How can I be a good newbie?

[Little Miss Coffee]

...Okay, so the word "good" is relative. Maybe it should have been "How can I be good...for a newbie?"

Anyway, I just got my first CNA job. Going to fill out paperwork bright and early tomorrow morning, buying whatever clothes are necessary over the weekend, and beginning orientation on Monday the 13th.

Predictably, I'm nervous. I'm very confident in my ability to learn quickly and do my job well, and I went into it for the right reasons. However, I also know that it's probably more responsibility than I've ever shouldered before.

Inevitably, during and after orientation, there's going to be a lot of stress. I'm going to get confused, have to ask for help, get embarrassed, and feel less comfortable around some coworkers and residents than others. I'm not saying this to self-deprecate - I just think that's the way it always is, especially in this job, whose rewards are frequently based on being able to perform well despite being very harried.

How can I make this as smooth as possible? Or, put differently, how can I avoid causing problems for my coworkers that I don't have to? Are there mistakes new people ALWAYS seem to make without reason? General behaviors that tend to annoy more established workers?

One of the things that drives me toward being a CNA and eventually a nurse is the satisfaction of being part of a greater team. I know that sometimes, one encounters people who are just disagreeable and will be hard to work with. But I don't want to complicate things with my own uninformed behavior.

This is, by the way, long-term care on a dementia ward.

Thanks for your time; any input at all is appreciated.

[LaterAlligator]

Since you're working in dementia, work hard on learning the residents' names and behaviors as quickly as possible. They're likely to each have certain things that freak them out (from having their napkin taken away to toileting) and many won't be able to tell you their names so you must know them. Watch how your coworkers deal with them and try similar approaches if it seems effective. If you ask a favor of someone offer to help them with something as well. They should all go easy on you for the first little while because you're new, but then you need to work on pulling your weight. Good luck! I work in with that population as well and I love it. :redpinkhe I hope you do too!

[LadySalubrious]

I wish I would have found your post a few minutes ago! I just posted a similar question.

Congrats to you on getting started! I also start my first CNA job next week. Will this be a career change for you or are you starting right into this field?

I know what you mean about the questions but remember it's all about learning and onboarding. I honestly think communication is key so I know that's one thing I will be doing is asking questions, reclarifying and making sure I understand expectations and the culture of the team and residents. I like LaterAlligator's remark regarding observing your coworkers cause you really can learn a lot that way too.

All the best to you! You're gonna be great!

[gorideaquad]

My advice is do way more listening than talking. Listen listen listen. And don't come off as rude. Just be yourself and learn what you can from the people that have been there. Don't say "in school they taught it like this" etc that is annoying. I have only been on my job two weeks at an LTC in the dementia unit and I like most of my co workers. BUT don't excpect to click with everyone, just learn what you can and be respectful.

Don't gossip at break time. Lot of that going on at my work. I never talk about my personal life at all and never about others

Other than that, have a good attitude, be on time and just relax, you will do just fine. Everyone was new once, that's what I tell my co workers and they smiles and say "yeah isn't that the truth". That one little sentence brings barriers down because they think back to their first day, week, month.

[fuzzywuzzy, CNA]

Things I can think of off the top of my head that are annoying and mostly done by new CNAs:

-Requesting help before being ready. If you've read anything on this board before, this will not be new advice. We hate it when someone says, "can you help me lift this person from bed to chair?" and we get there and the resident has no pants or shoes on and the chair is at the end of the hall in the storage room. CNAs don't have time to wait while you putter around.

-Criticizing the way people do things because they're not "by the book."

-Making excuses when someone is venting about a resident that annoys them, ie "well you can't blame her for ringing the call bell 20 times an hour-- she's anxious!" That may be true but it's not helpful to hear.

-Not asking directly for help, but dancing around the subject, hoping someone will read your mind and/or do your work for you. If you're drowning, ask someone to help you rather than whine about how much you have left to do (maybe that only annoys me, but I felt it was worth putting out there).

-Being dumb. While you're following someone on orientation, you should be proactive and jump in to help rather than just standing there. I definitely did this when I first started, and it ****** people off. After a while it comes naturally... while someone is running the water, you get the bed ready, while they're taking the footrests off the wheelchair, you put the gait belt on, etc.

-Being super slow. This is TOTALLY FINE at first, but after a certain point if you don't speed up people will start getting annoyed and be less willing to pick up your slack or help you with transfers, etc.

-Not going to your lunch break on time. Where I work we have a schedule so that there's always a certain number of people to watch the floor, and we're supposed to stick to it. I've seen people get mad when someone is only 5 minutes late in going to break. This is because it makes everyone late. Try not to start something you can't finish right before break. This seems to be more of an issue on 3-11, in my experience. You are just finishing feeding dinner and you have the urge to start doing your HS care so you're not falling behind later, but then 10 minutes later you have to drop everything and go to break.

-The previous shift will be annoyed with you if you nitpick, and the next shift will be annoyed if you leave them a mess. You might end up working with those people one day and at the very least you don't want them getting angry and reporting you for YOUR petty mistakes or leaving YOU a mess on purpose. None of us are perfect and some people need to get over that. It bugs me to no end when someone from the next shift complains that they found a brief in the trash or a dirty washcloth in the hopper! If you're going to complain about stupid stuff make SURE that YOU never EVER make one yourself (newsflash: everyone does it at one point). lol

[Dorali, BSN, LPN, RN]

I second Fuzzy's comment!

Jump in and do what you can when you can. They're hiring because they're short handed and they need the help. If your working with someone and you don't know what to do next, just ask. They WILL tell you. That way your not standing around watching (and feeling out of place).

[Little Miss Coffee]

Thank you guys so much for your suggestions! Getting pumped for starting out...:)

Fuzzywuzzy, thanks especially for mentioning the issue of asking for help before being ready. Now that you mention it I can understand why that would be extremely annoying, but you put me on alert for it. Without hearing that advice, I could see myself getting nervous about a task and forgetting that I still know how to prepare for it...

By the way, LadySalubrious, this is only "kind of" a career change for me. I'm just out of college. By the time I decided to go into nursing rather than some other health-related field, my Bachelor's had progressed so far I decided to just finish it and take a different path toward nursing later. I'm starting with this experience for at least a year or two. :)