If I were your assigned CNA...

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If I was your assigned CNA, what would you expect from me? What could I do to really make your job easier and provide for patient care?

I am basing this question on the assumption that this is how it works, the CNA gets assigned to an RN or LPN.

I am in the CNA program right now, and I want to make sure that I am actually going to benifit my coworkers and patients. I don't want to just be a useless body getting a paycheck.

MissLo

If I was your assigned CNA, what would you expect from me? What could I do to really make your job easier and provide for patient care?

I am basing this question on the assumption that this is how it works, the CNA gets assigned to an RN or LPN.

I am in the CNA program right now, and I want to make sure that I am actually going to benifit my coworkers and patients. I don't want to just be a useless body getting a paycheck.

MissLo

You may or may not be assigned to a nurse, one nurse or even any nurse.

Whether I am sharing you with other nurses or not here is what you can do.

Consult with me at the start of shift to find out what I am particularly concerned about. Keep me informed throughout the day. If if I ask you to do something I probably expect it done now. If you are unable to do it now please, let me know. My priorities may and likely are different than yours. I may need a vital sign now and it disrupts your routine to do it now. Waiting may not be an option.

Do not carry data such as VS around with you all day to be charted when you have the time. Even if you can not chart it right now (understandable) give me the information. We do not collect data such as VS etc just to collect data. Many of my decisions/actions will be based on information you provide.

Please, do not fake data such as VS, intake etc. This can be very dangerous.

You will know things about patients that I do not. Talk to me about this. Also ask me questions.

Do not give nursing advice, or information to pts, and family. You may be tempted because you have learned quite a lot and observed a lot. Pts and family will consider you as much an authority as me. They will trust and hang on to your every word. The problem is you will not have the whole picture including the education to assess and will on more than one occasion step on you own tail if you do this.

Do not take it upon yourself to help when it is outside of what you learned in your

CNA class. If a doctor tells you to do something like get a pt up clear it with the nurse. If he needs vital signs that is one thing. Feeding a pt. getting them up is another. Remember you are a nursing assistant not a medical assistant. You can not take orders of any kind from a doctor. All orders must flow through the nurse.

So even if he tells you to get vs let me know.

Do not reset alarms, touch pumps, or do anything you were not explicitly taught to in your training.

Sometimes you may be asked to do something that "makes no sense" chances are there is a valid reason. Ask. If it still does not make sense and the nurse can not explain it to you and it does not obviously put the pt in harms way do it. The reason may be too complex to explain quickly and easily and still be valid.

Ask questions about what you observe, hear, see, etc. Do everything you can to understand the whys of things but don't demand to know why before you do something.

Don't argue. Don't tell a nurse what you will and will not do if it is in your scope of practice.

If you are having trouble getting everything done ask the nurse what is most important you won't get everything done every day. However, your priorities may not be hers and in the end it is her's that will count.

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Thanks for asking!

Thanks for asking, and to turn it around what do you expect from your nurse?

Thank you. As of right now, all I can suggest is that my nurse offer me direction and understanding. Don't get upset or aggravated with me when I ask questions. If something isn't in my scope of practice, don't make me feel guilty for not being able to do it. Let me know that you appreciate me and my work and I will do the same. A simple "thank you" goes a long way.

That's about all I can offer for now, as I haven't started clinicals yet.

MissLo

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Specializes in Cardiac Telemetry, ED.

Thank you for asking!

At my workplace (an acute care facility), the CNA is assigned to rooms. S/he may be working with two to three nurses.

What is helpful to me is when the CNA comes to me at the beginning of the shift for report. Yes, they may have gotten report from the off going CNA, but I have priorities for my shift that I need to communicate to the CNA, and I am a lot easier to find than the CNA is (they cover more territory; I'm typically in the same general area all night).

If I ask you to do something, please do not assume that it is because I am lazy or that I think the task is beneath me. It is because I am busy. Even if you see me sitting in front of the computer, do not assume that I am doing nothing. The amount of charting that is required of me is voluminous, and the system is so fragmented that it takes a great deal of concentration. Also, I may be looking up critical labs, reading my patient's H&P, or waiting for a physician to return my phone call and cannot get tied up in a patient room assisting them to the bathroom.

Just as much as you like to hear a "thank you" every now and then, so do I. You may not see me fetching sandwiches and warm blankets, doing linen changes and oral care, because you are busy in another patient's room. But I do those things all the time, because I know you are busy and I happen to be right there with the patient anyway. Doing these tasks that I could delegate to you often puts me behind in the work that I cannot delegate, so a little appreciation is nice.

