3-11 info

When I work 3-11, I usually give showers, pass out dinner trays or place the resident's in the dining area. Wash-up residents/rounds while putting them in their night clothes. Charting, ice pass and trash collection.

I need help, but first let me explain my situation. I am currently attending a 12 month LPN program, and I have been working nights at a LTC for 2 years this job has been my only CNA job ive ever held, but I am going through a tough patch with them. I have recently recieved my 3rd and final write up, nothing care related but due to attendance. How ive come to recieve those write ups are due to 1. me calling off because my child was sick (6 months ago) 2. me calling off again in a time span of 58 days and you can only call off once every 60days 3. me coming to work and getting sent home for being sick, but since i wasnt there more then 4hrs i "should have had the foresight to call off ahead of time instead of coming in" i feel this is really unfair bc i am a good CNA. but nonetheless if i recieve another write up I will be fired from the only CNA job i have ever had. Which will not look good because I will be applying for jobs as an lpn in the coming months. i am looking into resigning and applying for another job at a different facility, i am looking into working 3-11shift but i have never worked such and i was wondering if anyone could give me a run down of how tht evening shift goes. any help would be a great help....thanks

The 3 - 11 is a good shift, it's sometimes much less hectic than the 1st shift of the day because there's only one meal to be served, plus it's a little easier putting people to bed than getting them up in the morning. Sometimes there's even a nice little window of time before the end of your shift to get caught up on anything you've fallen behind on.

There are many things that are very unfair for CNA's working in LTC facilities, and one of them is that you just can't miss work unless you find someone else to take your shift....otherwise you get written up, even if the absence is for a legitimate reason. I've only been working in LTC since August but I've gotten pretty sick 3 different times -- each time resulting in bronchitis and a sinus infection -- each time I still worked. I only called in once on a short shift (4 hours) and I felt like a traitor. After that I just coughed and snorted my nose as discreetly as possible and still worked my butt off, which I know is really disgraceful. I felt terrible exposing everyone including the vulnerable residents to my illness, yet I couldn't afford not to work nor did I want to be forced to sign yet another report stating what a worthless piece of crap I am for calling in sick. By the way, I also have a very profoundly disabled little boy who is occasionally home from school for teacher work days, and if it weren't for my husband (who's out of work) and the caregivers that look after him, I could never work at a facility that didn't allow me to leave any time I'm needed at home. :heartbeat

On 3-11 you get everyone up from their naps, toilet them, and do you walks and vitals. During this time I would also take down beds and lay out supplies for later, because it gets very busy after supper. Then supper comes. When that's done you get really busy washing people up, doing oral care, and putting them in bed. The rest of the night is just rounds (mostly pad changes, bedpans, and turns), and you may have a few chores to do like linens and garbage.

You're supposed to do 4 rounds in an 8-hr shift and if you're quick enough with your HS care you can get them all in. If I had a difficult assignment I used to split my residents in half and do rounds for one group on odd hours and the other group on even hours, meaning if I changed a bunch of people at 3 and then again at 5, right before supper came, then I didn't have to bother with them right after supper. That cuts down on the mad dash to change everyone AND start HS care.

Second shift is usually kind of easier because there's only one meal, no activities, and you have downtime at the end, plus it's quicker than getting people dressed. At the same time, there's less staff so you have more people to take care of. First shift is pretty steady all day, but on 3-11 there are a lot of peaks and valleys in how busy you are.

Depending on your facility's rules and routines, you might be able to do your showers before supper, which helps. At my facility you're not supposed to, but sometimes you have an alert resident who wants to get it done early, or you have someone who is on a repositioning schedule that says they have to go to bed right after supper, or something like that. Or the person you're supposed to give a shower to makes a big mess in their pants... there are several excuses. lol.