How do nurses really feel about CNA/PCTs?

Bruin's Mom · Jun 12, 2011

As long as you are an aide and know you are an aide, not a nurse, you will do fine. I have worked with aides who want and act like nurses that no one wants to work with them.

lilredrn · Jun 12, 2011

I love my CNAs!!! I am the solo nurse in assisted living with 170 patients on NOC shift. There is no way I could do my job without my CNAs. They are my eyes & ears where I can not be. I have high standards for them and they have high standards for me too. EVERY NIGHT I make it a point to tell them "great job" and "thanks for your hard work". We are all a team

hiddencatRN, BSN, RN · Jun 12, 2011

I am starting a new job as a PCT and want to make a good impression with the nursing staff, physicans, and patients.
I have experience in health care fields as a MA. I am used to making Dr's happy...but now I need to know how to make nurses happy. I am leaving MA for PCT so I can go to nursing school. CNA/PCT usually have more flexable hours.
I have read some negitive message board comments about how some nurse want to get rid of the CNAs in the hospital...I don't want to be hated before I get started.

Earn yourself a reputation for being eager to help out and you will be fine. The techs I don't like working with are the ones who give me attitude when I ask them for help or who only do their job when directly asked. The ones who offer help and do their job are invaluable.

eriksoln, BSN, RN · Jun 12, 2011

CNA/PCT's have to be taken/judged just like nurses, or........well, any other group of people out there. You have to look at them on a case by case (person by person) basis. There just is no description that fits them all.

Me, personally, I consider them one of the most important members of the health team. I work on a M/S unit, have high pt. ratios, but don't always have the low pt. acuity that I'm supposed to have (actually, I almost never have the low acuity my pt. load would suggest). Pt. acuity goes up, my attention to the higher/altruistic points of nursing goes down. I'm not worried about grandma's tea being perfect and fluffing pillows when I have four acute fall risks, hypoglycemia and a train wreck post-op on my assignment. That is where the CNA comes in.

I often get put in a position where, its all I can do to make sure the minimal medical needs are met. Now, if I have a decent CNA going in the rooms after me fluffing pillows and fetching tea...............no harm done. If I don't, I end up with an assignment full of needy grandmas who really don't care you kept them outta the ICU from a fall or hypoglycemia...........I'm a terrible nurse cause their tea didn't have the right amt. of sugar in it.

In short, I as the RN make sure they go home alive. You as the CNA make sure they go home happy. With the increasing focus on PG scores and "customer satisfaction", there are days your work will be what if recognized and appreciated.

I've had CNA's I love and others I hate. I could write seven or ten different threads on what it is that goes wrong when the RN/CNA relationship breaks down. There are many factors to consider: RN laziness, CNA laziness, poor management styles, RN or CNA's being overloaded with work, financial factors (staffing, pay), lack of defined job descriptions/roles...........the list is endless.

When I was a CNA, I had more than a few nurses who needed reminding "I have no license to lose, you do, so decide for yourself how to proceed." I still approach it from that angle now that I'm an RN.