget the hard work a CNA does. CNA's mean so much to a resident or a patient. A CNA is the nurses eyes and ears for residents in LTC. Im proud that I was a CNA and I will always be a CNA.... As a new chapter in my life begins as an RN I will always have great respect for the CNA's. Maybe a new atmosphere will be good for you just remember your goals and why became a CNA in the first place and why you began nursing school. Follow your heart:redbeathe and a new enviroment may be a better outlook for you in the nursing career!

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If you can, keep your feet in the door because right now it is really difficult to get a job as a new nurse but I hear CNA's who are working and graduate with and RN can get a position the most. Can you go down to 1 or 2 days? I think most nursing homes are the same, with minimum staffing the norm and it doesn't look like anyone is watching so my guess is that If they can pay one less CNA or nurse they will. Good luck and thanks for your hard work :nurse:

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"MOST OF THE PATIENTS ARE TOTALS, THEY ARE NOT SELF SUFFICIENT. THEY POOP EVERY 30 MINUTES, THEY HAVE C-DIFF, THEY ARE FALLS PRECAUTIONS, THEY ARE CONFUSED. I CAN GO ON AND ON. I AM SO TIRED OF THIS I AM EVEN QUESTIONING NOW IF I EVEN WANT TO BE A NURSE ANYMORE. .....I AM AT MY WITS END!!!!!!!!!!!! SHOULD I QUIT OR RESIGN BEFORE I LOSE MY MIND. I AM DEPRESSED"

Yes, and what is your point? These patients rely on their caregivers (which you currently are). If you don't like the position that you've accepted, resign and move on.

In the interim, I hope you can bring yourself to give minimally adequate care, even if you have to pretend that your patients are members of your own family in order to have compassion for their current situation.

Never forget - one day this may be you, your sister or your mother. Do what you must in terms of leaving the healthcare arena (and taking a hint from your post, you will be leaving soon), but while you are there, please take care of those for whom you have responsibility.

Relax angry poster, the CNA is overwhelmed because with totals they have to do everything for the patient. I love my cna's to death and we as nurses need to realize that they do one of the hardest jobs. Nurses complain everyday on this site. Give the OP a break, it seems to be a bad job, if and when you find a better job, i would suggest you quit. Try looking at assisted living facilities, most of the patients there are pretty much healthy/normal apart from having dementia and alzheimers. Good luck

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Yes, and what is your point? These patients rely on their caregivers (which you currently are). If you don't like the position that you've accepted, resign and move on.

In the interim, I hope you can bring yourself to give minimally adequate care, even if you have to pretend that your patients are members of your own family in order to have compassion for their current situation.

Never forget - one day this may be you, your sister or your mother. Do what you must in terms of leaving the healthcare arena (and taking a hint from your post, you will be leaving soon), but while you are there, please take care of those for whom you have responsibility.

So basically she should get a UTI from not having time to pee, break her back from lifting people, fail out of school from being bone tired, just because she is a CNA? I don't really understand how other nurses who have supposedly been in the same situation can say things like, "I hope you can bring yourself to give minimally adequate care". I hope you know that administrators deliberately under-staff aids/nurses so that everybody will work harder and they (the administrators) would get to keep the money. She cannot split herself in 13 different ways. If she is taking care of one person, inevitably, two other people need help at that moment. Also, there are family members who I have told, "I know you're taking care of your mother/father/brother/sister, but you have to take care of yourself too."

I hope we, as fellow nurses, can have compassion for each other because, frankly, nobody else will.

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Specializes in Pediatric Pulmonary Nurse, Telemetry.

I definitely feel you on this issue. I was a nursing assistant for 3 1/2 yrs while going to nursing school. I am a new nurse now, just passed NCLEX in Jan. Woo hoo! Being a nursing assistant is definitely a great way to prepare yourself to be a nurse in the hospital. However, you may want to consider what type of nursing specialty you are interested in. I first worked in LTC and felt the same way.. overworked, underpaid, doing back breaking work, patients all completes, incontinent, etc. So I moved on to acute care to a telemetry floor. It was great at first but towards the end it was constantly patients with c-diff, incontinent, falling, confused, etc. A setting like this very much mirrors what it will be like when you are a nurse working on this type of floor. Remember, it's not only the CNA turning the patients and cleaning the incontinent patients.. it is the nurse's sole responsibility to make sure this is being done. If the CNA doesn't do it, the nurse needs to do it.

So, what I would suggest is maybe looking into being a pediatric nursing assistant. I've heard the work is much easier for nursing assistants and actually a girl I went to school with described her job as "boring" as a peds nursing assistant. She said she mostly stocked the unit with supplies. Although kids are sick and not feeling well, they are not usually incontinent in the bed, confused, etc. You may have to change some diapers, but no big deal. Also, you could try doing home care which would probably be less demanding.

Good luck and I hope you find something!:nurse:

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Specializes in Home Health/Hospice.

Trust me LTC for CNA's is just as hard, in fact you may as well be working in one from what it sounds like. It would be just as hard.

I know you need to vent, but it's the nature of the job to burn out. Sometimes I just find the humour in situations and move on. Can you apply to a home health position as a CNA? Could you transfer to ICU? Do you need to take a vacation, if you can afford it.

As for if you want to be a nurse that's up to you. Speak with nurses on your floor and see if they ever regretted becoming a nurse. At times I do regret it, but I've been on disability twice and let me tell you I missed nursing a LOT and couldn't wait to get back to it despite all the stress.

Good luck

Michelle

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