Yesterday was my first day as a CNA at a LTC. I had a bad experience with the coworkers. They are really mean. I had to be orientated and the person orientating me was horrible. She had a horrible attitude and didn't talk or tell me anything. She just walked in and out of rooms. When they had to hcart on the computer she didn't tell me what to do or how to do it. I am really worried that when I am put on the schedule and have my own residents I won't know what to do; how to chart; do rounds..nothing.
I have another orientation in Alzheimers unit today. I hope to God today's orientator is much nicer!
How do I cope with that? It's not so much dealing with them that I am concerned about, it's that I am worried I won't know what to do when I have to punch in.
I am shy, so I oidn't like to be assertive or come off as pushy.
That is something you will need to work on.
Trust me, the day will come when you will have had quite enough... and you will find the assertiveness you never believed you had.
Not liking to train is no excuse for completely ignoring your trainee. That's immature.
That really frosts my buns when I hear things like this.
Everybody wants a newbie to get in there and do the job, but quite a few aren't willing to make the effort to properly teach... then they complain that the newbie has no clue and are useless.
I worked on the dementia unit the second day and LOVED LOVED LOVED the cnas I worked with! I was so happy and itme flew. They were so helpful it was incredible, and they made it fun. I swear by the end of the night I felt like I knew the residents and CNAS forever!
Sounds like you had a great day and that makes me happy.
Tammy, now that you know how fun it can be and how time can fly by when there's a fun atmosphere - you can be that leader of the good attitude next time there's a newbie on the floor on your shift. You can bring all the others "up" along with you!
This is exactly what I am going through right now. The LTC I work at has four floors. They orientate you two days on each floor. Today was my last day on the 4th for orientation. I had one good Cna that I really like and was very helpful. But there others were awful. They don't talk much and are very rough with the patients and sometimes I think them being rough and mean agitates the patients and then they act out like they do. I have seen a lot of lifting when a sit to stand should be used but 'it saves them time.' When I asked about charting I was told 'I already got it done.'. Well thanks for showing me how. I orientated with Cnas who have been doing this for 30 years and it's so easy for them. Well it's not for me. I am scared tomorrow I am on my own and I dont know where to even start or how to prioritize. I am a new Cna and I think orientation should be longer for the newbies. I tried asking for more time but they will not allow it. Company policy is two days only. Just wanted to let you know you are not alone. I hope it gets better for you.
Honestly, no matter how much training you have, your first week or two by yourself is going to be stressful and scary and you're going to feel like a slow idiot who has no idea what they're doing. Just remember that it's like that for ALL OF US and it will get better.
And yes, some people just suck at training. Try not to take it personally!
Where I am, we have 2 weeks orientation. Some time back, it went from 2 weeks to 5 days, but there were so many complaints from the Res., that it went back to two weeks. These folks pay 6,000 to 10,000 a month for the privilege of living at this place, so the staff considers it a priority to let them have cna's that know who and what their preferences are.
I had my 5th day last night on orientation and we split the floor. That means we each had 9 residents. Not all need attention; about 5 were high maintenance, so to speak. It was about a perfect number of folks to get used to, and so far ALL the cna's really jump on it to go to other wings to do a transfer, or any kind of assist, at the first call. I really, really, like that fact. I will not be "all alone" when the day comes that I have a whole hallway to myself.
When I called for asssit at raising the bed rail (I just didn't pull up hard enough, but didn't want to break something, including my arm!!) the cna came and did not act one bit annoyed. No one ever has acted that way in these 5 days. All help each other willingly.
Oh wow! Where do u work at! I am coming to work there! There is also a very negative atmosphere where I'm at. A lot of people that have been here forever and I guess they are just burnt out. But there are tons of Cna positions in my town. They even have nurse techs at the hospitals that are cnas. I know not everybody lands their dream job right away so I'm going to just keep my head up and keep plugging away. I do feel like a slow idiot! I feel like I slow other people down by asking for help but I just don't have the strength to pull someone up in bed yet! Tonight is my first night by myself. I will probably have 9 patients. I'm staying positive and I will just keep moving forward.
At least now you know what you SHOULDN'T do if someday you have to orient a new CNA.
I had a really great experience because my preceptor was a girl who had never been written up for anything, knew what she was doing, and wanted to answer all of my questions.
The day after I was with another CNA, who was also pretty good at her job but wasn't so good at explaining how things work. The third day, I got assigned to a girl who kept taking breaks, and was even less efficient than I was!
It's all chance at some facilities with who you get for orientation; I think the best approach is just to ask questions-- no one likes a know-it-all, and besides you can learn other ways to do things that you didn't learn in school. Maybe you just gotta break the ice somehow.
And don't worry about catty coworkers. Some of my coworkers were like that when I first got hired, but I think they realized I wasn't so bad after all.
*** ALSO: Do NOT take shortcuts. If your coworkers are as big of jerks as you say they are, they may just try and look for reasons to rat you out.
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Hygiene Queen
2,232 Posts
That is something you will need to work on.
Trust me, the day will come when you will have had quite enough... and you will find the assertiveness you never believed you had.
Not liking to train is no excuse for completely ignoring your trainee. That's immature.
That really frosts my buns when I hear things like this.
Everybody wants a newbie to get in there and do the job, but quite a few aren't willing to make the effort to properly teach... then they complain that the newbie has no clue and are useless.
I'm glad you have had a better experience since.