LPN forced to work as CNA

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My facility is having so much trouble keeping CNAs that they started asking LPNs to come in and work as a CNA. I don't have a problem with this as long as it is a voluntary thing. Now they have had a LPN come in on her regular shift only to find out that she had to work as a CNA. I don't want to work as a CNA. Don't get me wrong, I admire our CNAs and don't mind changing people and helping out, but I don't think I could handle doing it for a 12 hour shift. I have never been a CNA. Any opinions?

Specializes in LTC, Memory loss, PDN.

i highly recommend working as a CNA if you've never done it

it might be uncomfortable even challenging, but a valuable experience

personally, i've always jumped at such an opportunity, because it's nice

to get breaks without being called back to the floor, it's nice to get off

on time and it's really nice to find out things about your residents you might

otherwise not know

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Specializes in LTC Rehab Med/Surg.

There's something shady about asking a nurse to work, then telling them they're a CNA when they show up. It's dishonest.

I generally volunteer to be the CNA on the odd day when none show up.

It's not without stress. Just a break from the familiar stress of nursing.

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As long as they pay you LPN wages, I wouldn't have too much a problem with this.

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Thats weird. When we have extra nurses and few CNAs (happens sometimes), then the nurses will either take less patients (and do their share of the "CNA work" for their patients) or will float and act as an extra nurse (and help out with call bells, changes etc). But they are never assigned as a CNA. Sometimes, two nurses will have a heavy assignment without an CNA, but they work together as nurses, not one as a nurse and one as a CNA.

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No matter what you are RN LPN LVN it's called taking care of the patient!!!! If you can't do the dirty work than you don't have a true calling of being a NURSE!!!!!!!

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No matter what you are RN LPN LVN it's called taking care of the patient!!!! If you can't do the dirty work than you don't have a true calling of being a NURSE!!!!!!!

Just here for the money :nurse:

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No matter what you are RN LPN LVN it's called taking care of the patient!!!! If you can't do the dirty work than you don't have a true calling of being a NURSE!!!!!!!

Thats not true. I hate wounds so I am not going to be a wound nurse. If my job calls me to work and then when I get there tells me I have to do rounds as the wound nurse, I am out of there. I was a cna, one reason I went to nursing school was to get away from cna work and crappy pay. That does not make me a fake nurse. It makes me ambitious.

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No matter what you are RN LPN LVN it's called taking care of the patient!!!! If you can't do the dirty work than you don't have a true calling of being a NURSE!!!!!!!

A"calling"? I'm not a nun.

I do the dirty work when I have to but really "a calling" to do peri care?

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
If you can't do the dirty work than you don't have a true calling of being a NURSE!!!!!!!
Nope, I never had the 'calling' to be a nurse. I'm not Mary Martyr.

I'm in the profession for the career mobility, flexibility, scheduling, and steady income. I am a nurse, but my career does not define me.

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I thought I had an inner voice calling me to be a nurse, then I realized I just have schizophrenia.

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I deplore the attitude that licensed nurses, RN's or LPN's, are "above" performing basic patient care. our staffing model at our hospital is RN/LPN pairs, with no CNA's, So all bedside care and med passes are my responsibility. Sometimes it gets hectic, but there is value in having a trained nurse doing the "scut work." there is no better opportunity to observe your patient than to be the one taking vitals, turning, inspecting the skin, watching for swallowing problems when feeding patients, understanding family dynamics and what support may be needed upon discharge than when you are in the rooms with the patient. My RN partner depends heavily on me to keep him or her updated on the changing conditions of the patient, and my training allows me to better recognize and respond to these changes. It also allows my RN to concentrate on the more unstable patients, because she knows I can take care of the stable ones.

I have also cross-trained as a unit clerk, telemetry technician, switchboard operator, and pinch hit in the staffing office. It does give one a unique perspective about the other members of the team, and helped me to form tighter bonds with other departments hospital wide, and it's fun doing new things. As mentioned before, working outside of ones regular classification beats getting sent home without pay by a mile :-)

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To be clear, you are an LPN performing the duties of a CNA. You are NOT a CNA. That said, I agree that it's a pretty expensive way to keep staffing levels up. Doesn't your facility have a contract with a local agency to staff call-off's and no-shows?

My work also uses lpns that are willing instead of agency CNAs because it's more cost effective

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