LPN being scheduled to work as CNA....

bebbjo · Aug 26, 2015

I am curious to know, are there any other LPNs or RNs out there that were hired as a nurse but are being forced to work as a CNA?

Brief insight on the question:

I am a new nurse who passed my NCLEX Sept of 2014 and started working promptly after. Roughly 5 months ago my employer/scheduler asked me to do a couple CNA shifts since they were very short on them. I told her I could help with 2 or 3 the next week. However, since that time they have taken advantage and on a monthly basis I am working as a nurse/LPN 1 -2 shifts and as a CNA for 10-11. It is getting frustrating and I have brought it to their attention numerous times that I would like to do the job I was hired for and work as a nurse. I have been told just hold off 2 more weeks when our new hires are on the floor, I am working on it, Shouldn't be long now, Please we need all the help we can get, I will bonus you and so on. I have explained that I start a LPN to RN bridge program the end of this month and need the nursing experience to succeed. I have been a nurse for 1 year and over that year only worked as a nurse for 6 months.

At this point I am not sure what to tell them or say in regards to not being able to work as a nurse. I am thankful to at least have a job and i know I shouldn't complain. However, I believe that I should be allowed to work as a nurse since I have went to school for it and was hired for that position.

Thanks for any advice/feedback :)

Editorial Team / Admin · Aug 26, 2015

Are you receiving your nursing salary at least when working as a CNA? I would certainly hope so.

How many of the nurses are being asked to fill in CNA shifts? If it's only you, then that is definitely not fair, and it should be rotated equally through all staff or done on a volunteer basis if enough people volunteer.

Honestly, I don't know how I'd broach the subject with management. All I can say is that I do empathize with your frustration.

calivianya, BSN, RN · Aug 26, 2015

It was clear that you were hired to take patient assignments and not just resource?

May sound like a silly question, but that sounds a lot like my employer up until recently. We had LPNs - they were supposed to be strictly resources and weren't supposed to take patient assignments at all. The rationale was that it was better to have LPNs than CNAs because LPNs could turn and toilet the patients, but they could also give meds if the patient's nurse got really far behind in another room. We don't have any CNAs at all. LPNs did end up taking patient assignments when we were terribly short staffed, but they only got the lowest acuity patients.

So, they were definitely hired as LPNs, but they were not hired to take assignments.

bebbjo · Aug 26, 2015

I am still receiving my nursing salary. There are about 4 or 5 of us that are being scheduled as CNAs. The problem is that they aren't asking. I was asked in early May and had agreed to 3 shifts. However I have been continuously scheduled for them despite asking for it to stop or limit to 1 shift a week. They keep hiring more nurses and letting those nurses take the carts and call PRN nurses to take carts then bumping the few of us and putting us as CNAs. I value the fact that I have a job and am making money and I don't want to sound like a brat or ungrateful. I also don't want to sound like a baby. It all comes down to I was hired as a nurse and believe I should be able to work as one. There are a few nurses who said they wouldn't do it well or that they would quit if they were scheduled as a CNA.

bebbjo · Aug 26, 2015

I was hired to take a med cart, distribute medications, take orders, do treatments, catheters, IV's and so on. I understand that all the duties a CNA does are nursing duties delegated to a person who is certified to do them (CNA) so in all technicality I am doing my own job. However, when I am scheduled as a CNA I am not doing medications, treatments, orders, catheters and so on. I am not on a cart. I have spoken with the state board of nursing and it is completely allowed for me to do this however they can not call us CNA's as we do not hold a current CNA license but a RN or LPN. The tricky situation is that for example I am scheduled for a CNA shift. I am with a patient and they are not acting normal and have had a change of condition. If I, a LPN working as a CNA, notify my nurse and she does not act upon the situation and something were to happen I am held liable as I have my LPN and an held accountable to the higher license.

brillohead, ADN, RN · Aug 26, 2015

If you want to continue to work there, I'd just suck it up. You're being paid your nursing wages, and you're doing nursing tasks.

Better to be seen as an employee who is a dependable team member than as a whiny brat who expects preferential treatment.

Part of the issue may be that you don't have a lot of nursing experience, so they are putting more experienced nurses on the carts. Keep putting in your time, and you'll move up the seniority ladder.

FYI, I got my RN with no healthcare experience whatsoever... you do NOT need to pass meds from a cart in order to succeed in your bridge program.

bebbjo · Aug 26, 2015

The LPN to RN bridge program I am enrolled in has no clinical hours at all. After completing all online courses I will do a 2 day clinical evaluation/test. Therefore how will doing CNA duties (walking residents, feeding residents, changing, clothing, and so on) assist me with medications, treatments, IVs and so on? Passing meds helps understand the medications and what they do. If I am doing the CNA duties I am not doing the hands on nursing part and not learning about those things. I am fully aware that I do NOT need to pass meds to succeed however doing the nursing duties I was hired to do and that I learned in my first year are quite helpful in retaining and further learning.

As far as not having a lot of nursing experience, Some of the nurses that are getting to work as a nurse graduated this May with their LPN and were CNAs at the place of employment prior to May. They REFUSE to do the CNA or they will quit. I am not that person who will threaten to leave. However, I do not see the logic there. In that circumstance I have more experience. 3 others are PRN nurses (only work if they get called to help) and were hired after me with less experience yet are working as nurses.

I have seniority over several nurses and have have more experience than others. I have a lot to learn still and I am fully aware of that. I do NOT expect preferential treatment I do however expect to be treated fairly and equally.

As I stated prior, " I am thankful to at least have a job and i know I shouldn't complain." " I value the fact that I have a job and am making money and I don't want to sound like a brat or ungrateful."

SWM2009 · Aug 26, 2015

Personally, I would not want to be scheduled as a CNA that often even though I was being paid the LPN wage. I would go elsewhere. I guess you have to decide if you are going to continue to put up with it especially if they are indeed hiring new nurses and calling in PRN nurses to work the carts while they keep working you as a CNA.

bebbjo · Aug 26, 2015

Personally, I would not want to be scheduled as a CNA that often even though I was being paid the LPN wage. I would go elsewhere. I guess you have to decide if you are going to continue to put up with it especially if they are indeed hiring new nurses and calling in PRN nurses to work the carts while they keep working you as a CNA.

I agree. I had no problem helping out a few times but now that it is every week for 2/3 to all of my shifts it is pretty crappy. There are about 4 or 5 of us that have been being scheduled constantly. We had a nursing meeting last week where our DON expressed her gratitude and thanks for us helping in the time of need. We all (those of us being scheduled as CNAs) informed her that we were getting frustrated with the lack of nursing shifts we were getting. We don't have the CNAs we need, they hire new ones and they make it through orientation and quit, or they call in to often or no call no show. They say it is because other places are offering them more money or the current CNAs we have are not nice/rude/no teamwork. We all agreed perhaps they could offer an incentive as well as do a meeting with all CNA's and Nurses to discuss teamwork and the importance of helping our new staff feel comfortable and happy so they stay. Hopefully they can come up with something soon.

Aloe_sky · Aug 27, 2015

I finished the lpn to RN program, some students in my program have never even worked as a nurse and still successfully passed the program. You should know that nursing is not just about bedside care. My friend has been an lpn for 5 years working in an office helping develop care plans for patients in the community. She has never worked bedside or gave meds outside of school rotation and she graduated from the RN program with honors!

NOADLS · Aug 27, 2015

So there are newer nurses that get nursing shifts while you're stuck doing CNA work?

It also sounds like this place can't retain its CNA's.

I hope they're not throwing RN's into it too.

This is an outrage!