how many nurses did not like being a CNA?

Valerie Salva, BSN, RN · Feb 5, 2008

In the hospital Nurses are doing the exact same duties as the CNAs--that is where i live. So if you really hate being a CNA, you're gonna loathe being an RN...unless you are one of those RNs who thinks your duty is to just pass medication then sit down & boss the aides around all day.

Oh, my my my. :rolleyes: :trout: :bugeyes:

nursemike, ASN, RN · Feb 5, 2008

I'm sensing a bit of superiority coming from the RN posters. They're very hasty to tell me that I know nothing about being an RN--this is the same attitude I have to put up with as a CNA--I am reminded how I am their degenerate and know nothing.

Awhile back, I overheard one of the lazier aides on my unit remark: "I could be a nurse--I could sit on my butt and chart all night." Being a professional and expected to display good judgement, I refrained from the impulse to chime in that she certainly had the first part perfected. It might have felt good, but wouldn't have improved the situation.

I don't think it's fair to say that a CNA knows nothing about being a nurse. I worked in healthcare, as an orderly, rather than an aide, before I started nursing school. I had a pretty good idea which nurses I wanted to emulate, and that opinion hasn't changed, much. I will say that before nursing school, I could have named several nurses I would have hesitated to let watch my cat, but by the time I graduated, there wasn't one on my unit I couldn't learn from (pretty much the same nurses--the difference was my perception of what they were doing).

I don't think many of us, here or in the real world, feel "superior" to CNAs, just frustrated by what sometimes appears to be a lack of respect. In the instance I cited above, someone who was barely doing the basic minimum in her role was insulting mine. I treat my co-workers with respect, whether they are licensed or not, and I take it as the compliment it is when one or another very good aides says she's glad to see she'll be working with me at the start of the shift. In my previous job, I had a fair amount of free time and often assisted the aides on my unit with tasks not strictly part of my job description. In my current job, I have hardly any free time, so I get a little frustrated with some aides who seem to always take their break while I'm doing my evening med pass or who've had ample time to shoot the breeze or leaf through magazines all night, and now need me to help them get three baths done at 0500.

Don't get me wrong. I work with some people who do a heck of a job for inadequate pay and make me look better than I actually am. In fact, on my unit, I'd say they're the rule, rather than the exception. But I can't help noticing that the ones who think their job is so much harder than mine or that they can tell me how to do mine are usually not the ones who are doing their own jobs well.

I have, on occassion, come out of a room and asked an aide to help the patient I just left use the bedpan, and I've walked down the hall to do a dressing change on a decub because some other aide wouldn't bother with Q2 turns unless their nurse reminded them every time. I've delegated tasks to a busy aide who had two other things she needed to do at the same time, because I had four other things to do and two of them were urgent. And I've thanked an aide for all her help as she left at 0730 and I stayed over to chart until 0900 because the patients we'd cared for were so busy that it was all we could do, together, to keep them safe, warm, and dry through the night.

A lot of aides are underpaid and underappreciated--by management, by some patients, and, I'll admit, by some nurses. Guess what--so am I.

Scrubby · Feb 10, 2008

I worked as a carer. There were some things i loved about the job, getting to know the residents, learning valuable skills and knowing i'd do my best each day.

But there are some things i really hated about my job and i had to leave the place eventually...

I was watched elderly women with dementia held down by one of the carers so the hairdresser could wax their upper lip (to make them look good for the family , which i reported BTW as an unlawful restraint). I can still remember hearing them cry..

I worked on the late shift and i knew that the most vulnerable residents unable to walk were not toileted all day long and sat in soggy filth. No matter how much i documented the condition i found them in every day nothing was done about it.

One Christmas we had a resident who kept asking when her family were coming. I tried cheering her up but then an RN came and yelled at her saying 'No one is coming for you'.

One of the carers who was the son of the DON forcibly held down a resident by jumping on top of him and pressing his knees on the residents thighs. This particular resident with dementia didn't like males toileting him and would struggle (never hit or anything). I reported this and documented the incident. Nothing done about it because he was the golden boy.

This same carer i had to work with one night. One of the residents fell and i told him to not move her, just support her and i ran to call for more assistance. I turned around and he was pulling her up from under her armpits with her screaming in pain. She had suffered a fractured scapula, whether it was from the fall or his careless handling i will never know but i know that from that day she was never the same.

So while i had some good times in this field, it was certainly an eye opening experience.

BTW i did in the end report all these incidents to the aged care advocate.

Valerie Salva, BSN, RN · Feb 10, 2008

I worked as a carer. There were some things i loved about the job, getting to know the residents, learning valuable skills and knowing i'd do my best each day.
But there are some things i really hated about my job and i had to leave the place eventually...
I was watched elderly women with dementia held down by one of the carers so the hairdresser could wax their upper lip (to make them look good for the family , which i reported BTW as an unlawful restraint). I can still remember hearing them cry..
I worked on the late shift and i knew that the most vulnerable residents unable to walk were not toileted all day long and sat in soggy filth. No matter how much i documented the condition i found them in every day nothing was done about it.
One Christmas we had a resident who kept asking when her family were coming. I tried cheering her up but then an RN came and yelled at her saying 'No one is coming for you'.
One of the carers who was the son of the DON forcibly held down a resident by jumping on top of him and pressing his knees on the residents thighs. This particular resident with dementia didn't like males toileting him and would struggle (never hit or anything). I reported this and documented the incident. Nothing done about it because he was the golden boy.
This same carer i had to work with one night. One of the residents fell and i told him to not move her, just support her and i ran to call for more assistance. I turned around and he was pulling her up from under her armpits with her screaming in pain. She had suffered a fractured scapula, whether it was from the fall or his careless handling i will never know but i know that from that day she was never the same.
So while i had some good times in this field, it was certainly an eye opening experience.
BTW i did in the end report all these incidents to the aged care advocate.

