If you hate being a CNA will you hate being an RN too?

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Specializes in geriatrics, dementia, ortho.

There is no patient population on earth where things are guaranteed to go quickly and smoothly. You need to either find a population you have a soft spot for that will increase your patience with them (try disabled kids if you dislike elderly, try dementia if you dislike A&O, etc.) or get into a different field.

You can't change your patients' behaviors for the most part, just yourself.

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I like helping patients as long as things go quickly and smoothly. But those type of patients are far and few in between. Some of them purposely make your job more difficult. For instance, I had a patient who is disabled, and needs

to be transferred with a hoyer lift. I got him completely dressed in his clothes only for him to tell me he has on the wrong pair of underwear--he instructed me to go into his dresser to get him a longer pair of underwear because he's cold. My face just dropped. He could have told me this before.

At the risk of sounding like a lazy meanie, let me just say it's perfectly all right in this situation

to say "I'm sorry, mr smith, I didn't know you wanted the other pair of underwear. Next time I will make sure to ask you first." and them keep on going with your work. He might grumble, but he'll get over it. As someone said earlier it's all

about control. These residents live utterly dependent lives. Forcing you to go through the work of changing his clothes again is his way exerting a little control over something. When you give these people options

they will feel they've regained some small degree of control over their own lives. Then you'll be surprised how much less rude and ungrateful most of them will be.

As for still doing CNA work once you're a nurse, well... It depends on where you work. As a nurse (LPN or RN) in LTC you will actually being doing FAR less direct care than a RN on a med/surg floor. LTCs are staffed with a few nurses and lots of CNAs. Hospital floors are staffed with lots of RNs and a few (if any) aides/techs. But even if "all" you do in LTC as a nurse is meds, treatments and charting, you will be much more stressed then you were as an aide. Think about it. Who among your staff where you work now stays long after their shift to get everything done? The CNAs or the nurses?

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Specializes in LTC, med/surg, hospice.

I'm going to say yes.

You may not have to deal with the SAME exact tasks that are getting on your nerves but there are a lot of unreasonable patients out there or patients that will keep you running back and forth.

"oh you wanted your meds crushed in pudding instead of applesauce?"

"you need your sleeping pill? anything else?" (they say no and you return to room with med) "ohh you need something for constipation as well" (didn't I ask you?)

And that's the simple aggravation...

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I'm going to say yes.

You may not have to deal with the SAME exact tasks that are getting on your nerves but there are a lot of unreasonable patients out there or patients that will keep you running back and forth.

"oh you wanted your meds crushed in pudding instead of applesauce?"

"you need your sleeping pill? anything else?" (they say no and you return to room with med) "ohh you need something for constipation as well" (didn't I ask you?)

And that's the simple aggravation...

Well what area of nursing can I avoid this?

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Specializes in School Nursing.
Well what area of nursing can I avoid this?

Avoid unreasonable people? None.

But the same holds true for every profession that deals with the public. If you don't like dealing with people (all kinds of people, good bad and ugly), don't pick a profession that deals with the public or customer service.

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A better question is why do you want to go into this field? What can you tolerate? Some areas of nursing involve less patient contact than others. In the OR they are mostly asleep. You have to have strengths and weaknesses. Some people deal well with children but not the elderly. Others are the opposite. What kind of difficult people can you tolerate? Addicts? Prisoners? Psych patients? People on the phone?

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Specializes in Emergency Nursing.

I think I understand where the OP is coming from. CNAs have very little power in their daily routines and one mismanaged patient can make a shift where I'm sure the clock is going backwards instead of forwards. When I hear in report that a patient was difficult on the previous shift, I make sure to spend some extra time with that patient right at the beginning of the shift in order to establish a relationship where the patient knows I am there for them. But sometimes you don't get that information, or they were fine on the previous shift. Then you have to remember what was previously mentioned on this thread, that for some patients it's a matter of being able to control their environment when they have no control over anything else. You have to let that roll off your back because it's about them, not you.

I bet the OP would be happier on a floor with patients on vents or sedated, with less opportunity for the patients to talk.

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Too be honest, I liked being a CNA compared to being licensed when I was in my 20s. Yeah, you work hard answering call lights, cleaning up pts, bed baths, emptying foleys/urinals, stocking up, vitals, I/Os, QCing the crash cart, drawing blood, inserting foleys, checking blood sugars..Wait CNA's don't do these anymore....But yeah, I liked working hard for 8 hours and then go home without a care. Now, I'm always worried about losing my license, dealing with MD/NPs, and being the NURSE. If I could pay my bills with an AIDE's pay, I'd lose my license and go back to bliss.

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Specializes in Orthopedic, LTC, STR, Med-Surg, Tele.
Well??

Not necessarily. I didn't like being a CNA in LTC, but that facility was not a terribly supportive working environment. I liked being a CNA/PCT in the hospital, and now I love being an RN in a hospital :D

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Not necessarily. I didn't like being a CNA in LTC, but that facility was not a terribly supportive working environment. I liked being a CNA/PCT in the hospital, and now I love being an RN in a hospital :D

I've never worked in a hospital. Just in a LTC facility and as a homehealth aide. What do you like about working in a hospital?

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Specializes in Orthopedic, LTC, STR, Med-Surg, Tele.

I found the patient load to be a lot lighter than LTC. I went from having 12-15 residents to having a max of 10 patients. There are some exceptions, but most people are grateful for the help that you give them in the hospital - some LTC residents expect to be waited on hand and foot, and I found that to be very tiresome, day after day after day. In my opinion, patient turnover is a good thing :rolleyes:

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It's the OCD patients that I have a very difficult time working with. You have to do things a particular way or else they go off. I can't please them at all. Don't know why, it seems other home health aides or CNAs deal with them a lot better than me. I never seem to do anything right with them, and they make me hate my job

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