Lesson Learned

[It'sYaGirlK, CNA, LPN]

I'm new to the Health Care Field and I've been working as a CNA at an ALF for going on five months and the experiences (good and bad) that I'm learning will make me a GREAT NURSE in the future! My most valuable lesson learned thus far is the importance of keeping your mouth SHUT!!!! Basically the aids on night shift where I work aren't the greatest to deal with to put it nicely...everyone complains about them but never to upper management until I came along *sigh*. Night shift is responsible for letting us into the office where we clock in because it stays locked overnight and they have the keys. Day shift for me is from 6am until 2pm however EVERY DAY night shift would take their time letting us into the office around 6:20 unless we do a scavenger hunt around the building which is SUPER ANNOYING! Everyone on day shift complained about this but it was I that reported them because enough was enough I got tired of running around the buidling looking for an aide to be able to clock in so I can start my shift! Night shift know that it was me that made the report and it causes so much tension during the shift swap now you can cut it with a knife! We are now clocking in at 6am but I can never get a report on my patients from the previous aide and night shift use to cover dayshift CNAs by staying over for a couple of hours if they are running late and that has also stopped leaving many of us day shift aides in a bind! Honestly doing a scavenger (although it's super annoying) to get back the support we had from night shift doesn't seem so bad now! Sometimes it's truly better to just try to work things out without involving upper management for a better work environment! LESSON LEARNED!