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 feel that a CNA is an assistant, and they are trained for ADL's, Transfers, hygeine, and other tasks as part of their duties. So when I am unable, I get 'assistance' from the CNA's to do the duties they are trained to do in order to help me tend to my assigned patients.
If I am able I most certainly do my own CNA work, but with the heavy demand on Nursing time with patients, the continued demand on documentation, the demand of MD's to do their assistance, and general facility demands...one has little or no time anymore to do what the CNA does...and that is why the CNA was made! Someone finally realized that a nurse can't do it all...and therefore found our profession to be worthy of an assistant!
The assistant and I work as a team...when one can't, the other hopefully can and so on..that is what teamwork is all about. I am happy and pleased to have CNA's, and I let them know it each and every day! :)
And we as nurses aren't trained to do the same things the CNA's do? come on you can come up with something better than that, isn't it the NURSES who TRAIN the CNA'S? I see eveyone as an equal we are all here for the same reason, to help the pt.At the end of the day were are the same people, whats in a title do you think God gives a care about what you are and how much education you have, no but he does care how you treat people and I think when some of us do get a little tittle or our education we forget that, and just a little reminder alot of places are starting to phase out the role of the CNA ( at least in my area) and are focusing on the NURSES doing complete Pt care and yes that includes ADL's, Transfers and hygeine etc which I believe is taught during your first year of nursing school so might I suggest you re-learn those skills cause ya might not have those wonderful CNA's for long.
THANK YOU!!! I have been a CNA for 8 years 4 in LTC, 4 in a hospital. Where I work now, CNA's can d/c foley's, saline locks, take vitals, accuchecks, give enemas, supps, even do ECG's. Although we are not allowed to answer the phone, because "that's the RN's job". I know very well that the RN has a huge responsibilty, & I respect each & everyone of them. But in turn I expect a little respect also, because I may not have the title yet, but I can be just as good or important as they are without it. Where I work the RN is on a pedestal, the rest of us are not thought to be important at all, funny how often I find myself covering the RN's butt, or catching a mistake before she makes it. Being an RN does not make you better than anyone else, & if you think you are, that actually makes you less of a person.
I've been an LPN for almost a year now and work in a convalescent home. I frequently toilet, shower, transfer, fetch, bedpan, feed and numerous other things that, in my facility, are technically the CNA's job. I have absolutely no problem doing that for them. When someone has to go to the bathroom, are you going to walk away and not help them? How would you feel if it was you? These are the questions I ask myself and so I just do it. The only problem is my med pass consists of 32 residents and more meds than I care to count. Not to mention the treatments I have to do. Those meds have to be given in a certain time frame to meet the state's requirements or else I get in trouble. We are frequently short staffed and my poor aids are running around sweating and don't even have time to take a break. Nor, for that matter, do I. I rarely sit down except when I'm charting. In between my med passes, which are extremely long, I sit whith residents or answer call lights, but I learned right away that my med pass comes first or else I will get in trouble. I haven't even mentioned the charting I have to do, and that is expected to be done during my shift not after. Where I work all charting is done on computer and they know exactly when you charted it. Then if someone falls, gets a skin tear or bruise or you get an admission or send someone out to the hospital, the charting time increases. It's insane!!!!!! But, don't punch out too late. It's all a balancing act. It's a good thing I was a waitress for so long!!!! I learned to prioritize and move quick.
Sorry for the rant. I guess my point is, there is never enough time for everything, but you just do what needs to be done. I became a nurse because I enjoy making people fell better. What good would I be, if I walked away from someone who needed an extra glass of water or had to pee? You just do what you have to do.Thanks for listening.
I got a reply from MisMissy69 but I cannot find it to respond. She made a comment to the fact that I need to enjoy my CNA duties because "those wonderful CNAs might not be around for long", but I am not a CNA. I am confused regarding her response. Did anyone else get my post about wanting to become a nurse? I said I would be happy to wipe a butt:)
I am a student nurse who will gladly perform "menial" tasks such as bed baths and wiping behinds. Not only am I able to better "connect" with the patient, I also gain the opportunity to better "know" that patient's body; afterall, what an opportunity to look for skin integrity issues, edema, skin turgor, cap refill, etc!
I hope these tasks are never fully allocated to the non-licensed individual. I pray I find a position that demands total patient care when I graduate!
Specializes in Education, Acute, Med/Surg, Tele, etc.
Its kinda funny...I responded to this yesterday and went into work for swing shift. I am an agency nurse that has worked for this one hospital for some time now. I checked the assignment sheet and lo and behold...I was marked as the CNA!
I went to the admin area to just let them know that I was fine doing CNA work, but I would be a little expensive? They had a big giggle over that...and were pleased that I would float as an RN doing CNA work in order to help! They knew I was RN, but the nurse doing the schedule actually told me she had a brain fart and wrote me down in the wrong spot! LOL!
So I went up to my floor and asked everyone if they liked my new title...we all laughed including the CNA's! One CNA said...oh bummer, I was looking forward to having you on our team!
I just said...well lets just say I have a longer title now then...RNCNA . Longer initials..I win! LOL!!!!
It wound up that the CNA got called to another floor, so I wound up with two discharges and two stable patients so I did the VS, turns, transfers, ADL's, feeding, and other things anyway since I wasn't busy :). They let me go home early too.
In my facility, we don't always have aides if the census is low, so we to total patient care alone on those days. I had a patient just this week assume I was an aide becuase I was changing her bed and wiping her behind. She was quite startled when I came in with her meds and hung an IV, and fell all over herself apollogizing for "insulting" me by calling me an aide.
I do think as our delegates the aides are performing MY responsibility, and I am fortunate to have outstanding aides who are a great team. They are very good at reporting things I don't see because I am away from the bedside. On the other hand, I know that with the ever-increasing amount of paperwork, there isn't time for me to have five, six, nine patients and have time to wash bums, so to speak.
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.
Thank you. I totally agree. I work on a med-surg floor nights with only one aide for 20-30+ patients. I very frequently do personal care such as wiping rear ends because the aide can only do so much. I get a good look at the patient's skin that way, too, which is important. And I need to assess their stools, anyway. I've never found that doing hands-on care lessens a patient's confidence in me. If anything, it increases it as they know I'm there to take care of their needs. I have also found that the aides respect me when they see me coming down the hall with arms loaded down with linens saying "so and so GI bleeder needs a clean-up, wanna give me a hand holding them over?" rather than "So and so needs to be cleaned up and you need to do it right now" and then go sit down and kabitz with coworkers. Unfortunately I have some fellow nurses on my floor who seem to think they are above this kind of care, and it causes a lot of tension. They won't even fill their own ice bags. I will soon work float pool instead of my ortho-neuro unit because of this. Frankly, if someone doesn't wanna deal with poop, find a different profession.
. Longer initials..I win! LOL!!!!
mismissy69
70 Posts
And we as nurses aren't trained to do the same things the CNA's do? come on you can come up with something better than that, isn't it the NURSES who TRAIN the CNA'S? I see eveyone as an equal we are all here for the same reason, to help the pt.At the end of the day were are the same people, whats in a title do you think God gives a care about what you are and how much education you have, no but he does care how you treat people and I think when some of us do get a little tittle or our education we forget that, and just a little reminder alot of places are starting to phase out the role of the CNA ( at least in my area) and are focusing on the NURSES doing complete Pt care and yes that includes ADL's, Transfers and hygeine etc which I believe is taught during your first year of nursing school so might I suggest you re-learn those skills cause ya might not have those wonderful CNA's for long.