I am so sick of hearing attitudes from aides. I'm sick of it up to my chin. I can't hear it anymore. I think if an aide gives me attitude tomorrow I am going to flip out. I don't know what to do. They don't want to clean patients, turn patients, take vitals, get water, do a blood sugar, do I/Os, help patients to the bathroom, answer call lights, or anything! I shouldn't have to remind them to do their job... Oh but when I do because it isn't done all I get is attitude. All day with my 6 patients I did my job and I did their job. When I page them over head they don't answer. So i have to stop what I'm doing to put the pt on the bedpan, take them off, get water, ect ect.. I don't mind helping out.. I help out more than most nurses!!! But yet they still give me crap. Most of these aides have been working here for years.. Instead of setting a good example for the younger aides they are teaching them how to have an attitude..
I'm going to my director tomorrow. I can't put up with it anymore.. Either something has to change or I'm leaving. I love my job.. But I hate dealing with this everyday... Every nurse is sick of it.
They aren't even giving baths!! It is absolutely absurd. We've had this problem for a while.. The DON will talk to them and they'll act better for maybe 2 weeks, then it is back to the same ol' attitude.
Are there not any good CNAs anymore? Where are they?
I have worked with some good aides and some lazy ones. Unfortunately at my workplace the lazy aides have influenced the good ones. I work on a medsurg unit with 35 patients.. with 3 aides to cover the floor 6-7 patients per nurse. Now I realize those are not ideal ratios, so I really try to help out the aides as much as I can.
However, what I cant stand anymore is to get an attitude when I ask for help, and the aides are sitting down surfing the web! I'm running my butt off, I barely get to look at the computer at my patients labs, and they will actually say things like "you cant do that yourself" or huff and puff about how the nurses run them ragged. The aides do not take any responsibility towards turning patients or checking the total care patients to see if they need to be changed. I need to call them for EVERTHING. They take vitals, chemsticks, answer occasional call lights, and then sit at the desk until a nurse asks them for help. One actually tells me I make more money so that makes up for me never taking a lunch break and being so busy, she says she makes less money so she shouldnt have to do as much with the patients!
My nurse manager has gotten lots of complaints about this issue from nurses and families, but nothing happens. I want to find a new job just because its too stressfull trying to do everything and then get an attitude if I need help. I have worked with some really really good aides though that have floated to my floor. I was shocked when they actually refilled my pts water pitchers for me! I was so grateful just for that. I know aides cant do everything and they have multiple nurses asking for a whole bunch of things at once, I get it, but I just dont think there should be alot of time for surfing the internet and talking on the phone to your boyfriend for half the shift!
If the nurse manager isn't doing anything, there is the chain of command to go up. And if that doesn't work, report them to the state.
I work with lazy ones... and I also work with RN's that I absolutley love, but can be aide hogs. They won't let you go about the rest of your day until THEIR patients are all bathed, changed, etc. This leads to a lot of frustratration, and also the other nurses complaining that I'm not taking care of their patients. (Which is true, and I feel badly about it, but I can't get away from aide hog nurse).
When I tell them I have to get on to other baths, I get the "It will just take a minute, I need to assess skin. I need you to hold them" thing. Ok, fine... then when I get in there, it's "As long as you're here, we may as well get them washed."
It never fails.
As for poop side toward the nurse. I have a problem with this. My patient, I clean them. The nurse can hold while I clean.
I work with both the types that do the bare minimum, and those that feel they are set up to fail in providing the best care they possibly can, yet who try their darndest anyway.
Last night, the CNA I was working with was incredibly busy, and she's one of the "good" ones, so I did my own mid shift vitals and I&Os. I didn't think it was a big deal, but she was very grateful. I was just glad I actually had time.
Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
Most of them are working techs in my ER. Sorry, but I refuse to give them back.
Seriously, I'm sorry you are having to go through this. Only thing I can think of is keep documenting and telling the DON. Have you tried making a list assigning specific baths and tasks for each one at the beginning of the shift, and pointedly asking if they've done it yet during the day?
Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
This is such a long thread I doubt anyone will read it to the end but here are my two cents: If you were bright, motivated, self starter with a vested intrest in patients' well being why would you settle for a career as a NA. Lets face it-people that make that job a career are the ones that find working in fast food too stressful and can't stand on thier feet long enough to be a clerk/cashier at the local A&P. I have met 1 or 2 very good aids in my long career but for the most part the ones that did a good job always seemed to move on to other positions or become nurses. It's a lousy, back breaking job that would burn most of us out if we did it the way it should be done for long. The only aids that can stand to stay in it for long are the ones that don't actually do the job.
I am not sure if that is a fair statement. I am a bright, motivated self starter that has a vested interest in my patients, and became an LPN. I was fortunate enough to had been accepted into a program that provided a leave with pay along with tuition and book pay to become an LPN. Since returning to work, I was told that I should have become an RN. I don't want to become one; if I did, I would have done it during the time I was on leave. I decided which sort of nurse I could handle being and when the opportunity arised, I took it, to become the nursing education and responsibility I can handle. I was made to feel for a while that because I did not become an RN, that I was either an unachiever, lazy or afraid. Others made me feel that I had nothing to offer nursing. I already knew that wasn't true, and then, once I made the decision not to apologize for my decision, it was therapeutic to me and I have been a happier camper.
