Love the residents - HATE the coworkers!!

nguyency77, CNA · Mar 15, 2012

Hi Krissy,

Don't sweat it! I got my first CNA job about 6 months ago, and I started out working evenings (I love evenings). I hated my training on day shift, though. I kept feeling like I didn't know what to do at all when I was left to fend for myself. My "trainer" could be kindly described as a prick, and she thought she was the best CNA ever.

After a few days, I realized that mimicking her ways would only get me sent to the DON (i.e. leaving trays in all the rooms, used gloves on the floor, not giving residents/patients choice in what they want to do, etc).

To learn the right way, I started looking in the ADL charts, and I found a "Get-Up List" of every resident/patient that needed to get up for breakfast in the mornings. I used that list to prioritize: "Who takes the longest, and who can I get up in under 5 minutes?"

And the coworkers? Part of being in healthcare is developing a thick skin. I strained my neck and upper back, got hit in the face by a resident the other night, and I had to reposition a patient 6 times because she could not stay in her bed for whatever reason. Then at the end of the shift, the graveyard girl came in and got mad at me for leaving one resident on top of his covers. She did not seem to care that he prefers to sleep on top of the covers, and rudely woke him up. It just shows how well some of these people THINK they know everything. :uhoh3: I believe in freedom of choice, and since the resident is paying $8,000 a month to stay at the facility, then they have every right to tell me that they want to sleep on the covers.

There will always be the few people in LTC that apparently dislike the elderly and have no regard for them as people. If they don't like you, well that's too bad. People will always find a reason to put you down, and you shouldn't let them affect how you do your work! There is a lot of animosity toward new CNA, at least in my experience. Remember that we aren't working so we could be BFF with the other CNA; we are working to help make life a little brighter for those we take care of. You'll figure it out; don't worry! :)

AJ_427 · Mar 16, 2012

You will find people like that nearly everywhere. Some people just don't care. They really don't and I see it every single time I go to work. LTCs can be brutal for new people. Once you survive one of the worst shifts there is then you will feel like you can do anything.

My advice: do your own thing in the best way you can (of course, following your facility's rules). This is coming from possibly one of the most hated aides. People at my place hate me and I love it. In my opinion I provide one of the highest levels of care possible and I'm not scared to confront those who don't do that. I would not advise you to do that because people can turn on you just like they did on me. The amount of times that people tried to fire me is crazy. As long as there is no abuse, I would not look at what other aides do. Provide the best care possible to your residents and you will feel much better AND your residents will feel much better too. Plus, you should be golden with nurses and bosses. If you are the type of person who prefers to work alone then do so. Your coworkers shouldn't be your friends and I wouldn't even try to be friends with them if I were you. Go to your job, do what you are supposed to do and move on.

krissy.tan · Mar 17, 2012

Thanks guys, I appreciate it. I used to work in management so I know that you're not supposed to go to work to make friends, but at least getting along makes for a smoother shift... some people, unfortunately, you just can't get along with. I haven't worked that shift since, but I work it again on Monday.. I am SO not looking forward to it. I guess because I really don't feel as if I was trained properly on that shift. Nobody wants to tell you how to do things, for some reason. I can work evenings like a charm, I'm just slow. I hope I don't get burned out too quickly.

fuzzywuzzy, CNA · Mar 17, 2012

I don't know why they bother to train anyone on day shift. there is no time for the trainer to explain anything.

yousoldtheworld · Mar 18, 2012

I don't know why they bother to train anyone on day shift. there is no time for the trainer to explain anything.

Shoot, at my facility right now, we're so short on days AND evenings that there's no time. I had to try to train a brand new, fresh out of class aide this week while taking care of 28 residents (fully staffed, we have 10-12...) Poor thing, I'm surprised she didn't run away.

fuzzywuzzy, CNA · Mar 18, 2012

Only first shift is really bad right now at my facility. We have the same # of CNAs on the floor as 3rd shift and 2nd shift has more!

nguyency77, CNA · Mar 25, 2012

Evening shift at my work is nice. Once the showers are done, and everyone's in bed... All that's left to do is chart ADL, answer lights, and toilet people. There are only a couple of people screaming at me to please get them iced tea.

How did your day shift go, krissy?

yousoldtheworld · Mar 25, 2012

Evening shift at my work is nice. Once the showers are done, and everyone's in bed... All that's left to do is chart ADL, answer lights, and toilet people. There are only a couple of people screaming at me to please get them iced tea.
How did your day shift go, krissy?

LOL, I'm always puzzled and so jealous when people post this about 2nd shift at their facility...I don't understand where the extra time comes from, because at my facility, dinner and our breaks aren't over til about 7:30 and it takes from 7:30-9:30 to get everyone to bed and that leaves a whopping half hour for a quick bed check and charting...

Maybe it's because our staffing sucks and we have 14 apiece nearly every day, idk.

MN-Nurse, ASN, RN · Mar 25, 2012

The partner doesn't care to be rough with residents and badmouth them.

Welcome to LTC.

I got a coworker fired for manhandling a resident. We were putting the resident in a sling to get her to her wheelchair and the other aide was tossing her back and forth. I said, "Hey, easy." The resident was AOx4 and sort of toughing it out.

fuzzywuzzy, CNA · Mar 25, 2012

lol, i'm always puzzled and so jealous when people post this about 2nd shift at their facility...i don't understand where the extra time comes from, because at my facility, dinner and our breaks aren't over til about 7:30 and it takes from 7:30-9:30 to get everyone to bed and that leaves a whopping half hour for a quick bed check and charting...
maybe it's because our staffing sucks and we have 14 apiece nearly every day, idk.

when i was on 2nd shift we had 10 apiece. i didn't think it was that bad- i'd put the pedal to the metal after dinner, get my last person in bed by 830, and the rest of the night was relaxed. i would do 2 more change/turn rounds before 11 o'clock and fart around passing snacks and doing paperwork in between those rounds.

i think what makes 2nd shift suck is the employee lunch breaks. there's no good time. on first shift you get to work, spend a few hours getting people up, then the staff goes to lunch and by the time everyone is back it's time for the residents to eat. when half the staff is gone for lunch, all the people on the floor are doing is some toileting and whatnot. on second shift the downtime is right in the beginning and right at the end of the shift. it sucks having just 2 people on the floor for at least an hour right after supper when you're the most busy.

yousoldtheworld · Mar 26, 2012

when i was on 2nd shift we had 10 apiece. i didn't think it was that bad- i'd put the pedal to the metal after dinner, get my last person in bed by 830, and the rest of the night was relaxed. i would do 2 more change/turn rounds before 11 o'clock and fart around passing snacks and doing paperwork in between those rounds.

i think what makes 2nd shift suck is the employee lunch breaks. there's no good time. on first shift you get to work, spend a few hours getting people up, then the staff goes to lunch and by the time everyone is back it's time for the residents to eat. when half the staff is gone for lunch, all the people on the floor are doing is some toileting and whatnot. on second shift the downtime is right in the beginning and right at the end of the shift. it sucks having just 2 people on the floor for at least an hour right after supper when you're the most busy.

i think what makes ours suck so bad is that dinner is a huge ordeal...as none of our residents can feed themselves, so it takes about 2 hours. then we have to take our break, so by the time that's over you only have 2.5 hours to take care of 10-17 residents and clean and bed check...which is nearly impossible to do well (as it equals out to barely more than 10 minutes per resident). blah staffing. our only downtime is the very beginning of the shift when our residents aren't home from school or workshop yet, and then we're busy thinking about how much we have to do when they do get home.