Did the title catch your attention? Good, I was hoping it would.
I've seen people talk about this attitude on allnurses quite a bit, and I find the reactions fascinating. I'm amazed at the passion, care and professionalism of the nurses on this board and really about every nurse I've ever met.
BUT, everyone-from the most seasoned nurse to the student- knows that nursing is changing and will probably continue to change dramatically over the years to come. There are CNAs and MAs who seem to have an increasing role in the healthcare system and nurses themselves have more responsibility (all the charting etc.) and demanding jobs as new diseases, new medicines and standards of care make their way into our lives.
My question is, do you think their should be a change in what nurses do? Will there come a time when basic hygiene and certain other tasks often done by nurses in the past will be the responsibility of CNAs and others in similar roles? Would this be a good thing for nurses? Is there really anything wrong with nurses who feel that four years of education + all of their other demands and responsibilities should mean that they shouldn't have to do these tasks?
Huh??? WHY?????? As long as the hands are washed before the IV's are touched, why would this matter? I have cleaned up incontinent pts and then administered meds or IV's (with hands washed!!) and I seriously doubt their perceptions of me changed because of that.
no ryme or reason whu but we also have a few residents that will not even allow the nurses to do cares - they tellus it isnt our job lol. so we end up getting another nurse ( when we are short cnas and all helping to get things done - ) to pretend she is a cna lol.
Gee that seems like a shame Jcarew. I would think that CNA's would be a valuable part of the nursing team. Soooo how is it working? Do the externs play the part of the CNA role? Is the hospital willing to pick up the expense of educating the LVN's so they can become RN's? Just wondering how this is all gonna go down.
they tried that phasing out lpns in our state yrs ago - it will never fly - simply because hospitals in big areas may wish to pay the price for rns staffing however like around here they cant affors to pay just rns and no other staff - lpns are integral to our nursing hime staffing around herew also - simoply because they get paid less. doubt it will ver fly that they cut out the program entirly no matter where you live.
even when the cna's are required to do all personal care, i still make it a point to clean them up 1x/shift. this time is important to me, where i can assess their skin, their ms, any concerns.... i've made it a priority to do this w/all my pts, as the 15 minutes i get with them, supplies me with invaluable data.
leslie
id love to be able to9 do that but with 20 plus residents to care for , meds treatments and assessing those that are actually sick there isnt 15 min in the 8 hour shift to do that with ALL of them so one must rely on the aides for feedback - thankfully i have a great crew and if there is a problem they are on top of it and let me know.
I haven't read thru all of the responses, but from being in clinicals my first semester, the CNA's do a whole lot of work. They do ALL a.m. care, including vitals.
I didn't see nurses dealing with anything crappy, ever. No pun intended. :)
then when you do get through and become a nurse you will have a rude awakening - id much rather be doing somethng "crappy" like wiping butts then dealing with docs and family and orders and management and aall the "crappy " things we have to deal with lol.
Specializes in Geriatrics/Oncology/Psych/College Health.
then when you do get through and become a nurse you will have a rude awakening - id much rather be doing somethng "crappy" like wiping butts then dealing with docs and family and orders and management and aall the "crappy " things we have to deal with lol.
I don't believe the poster was suggesting she wasn't willing or able to do it, only that she has, unfortunately, not experienced nurses yet that do. :)
I don't believe the poster was suggesting she wasn't willing or able to do it, only that she has, unfortunately, not experienced nurses yet that do. :)
A student coming to my unit might think the same thing too, because we are very tech heavy on the day shift. The techs begin their day with the intimate care, while we do assessments and other things.
An student might think we don't do anything crappy just from the observations, but looks are deceiving. How does the student know when a nurse walked into a room he/she didn't wipe a butt while in there? What about when the techs are on break?
Okay so I have a story for you all. I was in my CNA clinicals at a LTC facility. While doing HS cares for a resident who was incont of both Urine and Stool we asked our instructor if you ever get immune or used to cleaning up BM. Her reply to us was,"No, that is why I am not a CNA." So she must also be of the belief that she is too educated to wipe butts?? NOt to mention why would you say that to a group of students that you are training to be CNAs.
I have only been a CNA for a little more then a year and only at one place but, the first impression I got was that if I ever wanted to be a lazy nurse long term care is the place to be. Of all of our nurses only a small few will actually help with cares. Most will answer the light and then come hunt down an aid to tell them who needs what. IMHO all the really do is pass meds. Some even think that if they have to give meds at an unscheduled time it is the biggest inconvienice ever and how dare the resident ask for more meds when they were just down the wings.
if all your nurses do is pass meds ten they aint doing thier jobs and shoudl be reported to the proper chain of command - i know it may look like thats all we do but we have many tretments, assessments and yes mega charting to do on it all.
I am a DON in a nursing home with a 20 bed TCU and 80 beds long-term care. Even with plenty of staff, I am usually in the dining rooms daily helping to pass meals and feed. It has never been beneath me to help clean someone up, toilet someone, help with a transfer, etc. Our residents and/or the state pays dearly for them to live there and they deserve the best care in their own "home." As i tell my staff, I would expect them to do anything that i am not also willing to do.
Did the title catch your attention? Good, I was hoping it would.
I've seen people talk about this attitude on allnurses quite a bit, and I find the reactions fascinating. I'm amazed at the passion, care and professionalism of the nurses on this board and really about every nurse I've ever met.
BUT, everyone-from the most seasoned nurse to the student- knows that nursing is changing and will probably continue to change dramatically over the years to come. There are CNAs and MAs who seem to have an increasing role in the healthcare system and nurses themselves have more responsibility (all the charting etc.) and demanding jobs as new diseases, new medicines and standards of care make their way into our lives.
My question is, do you think their should be a change in what nurses do? Will there come a time when basic hygiene and certain other tasks often done by nurses in the past will be the responsibility of CNAs and others in similar roles? Would this be a good thing for nurses? Is there really anything wrong with nurses who feel that four years of education + all of their other demands and responsibilities should mean that they shouldn't have to do these tasks?
I'm not above doing it. I don't like doing it, I gag and wretch and resent it. But I do it anyway. I remind myself that I might need it done someday. I agree that we do have a great many responsibilities that only we can do (legally) but that doesn't mean that I shouldn't help relieve suffering and clean and turn my patients.
At the end of the day it is patient recovery, dignity and comfort that matter and nurses should do what it takes to ensure these needs are always met.
That might mean hands on care. It might also mean delegating some aspects of care when we are busy with tasks that require an RN or at least a licensed nurse to do them.
Another aspect - what about those nurses like me, whose backs and shoulders won't allow us to do all the physically hard work that we really would not mind doing, if only we were strong enough to do it without hurting ourselves? That's why I had to leave the bedside. I could no longer do the lifting, pulling, pushing, etc.
From what I'm seeing these days is that hygiene is beginning to be the last thing on the list of priorities for nurses these days. As much as I'd like to see us go back to using CNA's again, I don't see it happening. Paperwork is getting so over whelming! Nurses are beginning to do what they HAVE TO DO which is meds, procedures and keeping up with the patient's status and PAPERWORD that hygeine is becoming a thing of the past. Problem is that the patient's perception isn't changing! They still expect the little things to be done. We're torn between customer service and the necessary tasks of the day! Yes it's changing!
twotrees2
913 Posts
no ryme or reason whu but we also have a few residents that will not even allow the nurses to do cares - they tellus it isnt our job lol. so we end up getting another nurse ( when we are short cnas and all helping to get things done - ) to pretend she is a cna lol.