I work on a very busy unit in an understaffed hospital to an underserved population. Night shifts. We NEVER get formal meal/rest breaks. I am able to get a couple 7 minute 'cig' breaks, and able to go to the desk and chat intermittently during the shift during down times, it varies per night. Some nights, not at all. I consider this my break.
The NAs ALWAYS get their break. Which is fine with me. I am glad they do. I encourage it. They work hard.
They do VS intially, then VS at 0400, then glucoses at 0600. In between is whatever pops up.
I have learned, with short staffing, ect, that I do not really rely on the NAs for much other than the above, maybe help with a turn or two a couple times, but mostly I try to do whatever myself.
There is one NA who is generally pretty good, good about reporting VS abnormalities. But lately she will sit down a particular hallway on the internet, watching her soap opera online, and since I/we sit closer to patients rooms, when a light goes off, i/we get up to get it, and I think lately she is relying on this. Also, sometimes if I ask her for help while she is on the internet, she will say okay, but then wait 5 minutes or so until she is finished with the segment she is watching (not just minimize the window right away to help). It's kindof annoying.
So, though she is good in some respects, this is getting on my nerves.
Last night was actually slow for our unit, a rarity. And though I was able to spend more time than usual chatting at the desk (mostly about the hospital/staffing/the unit/not getting raises/lack of equipment but the hospital is planning new buildings,, ect), she was down the far hallway on the internet. I answered all my call lights (granted there weren't that many last night as there usually are). while I sat down to chart, of course a couple call lights go off. I answer them, put a patient on the commode, and out loud wonder where "Mary" is, as the patient is ready to come off the commode. The charge nurse calls down the hall for her, but I say, Illl get it, I already have the patient wiped and back to bed when she comes to the door.
I ask if I can talk to her. We go to an empty room, and I say that her sitting down that hallway prevents her from seeing llights for these other two hallways. Her reply was that "everyne needs to answer lights". I say thats true, and I usually do as much as I can, but I also have charting to do. She says "I cant answer ALL the lights", ect, I finally say, as this seems argumentative to me, and she obviously dosent want to get it, that I will write nurse mgr.
I sit down, where I have been sitting, and start an email. Then she sits down and starts an email (not down "her hallway"). Another RN asks her for help, and she continues to sit ther, writing. I say to her, Kelly needs help. She says "I know", and is in no hurry to get up. I say, you need to help Kelly now. She finally then gets up.
I feel like I am always the biotch.
Maybe I should have just let it go, I mean generally she is good, if you allow her her 'me time' (but she gets a full break as well. I dont know what to think, I feel like a meany.........no one else confronts............help....I am feeling bad.
Many facilities have ways to block social and entertainment sites. Maybe that needs to happen where you work.
If this CNA has to log on to use the computer, it shouldn't be too difficult to track the sites she's going to while she's supposed to be working.
As for the attitude, if you feel bad (and you said that you do), expect her to exploit your emotions. You shouldn't have to feel like the grinch for expecting people to do their jobs. Keep your tone matter of fact and DON'T show any sign that you're second-guessing yourself.
what?! must be nice to have time to watch TV. when i was a CNA i never had time to sit down. i could've easily skipped my break every night bc there was so much to do, but since my pay was getting docked, i made sure to take it. the only reason i got to take THAT is bc i would leave the floor. i found out quickly that if i didn't leave the floor, i wouldn't get a break. on my unit, even when i was on break, the nurses expected me to answer the lights. i don't have the luxury to leave the floor for breaks now, but since i'm getting paid triple what i used to, it doesn't bother me so much. i also encourage CNAs to take their breaks AND take them off the floor - but we don't have CNAs who have time to sit around on the internet.
i wonder (since you said you were sitting outside of the patient's room) if she expected you to ANSWER the call light, but would've stepped up if you called on her for help? i mean, since you were sitting outside the room, you could've answered the light and if the patient wanted medication then there would've been no reason for her to get up, walk around you, ask the patient what they wanted only to tell you, "they want meds", walk back around you, and go back to where she was. BUT if you answered the light and the patient wanted some soup if you would've said, "mary, can you get mr. jones some soup?" would this be an issue? i was a CNA and sometimes a patient would call out asking for medicine so when their light would go off 15 minutes later i would ignore it so that the nurse would see it and be reminded, "oh, i forgot his medicine."
i'm only speculating. there's a difference in not ANSWERING the light when someone is sitting right by the room, and not following through and doing what the patient wants/needs after the light has been answered. i'm still surprised that there's time to watch TV or be online, but i'm just thinking of possible scenarios.
