Is it normal for them to just let us take care of the pt's on our own??

IEDave, ASN, CNA, LVN · Apr 10, 2012

Today was my first day of clincials *doing them in a nursing home* and they pared us up with each other *2 in each group* gave each group a pt and let us take care of them, alone. Is it normal for this to happen? I heard that usually they put us with a CNA to follow around, but they bascially just said, "here's a pt... good luck!" we did full body baths, transfers, etc. I'm just wondering if this happens a lot and is normal or not.

A bit unusual, IMO, if for no other reason than the potential liability issues of having partially trained CNA's "in charge" of a patient. Usually this is done at the end of the clinical, and it's usually supervised either by a staff CNA or the clinical instructor or both. Also, it's unusual to have students doing transfers unassisted - in our case we could only do a transfer IF a staff CNA was present and assisting, or the clinical instructor was.

----- Dave

PetsToPeople · Apr 10, 2012

They did the same with us...there was always someone around to ask for help or to answer questions. But they pretty much were happy to have someone else do their work so they could go hang out in the break room.

loriangel14, RN · Apr 10, 2012

In my clinicals you worked on your own, no pairing up.Definitely throwing us in at the deep end. You didn't know anything about the patient, but you learned fast.

Kitsey · Apr 10, 2012

That's how my clinicals were, just paired up with a classmate and left on our own. We were not allowed to do transfers unless our instructor or one of the CNAs working there were in the room with us. Gotta say I feel we would have learned a LOT more if given the chance to observe the CNAs on shift instead, then we would have learned what being a CNA is REALLY like.

crabbygabber · Apr 10, 2012

Hi,

This does happen, but shouldn't. Especially transfers! So the 'they', was that the CNA's or your clinical supervisor for class telling you to take on patients? If it's the CNA's then go to your class supervisor to ask if you should be working with residents without employees. If it's your clinical supervisor telling you to go on the floor and be in charge of care, then I suppose they've decided you're ready for patient care. When you're new you really should have a CNA with you; like a job shadow. They should explain how to do the tasks as THEY are doing them, why it's important, ask you if you have questions or feel comfortable with a resident's ADL then observe you perform ADL and correct any mistakes. The facility you are at, their staff and your clinical supervisor are LIABLE (legally accountable) for care with these residents. You are not until you are registered with your state's board of nursing.

BTW, if you find a friendly CNA at this facility approach them and ask if you can shadow them. They will be glad of the company and to show you how to work. When you like or are proud of your work, you like to share.

Good luck!!

Kitsey · Apr 10, 2012

*actually I should have said we weren't allowed to use the lift or stand by ourself, we were allowed to do transfers without someone else present as long as it was 1 or 2 person transfers.

Brannray · Apr 10, 2012

We weren't allowed to use the lift or anything, but we did stand them up and transfer them to the showers to do the full body baths and such. We also stood them up to take them to the bathroom. Our instructor was around to check on us and see if we needed anything, and if we had questions we could go to the CNA's and ask but mostly we were on our own. I suppose that they think that we are ready for this, but on our first day I think we should have shadowed a CNA to see what they did. We did learn fast about the pt though, that's for sure! LOL!

tomc5555 · Apr 10, 2012

My instructor put us in two's with a CNA. We were not allowed to transfer unless the CNA or instructor assisted.My instructor told us horror stories about students doing things on their own and what sometimes happened.IThose stories are still in my mind when I am doing cares.

breezycna · Apr 10, 2012

As the others said, it does seem a bit unusual for liability reasons--students on their first day of clinicals with no supervision is just asking for trouble. When I was a student doing clinicals, there was an incident involving a missing pain patch on one of the residents and of course the students are scrutinized right away. Luckily, we had our CNAs to vouch for us, and the situation was resolved without incident (well, someone forgot to put a pain patch on that particular resident, so there was an incident, but at least not for the students, my school, or our instructor).

Brannray · Apr 12, 2012

Oh wow! I would hate to be accused of something like that!!! I'm glad it all turned out to be a big misunderstanding!!!!

northernguy · Apr 14, 2012

This is how my CNA clinicals went. We were assigned one person the first time, then gradually worked our way up to 3, although not for an entire shift, we would just do AM cares or HS cares. The instructor would be going around checking on us. I believe she had to be there for transfers the first clinical. So it sounds normal to me, assuming you were already tested on the CNA skills you are expected to be performing.

Its amazing to me now how difficult it was just taking care of one person by myself the first time, and comparing that to now where Im routinely taking care of a dozen patients with varying levels of acuity, or when I worked in LTC and had 7 people every day shift and had to help out with call lights on all the others.