How do you feel about your CNA's?

TooterIA · Sep 29, 2004

Drysolong I do not have a condescending attitude towards our CNA's and none of the other nurses I work with do either. It is just pure frustration that some tend not to do their jobs when they know what they are supposed to do. So I dont think you have to worry about being talked down to ever as a CNA. You sound like you want to try hard and I did the same path you are, CNA, LPN, RN and it is a great way to learn. Let it be known to your coworkers that you are in school and any oppurtunities you have to watch them do neat stuff wouold be great. As long as you do your duties and are polite, nurses will love you!

Drysolong · Sep 29, 2004

Drysolong I do not have a condescending attitude towards our CNA's and none of the other nurses I work with do either. It is just pure frustration that some tend not to do their jobs when they know what they are supposed to do. So I dont think you have to worry about being talked down to ever as a CNA. You sound like you want to try hard and I did the same path you are, CNA, LPN, RN and it is a great way to learn. Let it be known to your coworkers that you are in school and any oppurtunities you have to watch them do neat stuff wouold be great. As long as you do your duties and are polite, nurses will love you!

Thank you. I am going to think that this is the way it will be and go into my next job(s) with that positive attitude.

nurseygrrl, LPN · Sep 29, 2004

I moved to a new unit in June of this year and I have to say, I work with the best in terms of CNAs. We have a lot of different issues to deal with on my unit and they always manage to go above and beyond the call of duty every time. They get to know the families of the residents and will speak with them about their loved ones, they alert us nurses to problems and potential problems, they brainstorm to come up with GREAT ideas to make the lives of our residents better, They spend their hard earned money to buy things for their residents if they are in need. The list goes on and on. I am very grateful for the CNAs I now work with and plan on getting together with the other nurses I work with to get them something special for Christmas. They sure do deserve it.

tylerlvn · Sep 30, 2004

The CNA's I work with are terrific. Everyones works together as a team and the residents (I work in LTC) are so well taken care of. I hope I am fortunate enough to end up in a nursing home like ours if I ever need to be in one. I rely on my CNA's so much - they really are my eyes and ears. :)

LuvBnNMyScrubs · Mar 17, 2006

I worked for 8 years as a CNA. I am now in nursing school. I have worked with some great nurses who would perform smalll tasks for me when I was otherwise engaged. In turn, I would do as much as I was allowed to do to help her or him in return. That is teamwork, and that is what best benefits the patient. It is a lose/lose situation when a CNA and a nurse cannot work as a team. I know once I am a nurse, I will work with my CNA as a unit. I will not spend 5 minutes looking for her to tell her to "take a blanket to patient x" when I can spend 1 minute doing it myself. Some CNA's are lazy, as well as some nurses are lazy. There is no room for negative attitudes in an already stressful career. That should be addressed on a 1:1 basis.

I don't think all CNA's or all nurses should get stereo typed because of a select few.

marygirl · Mar 17, 2006

Disappearing staff is a problem on many levels. At our hospital one of the reasons it goes on is because charge nurses rotate and they may be in charge one shift and on the floor the next. If they have to discipline someone or just talk to them about their behavior, the next day, that person might be assigned on their team. Then they might not have any help at all, so they tend to ignore bad behavior. Last summer a charge nurse spoke to an LPN about disappearing and taking a nap when it wasn't her break. When he (the charge nurse) got off shift, his car had been keyed. Nobody has proof that the LPN keyed the car, but everyone thinks she did. Now the charge nurses won't say anything to anyone.

If a CNA doesn't want to answer call lights, all she (on our unit, they are all female) has to do is disappear. Someone will answer the call lights, get the blankets, fill the water cups, wash up the soiled beds, etc. Nobody will say anything at all to the CNA who disappeared.

One new RN confronted a CNA and was later informed that the CNA had a boyfriend who was a drug-dealer/gangster and the RN better be very nice to the CNA or she might find herself a victim.

Chaya, ASN, RN · Mar 17, 2006

Most of the CNA's on our shift are fantastic. I try to let them know and I try to tell them WHY they are fantastic. I try to tie in the care they give to the impact it has on pt's lives. If I ask an aide to get an HS snack for a diabetic I might point out that his AM blood sugars are dangerously low on the mornings follwing a night without a snack. I might ask them to answer a certain pt's call light first because he's had some chest pain or reinforce that we are keeping careful I & O's on a patient we are giving extra dieuretics to who is at risk for CHF. Our aides have more than once kept a pt from crisis by pointing out a critical VS to the nurse in a timely manner. They have literally saved patients' live by letting the nurse know a pt just doesn't look right-and I make sure they get the credit!