Jslovex2- maybe I should interupt my charting everytime a light goes off because I am more centrally located, and the patient "might" want a medication. No sense in the NA getting up from the internet for that possible scenario. If they need help with getting water or the commode, since I am there, I will do that too... (sorry, feeling sarcastic after you post)...
What I spoke with her about was sitting more centrally, and she replied with "Everyone has to answer lights". I told her (in a nutshell) I was trying to CHART, and that AS SHE KNOWS I do as much as I can/answer most all of my own lights on my patients (not to mentions others), and she replied that "I can't answer ALL the lights", so I figured she she not care to understand.
Jslovex2- maybe I should interupt my charting everytime a light goes off because I am more centrally located, and the patient "might" want a medication. No sense in the NA getting up from the internet for that possible scenario. If they need help with getting water or the commode, since I am there, I will do that too... (sorry, feeling sarcastic after you post)...
What I spoke with her about was sitting more centrally, and she replied with "Everyone has to answer lights". I told her (in a nutshell) I was trying to CHART, and that AS SHE KNOWS I do as much as I can/answer most all of my own lights on my patients (not to mentions others), and she replied that "I can't answer ALL the lights", so I figured she she not care to understand.
i didn't say that since you are there you should help them "get water or the commode." i was asking a question and actually said exactly the opposite. i guess there's just a lack of comprehension. use context clues like "i wonder" and "i'm speculating" when you re-read.
Specializes in Trauma Surgery, Nursing Management.
I know exactly what you mean. On the one hand, you want to be a team player. You like to be self-sufficient, you like to give the NAs a hand when you can, you don't mind doing the tasks that they should be doing since you are right there anyway. You don't want to make a big fat hairy deal out of it. I get you.
On the other hand, you see the slippery slope, which is why you (very professionally I might add) pulled her aside and in private addressed your concerns with her. Her response was a defensive one. Usually when people KNOW that they are in the wrong, they immediately go on the defensive because they are embarrassed.
I am not pretending to know exactly what your environment is or what this NA is like. I can only surmise from your description of her and of your working culture. It is SO hard to be the 'heavy' sometimes, isn't it?!? I hate that myself. If you have a good working relationship with someone, you want to keep it intact to make your working environment copacetic. From her standpoint, everything is just peachy. From your standpoint, you seem to be tiring of the "me time" that this NA (unjustly) feels that she must have while working.
She answered, "I can't answer ALL of the call lights", but yet is not within earshot of the call lights, and thus has no idea how much they go off. So her argument is a bit...bratty.
When I am in the role of charge nurse, I occasionally work with a particular evening secretary that has a strange view of how our duties should be shared. The phone rings CONSTANTLY. I must staff rooms, be aware of rooms running late, post emergency cases when they come in, coordinate breaks and relief for rooms that are running later than usual. I answer the phone all the time while doing all of the above tasks. When she has "had enough of the phone ringing", she will take her handpiece off the hook. I asked her why she did this, and she said, "Because it is your turn to answer the phone." WHAAAATTT???
It is so difficult to walk the fine line between being firm in your delegation while also being a team player. I have found that if you give an inch to some people, they will take a mile and then feel victimized if you don't do their job for them. It is tiring to say the least.
I think you did the best thing that you could in this circumstance. Let your NM take it from here.
Specializes in Plastics. General Surgery. ITU. Oncology.
As the Sister of my ward I take no nonsense. EVERYONE answers the bells. We have a very primitive system of ancient call lights. The bloody things sometimes malfunction too.
I don't care if you are an RN a HCA or an alien from Mars. The bells get seen to.
Ruthiegal
280 Posts
Why is she watching TV on the internet? That seems a bit much....