Basically I have a dilemma. I need some advice. Currently I am a CNA working in a very nice nursing home. I know there are ghetto ****** nursing homes out there but this is a very nice one. Even though this is a very nice nursing home, I still as a CNA am still running around like a chicken with its head cut off. Its extremely stressful and I can physically feel the stress on my body. Now i am very happy I am going to LPN school because I see what the LPNs do. Yes they sometimes do personal care, they do sometimes change diapers and shower people but their jobs literally are not as running around ragged like mine is. But sometimes when I talk to them about it to get their input they basically act like they do as much physical work as us and that my belief is invalid.
But the problem is this:
I have no problem being a CNA. I have no problem changing poopy diapers. I have no problem getting people up. I have no problem showering people. The thing is, I really do not want to do this stressful work literally every single day for 8 hours a day all the time, running around. I can help out when needed, but I dont want to ALWAYS do it.
So any LPNs out there: now that your an LPN, do you feel like I would, are you glad that you're an LPN? Is it better on the other side?
Because i see what LPNs do. Their job is working more with their brains instead of their body. Their jobs are stressful but more brain work, less body work. Thats what I want to do. So does it get better?
its even worse especially in a nursing you are overworked and unpaid. your responsibility is much bigger. i thought it would be easier when i finish lpn school
There is a lot of standing, walking, turning people, pushing med carts, getting people up and down from chairs and the floor after falls, and so on as a CNA, less so as an LPN or RN generally. The reason backs and necks, feet, legs, shoulders hurt is because there often is no one to help you and you figure you can do the job alone and that's how you get hurt. And the wounds just never really hurt because you keep doing the stuff you should not do.
If you want to use your brain, go to school. You can go into Nursing Leadership or Administration of Nursing Homes or Nurse educator, or something other than a floor nurse, too.
Pay is certainly better as a nurse than a CNA. Money might not mean much to you now, but it could later on.
Specializes in QA, ID/DD, Correctional, Education.
43 years as a LVN in a variety of fields and my joints look like I was a pro athlete. Every major joint has repeated injuries, osteoarthritis as a result of the constant stress and trauma plus the emotional stress of the responsibility. Pushing med carts which can easily weigh close to a 100 pounds (or more) loaded up, bending constantly to get in and out of lower drawers, lowering and raising beds by crank if the beds are not motorized, re positioning people in order to give meds, sitting at poorly designed work areas on non ergonomic chairs which leads to shoulder and neck tightness and wrist and finger fatigue. My list could go on and on. Plus add in the brain work and the stress inherent in supervising others and it is still harsh to the body.
Nothing about any niche of hands on/direct patient care is non damaging to the body. Doing it for decades is brutal. So remember what you wrote today when you wonder why you still feel like you have been run over by a train at the end of a shift of bedside care. Nursing is not for the faint of heart or the weak of body if doing hands on care.
Lucylu213090
3 Posts
its even worse especially in a nursing you are overworked and unpaid. your responsibility is much bigger. i thought it would be easier when i finish lpn school