How terrible. I'm glad you reported these things.

randomCNA · Jan 17, 2012

I hear this a lot (I'm an aide myself). I had become a CNA with a good friend of mine, she started in a rehab center while I went into home health. She quit after two weeks (don't blame her honestly) but went back to school to become an RN. She said that her job was gross, seeing people pee and poop and all. My sister is an LPN, was a CNA for many years, and we agree that if you are "grossed out" from being a CNA, being a nurse void of all those features. You're going to see some pretty gross stuff as well. Blackened bed sore wound dressing stink, anyone?

She has been an RN for about a year now and hates it, my friend who disliked being a CNA.I think she hates it because she thought being an RN was all about having a respectable title and doing paper work, and not realizing there is so much work and even more responsibility involved.

I'm a CNA and care greatly about my patients, but when it comes down to it, I don't really like nursing. I don't want to become a nurse anymore, I'm really burnt out on it and just want to work in another field.

NrsLucky · Jan 17, 2012

I heavily disliked being a CNA not because I was bothered by the work I was expected to do but rather I disliked the Job because I was unable to effectively advocate I feel for my patients when the nurse on shift obviously disregarded patients call lights, documented tx that they did not due, etc. The nurses did not care what I had to say as a CNA which often resulted in them not liking me when I would inform management or call the ombudsman on a few occasions. Now as a Nurse I Dont really have this issue. I guess things change when people feel you are in a position to do something about.

Morainey, BSN, RN · Jan 17, 2012

I think I would have loved being a CNA if the nursing home had been adequately staffed at all times. I would never, ever return to a nursing home because it seemed like all the RNs and aides got stretched a little thinner every month.

Thujone · Apr 3, 2012

I'm a CNA right now, and I KIND of hate my job, but at the same time there are aspects that I really enjoy about it. The only reason that I hate my job is because I haven't been a CNA very long, so I feel ineffective which does not sit very well with me. I also hate it that the other aides don't follow the rules to the 'T' and they take short cuts that are against policy. For example, lifts are supposed to be a two person thing where I work, but nearly ALL the CNA's move patients in them by themselves. This ****** me off because they can be finished with their job twice as fast as I can because I follow the rules and wait until I get a second person. On the contrary, I like my job because I find it rewarding to help people do things. I like the happiness of some of the resident's and their stories. I like my co-workers for the most part. I don't like it when they talk badly about other CNA's or shifts or residents though. I like to take a moment and listen to what they have to say, and what their life was like and is. Unfortunately, I don't feel like I can have this luxury because I spend extra time focusing on the skills that I perform to ensure that I perform them correctly and safely, and I honestly don't think that this will go away because given enough time I know that I will eventually become one of the CNA's that don't do things by the rules because I will get tired of being the last CNA or the 'slow' one.

GitanoRN, BSN, MSN, RN · Apr 3, 2012

unquestionably, hate is a strong word, i would say when i was exposed to the nursing field, i began as a cna then worked the night shift and went to lpn school during the day, and i did the same when i went through the rn program. honestly, i am thankful for the exposure & the experienced i endured during the time i was a cna, although, i felt limited working under the scope as a cna but never hate it. in addition, i never received the recognition that the lpn's & rn's received during "nurses week" and other holidays. moreover, not that i was only looking for recognition, i was looking to feel appreciated and accepted by my peers, and to fullfil my own goal in becoming an rn. furthermore, i was constantly reminded by a couple of nurses that i was just a cna. needless to say, that only motivated me even more to further my education. btw, short thereafter i became their nurse manager once i received my bsn license. having said that, i strongly believe that cna's, na's ma's, are a crucial part in delivering the highest caliber of patient care. therefore, without them the rest of the nursing team would be crippled.

booboo123 · Apr 3, 2012

Started as a CNA as well, and had some pretty harsh working conditions (like a lot of the other posters above), which at the time I thought I 'hated'. Looking back on it though, the experience was well worth it to me. It exposed me to what the medical world is really like. Now that I am an RN, I sometimes say and think some of the same things... just get paid a 'little' more lol.

newtress, LPN · Apr 4, 2012

What I disliked, ok hated the most about working as a CNA before nursing school was observing some of the most horrific risk for infection things going on. I won't begin to list them all here. But one stands out that I didn't forget and most likely never will. An ICU patient on all precautions being shaved with a disposable, and the CNA swishing the disposable in the wash tub that had wash cloths sitting in the suds that contained a serious BM cleaning. That waste water was going right back on this man's face! That was one of the worst for me.

turnforthenurse, MSN, NP · Apr 4, 2012

I worked as a nurse tech. Basically a CNA + we were allowed to do other things. I loved being a tech, but some days I hated it when we would be super busy and the nurses would have to fight over me because I would be the only tech on the floor. I also worked with some nurses who would refuse to get a patient off the bedside commode or bed pan or refuse to help clean up an incontinent patient...that I didn't mind at all. That nurse, however, irked me.