Don't let one nurse monopolize you. The other nurses need your help too. Don't wait for a nurse to have to track you down. Check in with each nurse you are working with regularly. Round on your patients regularly instead of waiting for them to put on the call light. Often, their needs can be anticipated and there will be fewer call lights to answer because someone was conscientious enough to check on the patients.

Make sure your assigned patients are safe and that their needs are met before you take your lunch break. Chances are, I won't get a break, and it's unfair to leave me with a bunch of extra tasks when I'm most likely already behind and will have to stay late to finish.

Don't get sucked into the "I'm busier than the nurse because I have fifteen patients and they only have four" mentality. Too many CNAs make this assumption, and it could not be further from the truth. We are ALL busy, and we need to help each other.

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Specializes in CNA.
What I've found as a CNA helps is throwing yourself in full throttle. Ask the nurses what they need from you. Learn to read body language. If the nurse is running around crazy with patients crashing, her hands full with nursing tasks, and hasn't gotten to charting yet and you find them in a room doing basic patient care be willing to tell them. "You go do nursing stuff, I can handle this."

That's what I do. I've worked with a couple of nurses who were running around trying to get a million things done....and still hadn't eaten lunch or taken a break. I've told that nurse that I can take care of most of that and she should go eat something. Then she'd let out a big sigh of relief that she had some extra help, thank me and ask me if I was sure I could give her a hand. And I tell her "Yeah, it's no problem, I've got this."

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Specializes in Onco, palliative care, PCU, HH, hospice.

Being a CNA in the long run is a very rewarding and invaluable experience! It's very cool that you already seem very excited about nursing, that will get you very far!

Everyone has given you some excellent tips, here's a couple of my own.

Don't ever be afraid to ask questions, there's no such thing as a stupid question.

Don't be afraid to ask for help, I don't expect you to be able to move a 300lb woman by yourself, it may take me a few minutes but I will help you lift her up in bed, toilet her, etc.

Most of the time I'll get my own vital signs, but if things get really hairy I may have to ask you to do them, don't get mad.

When I have a patient going critical, try to be available because there's ALOT I can get you to help me with such as getting the patient's vital signs, checking the blood sugar, going to the storage room to get me supplies, stay with the patient while I run and page the doctor and helping me transfer the patient to the ICU, just because you can't give meds or or start IV's doesn't mean you don't have an important role in an emergency.

If you help me, when I'm frazzled, I'm going to help you when you are, when we have a full unit and you're the only aide with 13 blood sugars to check, I'll find a way to finish my stuff and help you get those blood sugars.

I'll say it again because it's that important, Ask questions! And never be afraid to ask for help, being a CNA is extremely challenging, often underappreciated, but truly one of the most important roles in health care. Good luck to you, you will do great!

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Specializes in Emergency.

Be proactive. Know your job and do it without me having to tell you every little thing.

Don't ever lie to me. You forgot to do Mrs. XXX vital signs? Tell me. You missed Mr. YYY accu-check? TELL ME! Don't ever just make something up. Pulled out Ms. ZZZ's IV when you repositioned her? Tell me. I can easily forgive (and usually correct) an honest mistake, but if you ever lie to me, I won't ever be able to trust you -or your work - again.

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Specializes in Utilization Management.

I know you would never make the huge mistake this CNA did.

Me: (trying to get a doc on the phone for another patient's problem) Dear CNA, guess what, 507 has just rung for another bed change.

CNA: Oh no, I am not going back in there. I've had it with her. (walks away)

The above exchange is an excellent example of insubordination and will get you a writeup.

There are other, much better ways to deal with a situation like that. Trade patient changes with a buddy who has a patient she's really not clicking with. Share the joy with a friend and both of you agree to change your challenging patients together. Close your eyes, hold your nose, and do it yourself. Ask for a different assignment if you feel you're going to lose it with a patient. But don't refuse outright. It'll land you in the dog house every time.

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Well, I've said it before but it bears repeating. I've encountered (thankfully only a few) CNAs who have the attitude that if they slack off it's the nurse who is ultimately responsible. Which is true. But what they fail to recognize is that they are also licensed and regulated by their state BON and can receive reprimands, suspensions, revocations and the like--- just like us nurses.

http://www.dhp.state.va.us/enforcement/cdecision/boardresults.asp?board=14

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1--Communicate to the pts nurse. If we ask you to do something and you can't, say something.

2--Remember that we realize you are busy and overworked, but we are just as busy and just as overworked as you are.

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