I don't know if I can do this anymore...

[Jannie92]

So I've been working as a CNA for about 3 months at a LTC facility during day shift from 6:30-3pm, and I am on my feet during the entire time. I don't get a chance to have a lunch, use the bathroom, or even take a sip of water during the day. And it's not just me - its my entire floor of nurse aides! Rarely do I ever see any of them take a break for lunch. And I'm pretty tiny - 5'3" 113lbs - and so my back is constantly aching from the heavy lifting. I feel physically and emotionally drained at the end of my shift from all that lifting and not eating. I have a floor nurse who's always on my back, telling me "you gotta make sure so and so has their teeth brushed" and "you can NOT just leave this resident in the dining room all day". I feel like she just doesn't understand that every time she's talking to me, I'm juggling ten things at once. She rarely ever gives a helping hand, and she acts like she's a savior when she helps pass out water to the residents. I even overheard her saying "I can't be doing any nurse aide work around here", as if she even does anything. I understand she has her own set of duties to take care of, but when you clearly see a nurse aide running around the entire floor rushing to get things done on time, is it really the best time to pull them aside and lecture them about the importance of shaving a resident?

But the thing is, it's not that I FORGET to bring a resident back to their rooms after breakfast and have them toileted - I just don't have the freaking time to because we're always so understaffed (and underpaid!). I despise not being able to provide quality care to my residents because I truly do want the best for them. I LOVE my residents and I always try to make sure they get the care that they deserve, but I realize that whenever I do that, I fall behind and I find myself rushing for the rest of the day. It's not fair that we and the residents have to suffer because of management.

I don't know what to do anymore. I want to continue CNA work so that I can continue to gain experience for RN school, but the environment that I'm working is really making me consider a different path. And while the job is only part time, I go to school full-time MWF where I take a 4 hour commute each day. All this adds up and it's giving me so much stress.

Are there any other options besides LTC that I can consider? How difficult is it to get into a hospital and maybe work part time there? Anything has to be better than this!

[Nurseeverywhere, CNA, LVN]

I am also a new cna and I just started working in a SNF about a week and a half ago and it is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life! I go to school, have kids, and now work NOC shift as a CNA. I am really new at this so I do not know how to get everything done on time before morning shift comes in that I am clocking out about 30 minutes past 7 am. I've only been on my own 3 times but I can't figure out how anyone can have 17 residents and chart, take vitals, answer call lights, chart, and keep fall risk patients from getting up. Maybe I'm just to slow but I really hope this gets better. I am so humbled by this I promise when I become an RN I will always try to give a hand by not thinking I'm to good to clean someone up. I just need to survive these next six months. I am signing up for an acute care cna course (about $500) in the fall. I hear being a cna in a hospital is easier on the back, hope it's true. Just have to have those 6 months of experience so hang in there. You are halfway there. But start applying now.