Is it time to quit?

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Am finally getting into the groove of being a new CNA. So, while a fellow CNA was on break (or so I thought because they asked if I could take care of a female patient because I'm a female and he's not), I helped another of his patients go to the bathroom.

Apparently, this CNA told that patient earlier that it wasn't morning yet and that the patient should sleep when the patient requested to go to the bathroom. The nurse runs into the bathroom and tells me I shouldn't have transferred the patient by myself (even though I did it okay) because the patient was wobbly (granted this is my first night back in like a week and no one tells me this).

The nurse calls the CNA to take care of his patient but at this point is fuming because I got the patient up to go the bathroom. The CNA turns to me and very seriously says, "I'm going to hurt you." before returning to an argument with the nurse.

I walked away to have them argue and went on my break to cry. Honestly, everyone says that he's sarcastic, etc., but every shift that I end up being with him on...he makes it a point to make me feel that I don't belong there.

I have no problems with the residents or the other CNAs.

What do I do?

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Specializes in Cardiac Care.

There is always a toxic person that you are going to have to deal with. If you feel actually threatened then you should report it.

I wouldn't get into the habit however, of quitting because of some jerk, there are going to be so many more "personalities" that you will have to deal with in your nursing career. Growing a spine and standing up for yourself and alternately learning not to take everything so personal will benefit you so much in clinical practice.

Accept that you may have done something wrong, apologize and move forward.

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Thanks for the advice!

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You need to look at your workplace violence policy. His threat to "hurt you" may very well fall into that category. If you are thinking of quitting anyway, you have nothing to lose by reporting the incident under that policy or under your harassment policy.

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Specializes in Ortho, Neuro, Detox, Tele.

If you are NOT sure about a patient because it is not yours then PLEASE tell the patient "I'm not your CNA today, so I'm not familar with your care. Let me go ask you nurse if I can get you up and then I'll be RIGHT back." go ask the nurse and do it. I would say the next time that that nurse asks you to cover him, let him know "due to the last time I answered your lights, I'm gonna have to say that you give me report on EVERYBODY." and do what you have to do. sorry it happened to you.

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Sorry to hear this.. I know what it's like.

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Specializes in LTAC, wounds, vents, TBI, Spinal Cord.

Go to your supervisor ASAP. Explain the situation word for word and include anyone else that was involved. Threats are serious and should be reported immediately. You should not ever be in fear of your co-workers at all. Also, I commend you on helping your fellow nursing team with patient care. It sounds like you had the patients best intentions in mind. That is one of the most important aspects of nursing care. Keep up the good work!

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Specializes in LTC.

Are you honestly asking if you should quit your first CNA job after a short amount of time because ONE CNA isn't nice to you? People like that are part of every workplace, nursing or not. You need to give it some time. When I first started a lot of the other CNAs didn't make me feel overly confident either but sometimes people don't read each other very well. And you are always going to have a personal problem with someone in a large workplace. People are going to annoy you, and you are going to annoy other people. After a while you learn how to deal with it. It sounds like this CNA was irritated because he got pulled from whatever he was doing to take care of this resident sooner than he'd planned, and he responded with a comment indicating that he was annoyed. Big deal. If the other CNAs have told you that he has a deadpan sense of humor, then that's probably what it was. He should know better than to say things like that to people he doesn't know very well, and if it really upset you, then report him, but be prepared for a lot of drama with HR and no actual resolution.

Oh and one thing that rang that bell for me was how you blamed everybody else for not telling you a resident's assist level had changed. We've all made that same mistake of unintentionally transferring someone wrong at one point or another, but when that happens, you own up to it. You do not blame others. I assume that during your training, you were shown how to look up each resident's care plan. If things had happened differently and the resident (or yourself) was injured during the transfer, the responsibility would be entirely yours. So if you end up reporting this person for his comment, know that the supervisors are going to ask what happened and they might not let that slide.

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Specializes in Gerontology, Med surg, Home Health.

"I'm going to hurt you"?!?!?Report this immediately to your supervisor or HR.

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Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
Am finally getting into the groove of being a new CNA. So, while a fellow CNA was on break (or so I thought because they asked if I could take care of a female patient because I'm a female and he's not), I helped another of his patients go to the bathroom.

Apparently, this CNA told that patient earlier that it wasn't morning yet and that the patient should sleep when the patient requested to go to the bathroom. The nurse runs into the bathroom and tells me I shouldn't have transferred the patient by myself (even though I did it okay) because the patient was wobbly (granted this is my first night back in like a week and no one tells me this).

The nurse calls the CNA to take care of his patient but at this point is fuming because I got the patient up to go the bathroom. The CNA turns to me and very seriously says, "I'm going to hurt you." before returning to an argument with the nurse.

I walked away to have them argue and went on my break to cry. Honestly, everyone says that he's sarcastic, etc., but every shift that I end up being with him on...he makes it a point to make me feel that I don't belong there.

I have no problems with the residents or the other CNAs.

What do I do?

Report that. You were threatened, and that should not be tolerated.

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Specializes in Pedi.

I agree with the poster who said that if you are not familiar with the patient's care/activity level/restrictions, etc you should check with the nurse. The patient asking to get up could be on bed rest for one reason or another. I'm not sure where you work but on my floor, we often have patients on strict bed rest because of spinal cord surgery or stroke precautions and getting them up if their order is "bed rest" would be a big no-no.

Why was the other CNA upset? Because you got the patient up and he wanted the patient to sleep until morning or because the nurse called him to come take care of his patient?

You cannot get into the habit of quitting every time someone is mean to you. There would be no staff on my unit if we all did this.

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Specializes in hospice.

Was the other CNS kidding when he said he was going to hurt you? Some people have an odd sense of humor.

I think you should talk to the other CNA and try to work things out with him before going to your supervisor. Give him the benefit of the doubt.

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