There are plenty of people that really choose not to become nurses for whatever reasons, may it be financial, time, life circumstances or interest. Some have other businesses outside of being an aide. And, I met one woman that had a Bachelor's in something else-not medical related at all, but decided that she wanted to serve people. She has been an aide for 10 years, and states she loves it. Does not plan to go further. Yes, this decision shocks many (including me), but, when I applied this to how I think of my own decisions, I can understand. Also, I have met others who had other situations such as being on welfare, homeless, former substance abuse and others, who are grateful to be an aide and have been wonderful. Some of them became the self starters, patient oriented people spoken about.
As for poop side toward the nurse. I have a problem with this. My patient, I clean them. The nurse can hold while I clean.
When I was a PCT working med-surg, I was always surprised when the RN would wipe, while I held. Now that I'm about to become an RN, I intend on wiping more than holding, because (1) I think it's the right thing to do and (2) I think it would be alot easier on my arthritis ridden shoulder.
Specializes in long term care, alzheimer's, ltc rehab.
speaking as one of the good stna's:
it absolutely p****** me off when i see the other aides i'm"working with" doing absolutely nothing (besides clogging up the phone lines) while im running around like a chicken with my head cut off, then go on and on about how tired they are and how much their legs hurt. i think to myself, "i've been running around all day plus i have cp, how do you think i feel?" but there is an upside to it...i know my patients and my nurses appreciate me and that i've gotten everything i need to do, done. i've even had nurses say that they would rather have me than any other aide on the floor. that makes me feel good, especially when ive had a bad day. :-)
tiger, if you're ever in ohio, i would work with you any day!
Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
That is another unfortunate thing; those that don't do their work make it hard on those that do, because the doers are the ones that care, but get burned out faster and obtain more injuries.
I am not sure if that is a fair statement. I am a bright, motivated self starter that has a vested interest in my patients, and became an LPN. I was fortunate enough to had been accepted into a program that provided a leave with pay along with tuition and book pay to become an LPN.
I didn't say they became RNs just that they go on to something else or nursing-you are a nurse. I'm sure there are exceptions to my statement but it would take an exceptional individual to make a career out of CNA and be able to do it well without being crippled by the workload if they did a good job of it. I couldn't. I would be one of those lazy NAs that never get thier work done, my back and legs would never stand the load the NAs I have worked with are expected to do day in and day out.
Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
I didn't say they became RNs just that they go on to something else or nursing-you are a nurse. I'm sure there are exceptions to my statement but it would take an exceptional individual to make a career out of CNA and be able to do it well without being crippled by the workload if they did a good job of it. I couldn't. I would be one of those lazy NAs that never get thier work done, my back and legs would never stand the load the NAs I have worked with are expected to do day in and day out.
I can understand your statement. It just seems to me, that this would happen anywhere, with anyone. Even RNs are burning out physically. Circumstances do not always lead people away from what they are doing, in spite of their brightness and initiative. It is usually financial, but also, as someone else mentioned, most people are not inspired after a certain age to continue with education. I can even say for myself-if I had not been accepted into a program at work where I was granted 100% tuition and educational leave to become an LPN, I would not have gone, either. Not many nursing programs are offered during evening hours and none are part-time weekends. A person being away from school for many years may have a hard time re-entering into the academic community and being able to keep up with it in addition to raising familes, especially single parented households.
I am the first to say that when there is a will, there will be a way provided. We see that here each day on these boards. But, going up in life is like a pyramid...there will always be more at the bottom than those that can raise up that ladder. Some people are just pleased as punch to have a job with security and benefits. I have to say, though, that based on what I have seen with nursing in general is that while I have more opportunities, I had less stress as an aide. I was also in a different situation-I worked in psych for many years and as a clinic aide, so, it was not as physically taxing to my body. But, now, the mental stress is just as taxing and harder to recover from.
I don't know the answers, really. We are all burned out physically, emotionally, and for some, spiritually. What I do wish to see, though, is either that the aides work together with the patients to get their needs taken care of, or more numbers in addition to a better selection process. This goes for nurses as well. But, this will continue to be a whirlpool of disaster. I pray each day not to become sick and dependent to need hospital or even home care, because there is no guarentee what you would be getting.
I get sick of hearing about lazy, beligerant aides at our hospital. It totally baffles me because our hospital literally has hundreds of applicants who want to work as an aide (namely because they certify them right at the hospital)....so having one for years that isn't doing their job just bothers me when I know there are good applicants out there who'd kill for the opprotunity!
I understand your frustration. In addition, when you do two jobs, you are exhausted! We had a similar problem with an LPN at my facility. I am about to say two dreaded words--incident report. When I said them to nurses and aides that I worked with, their immediate response was that noting would be done. They had tried before. What they had to understand was that the reports must be done consistently. Simply talking to your supervisor or the DON will not help that much because the law requires written reports before any counselling or disciplinary action can be taken.
The actual name of an incident report is "report in anticipation of legal action." The aides' failure to do their jobs puts your facility in a liability risk. If every nurse who is having a problem routinely does an incident report, your supervisors will have the information on which they can legally act. They can then institute counselling and remediation. The counselled individual will have a set period of time to show improvement or face further disciplinary action. The LPN at our facility was finally given a 3-day suspension and told to come back with an attitude adjustment or don't come back. She didn't.
Remenber, as the nurse, the aides function under your license. If you do not act to assure that patient care takes place, you will be liableAs such, it is useful tool when all other efforts to gain compliance with your directins have failed. An incident report is not "telling" on a coworker. It provides a measure of protection against liability for you and your employer.
:lol2:Funny, funny!!
squeakykitty
934 Posts
If the nurse manager isn't doing anything, there is the chain of command to go up. And if that doesn't work, report them to the state.