jyoung1950 · Mar 17, 2006

Disappearing staff is a problem on many levels. At our hospital one of the reasons it goes on is because charge nurses rotate and they may be in charge one shift and on the floor the next. If they have to discipline someone or just talk to them about their behavior, the next day, that person might be assigned on their team. Then they might not have any help at all, so they tend to ignore bad behavior. Last summer a charge nurse spoke to an LPN about disappearing and taking a nap when it wasn't her break. When he (the charge nurse) got off shift, his car had been keyed. Nobody has proof that the LPN keyed the car, but everyone thinks she did. Now the charge nurses won't say anything to anyone.
If a CNA doesn't want to answer call lights, all she (on our unit, they are all female) has to do is disappear. Someone will answer the call lights, get the blankets, fill the water cups, wash up the soiled beds, etc. Nobody will say anything at all to the CNA who disappeared.
One new RN confronted a CNA and was later informed that the CNA had a boyfriend who was a drug-dealer/gangster and the RN better be very nice to the CNA or she might find herself a victim.

The only time I don't answer call lights is when I am busy assisting a patient. And some patients take a long time to take care of. If I'm cleaning up a patient who just messed all over him or herself, then I'll be in that room for at least 5 minutes. Five minutes for a call bell to keep ringing is a long time and if I'm the only aid on the floor, then who is supposed to answer that call bell?

There's been many a time that the call bells are going off and I"m busy with a patient that's time consuming and the nurse's station is filled with nurses, nurse managers, PNCC's etc. chatting and laughing up a storm and ignoring the call bell. I guess I'm supposed to leave the patient in mid-air and run out and answer the call bell. But I don't leave my patient. I finish with them and then get the bell and if it has been ringing for 5 minutes, so be it. I can't be in 2 places at once and yes, I feel an attitude coming on when I'm doing my work and others who are on the meter too ignoring the patients.

~Anne~ · Mar 17, 2006

All the CNA's i work with are all very nice,but like with anyone , some go way above and beyond the call of duty, and others just do what they have to do, and there are a few who just try to do as little as they can possibly get away with. The only thing that i really have a problem with is when you ask them to do something.... like err walk a pt, and they look at you like you just asked them to mop the kitchen floor and wax it too!! But for the most part the CNA's i work with, are a big help to a busy floor!

KAW1962 · Mar 17, 2006

I work with some terrific CNA's! The majority of them are motivated by love of helping their patients, are self-directed, proficient and efficient. They are my eyes and ears and alert me when something just isn't right with a patient. Their excellent performance makes my job so much easier.

Unfortunately you have to take the bad with the good. We have 2 male CNA's who do not perform on the same level as the others. And unions being how they are, well, you know how that goes.

marygirl · Mar 17, 2006

If you are in a room helping a patient that is one thing. If you are on another unit chatting with a friend or in the corner reading a novel while someone else is cleaning up your patient and answering all of the call lights, it is quite another. I'm a nursing student and will graduate in 5 weeks. I have been working as an aid for almost a year now while I go to school. Excluding the people working their way through nursing school, we really only have three full-time, career night shift aids for a 54 bed unit. I know it must stink to them because I get paid $5 more an hour than they do and I have way less experience in the health care field. However, at my level, I can do many things they legally cannot do. I can assess the patients, do intake forms, check med sheets, set up, prime, clear pumps and change bags, and handle much of the paperwork for the RN. I can start IV's, insert foley's and change dressings. In our facility, an aid cannot do those things. In four weeks, I will get another $5 an hour as a graduate nurse. But I have been working side by side with entire staff for almost a year and I have watched how they behave. Aids do get the short stick when it comes to shifts because the hospital is VERY accommodating to me and other students regarding our school and clinical schedules. Aids get stuck with what we can't work. Plus, they work next to me for a year and then I'm the team lead all of a sudden, even if they've been on the unit for seven years.

My point, though, is that if you want to be a nurse, BE ONE, and if you are an aid, BE ONE. Clocking in and clocking out are not all that is involved with the job on any level. I don't care whether you are cleaning the floors or a security guard or the kitchen staff or the nursing staff, you have a role and you should do it. Nobody is complaining that they can't find their aid because he/she is doing a full bed bath on a total care patient when another patient wants fresh ice water. They are complaining that the aid isn't doing their job and nothing is helping the situation. Some work real hard, some hardly work.

On our unit, teams are divided with either an RN and an aid with up to 7 patients or an RN and an LPN with up to 8 patients or an RN alone with up to 5. When I have 7 patients with my RN, I always end up running vitals and answering lights for the RN's working their own team, too. I don't resent that, I expect that is part of the teamwork of the unit. But when I am one of three aids each with a team of 7 and one of the aids has taken a hiatus then I do start to resent that someone is doing a crossword puzzle or something and I can't stop to empty my bladder!

~Anne~ · Mar 17, 2006

Very well said, I totally agree with you on that marygirl!!!!!