Hospital CNA's, what do you do?

northernguy · Feb 17, 2012

I work Med/Surg. It varies somewhat depending on the shift. Id be typing all day if I listed EVERY thing we might possibly do during the course of the shift, but mainly

check vital signs

assist with hygeine as needed

transfers, ambulating and toileting

record I and O

BGL checks

assist with meals

emptying all sorts of drains

DCing IVs, NGs, Foleys, etc

turning and cleaning some patients

assisting other staff and docs with medical procedures

assisting patients with orthopedic devices

hooking up telemetry

bringing the crash cart to a code and assisting as needed

restocking

check on patients

answer call lights

charting charting charting.

Oh yeah, how do the Nurses treat us? Well for the most part, you get what you give.

How do the patients treat us? It varies greatly. Most are nice, some are extremely thankful, some are impatient and maybe even borderline verbally abusive, some are confused and may be combative, and some are pretty much indifferent to you, some might view you as the hired help and be bossy and demanding. Patients that are Nurses or CNAs themselves are often the most difficult lol.

We have some slow moments, its not like LTC where you rarely if ever have any, but when its busy it can be even worse than LTC.

lalopop86 · Mar 6, 2012

I work on a telemetry unit and my tasks are generally about the same as northernguy minus stocking and add getting blood from the blood bank, taking samples down to the lab sometimes, filling water pitchers, changing sharps boxes, and tidying up patient's rooms (well, it isn't a requirement but I can't stand it when there's trash laying out on the bedside table and clutter is all over the room; it's also unsafe for the patient). We also weigh our patients daily. How busy is it can often depend on the census of the unit or what shift and day it is. On my unit, weekends are generally slower but that does not mean there is a ton of downtime. I love everyone I work with and my nurses treat me wonderfully but then again I also bust my butt when I'm at work and have learned to anticipate my patients' needs and I also keep good communication with them (such as vital and BGM values; pertinent info). Patients are hit or miss but you will have that anywhere. You will do more than "take temperatures all day" anywhere you work :)

JDZ344 · Mar 6, 2012

In a normal day I do some, most or all of the following:

Vital signs

Blood sugars

Weights

I+O

Bedbaths /assisting people to wash

Linen changes

Brief changes

Helping to prep people for surgery

collecting urine, sputum or stool cultures

Non-sterile dressing changes

removing foleys

Removing IV access

Ambulating patients

Escorting people to investigations

Turns/skin checking

Feeding patients

Going to pharmacy as per nurses requests

Taking urgent samples to lab as needed (porters take forever, it's easier to go yourself!)

Collecting units of blood from the lab (see above re: porters!)

Listing patients property on admission

Peri care

Oral care

Assist docs/nurses with procedures

Dress people for discharge

Encouraging fluids in patients who need help to drink

Filling water pitchers PRN

Cleaning/tidying if time allows

Answering telephones

Answering call bells

Sometimes 1:1 with confused/fall risk patients

Hourly rounding on patients, alerting nurse to any issues (IV about to run out etc)

.... pretty sure there is more, but it's late. Your scope of practice will likely be different in the USA. And I don't do ALL of that EVERY day, either, but I do do all of it! You will be doing so much more as a hospital CNA.

Nurses: Some treat us well, a couple treat us like dirt. Just remember: THEY are busy too, try not to take it too personally!

Patients: Some nice, some lovely, some OK, some you can not WAIT for them to be discharged!

Downtime: Not often, but sometimes we do.

Polidori · Mar 8, 2012

I work on a unit called Intermediate Care Center which is critical care step down so the patients are pretty heavy/dependent, not very many "walkie-talkies". We are a 16 bed unit and have two CNAs (8 patients each). I work weekend days.

6:30 - 7:15ish: receive report, take vitals, chart.

7:15 - 11:00: This time period involves many things. I feed anyone who needs fed, set up patients for breakfast as needed, and begin my baths. Most of our patients require total bed baths because they cannot get out of bed. I try to get all of my baths done before 10:30. I'll answer call lights, check the telemetry monitors for correct placement or change electrodes as needed, toilet or transfer patients, tidy up the rooms, basic ADL morning care.

10:30: I try to pass ice water around this time.

11:00: Obtain another set of vitals, chart. After this if any patients need to be fed lunch or set up for lunch this is around the time that I do that.

11:30-12:00 break for lunch for 30 minutes, if I get a change to get off the unit for that long to eat.

After lunch I'll assist with any patient discharges or transfers by pulling IVs or Foleys, empty linen hampers, answer more call lights, assist the nurses as needed.

Throughout the day I am also turning my dependent patients, cleaning up incontinence as needed, and maybe even doing a few baths on patients who refused in the morning. Other activities include obtaining blood, taking dirty isolation carts down to SPD for decontamination, taking blood sugars, restocking supplies, or cleaning the used telemetry units, chair alarms, and manual blood pressure cuffs with Wexcide, or helping the other aide.

1:30: Collect I&Os on my patients by emptying drains, Foleys, and measuring water/fluid intake, chart.

2:30: Give report to the oncoming aide.

3:00: Go home!

Our unit accepts medically unstable psychiatric patients who are not stable enough for the psych unit and require 1:1 supervision (such as overdoses) so I may be assigned to sit in a confused patient's room for 8 hours keeping them from harming themselves or pulling tubes out. That makes for an easy but LONG day.

I enjoy what I do. Some of my patients are amazing to work with, others I wish I could trip over the call light and pull it out of the wall so they'll stop pushing that button. Some of the nurses are fantastic and willing to help whenever they can and others want to do nothing but belittle you, boss you around, and never lay a finger on their patient if it involves poop. You get a little bit of everything as an aide but it is a very rewarding profession.