Message from a CNA

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I saw the post earlier about the nurse getting confused as a CNA and the way she was treated, and I just had to say something about it. I'm a CNA, in a nursing home, and I get that kinda stuff all the time. I get treated with disrespect like I don't know anything, even though I know the residents better than most anyone else. There are some nurses who help and try not to disrespect me, but every now and then I get the feeling of distaste even from them. The truth is I do more actual care for these patients then anyone else in the field. Alot of nurses say they got into nursing because they wanted to take care of people, but the fact is they spend more time passing meds, and doing paperwork, and getting paid alot more for it, then the people who actually do the care. I'm sorry untill you wiped up someones BM, or vomit, or urine, can you really say you take care of those people. So if you want to do actual care every now and then try helping out a CNA.

Sorry but I get really bitter about the disrespect I receive constantly from the nurses. Heres an example. I have one nurse I work with and our personalities constantly conflict, shes from another country and has a very rude and arrogant attitude. One night I was having to stay late and work a shift I wasn't scheduled for, nurse K asked me if I had got urine output on one of our residents. I said no I was going to due it on rounds in a half hour, mind you I am quite busy at this time. She says well you need to go get it now because I need it before I go home in 10 min. Mind you she is quite not busy at this time, sitting and reading a magazine. Tell me why she couldn't get off her butt and get herself if it was important for her.

This same nurse has nearly killed a resident who was having a heart attack. She didn't care that I said the resident was having chest pains, trouble breathing, and high blood pressure. Her response was that the resident doesn't take her medication so this is whats going to happen. I didn't know this but I later found out that the resident had a prescription for nitro and ativan in cases like this. It took her at least an hour before she delivered the nitro and she never delivered the ativan. When I asked her how I could make the resident more comfortable, she again changed subject and said how this will happen because she doesn't take her medication. I responded that just because she doesn't take her medication doesn't mean we have to be cruel to her. I reported her behavior but shes still working here.

She also does stuff that makes it perfectly clear she doesn't get her hands dirty. She'll go out of her way to have me clean up something that she could have done herself. I get this from all the nurses but shes the worst. The fact is though that I'm not an idiot I have two bachelors degrees, and I'm going onto PA school. Sometimes I know what a resident needs better than the nurse does, and they should know that. And even the aides that only have a high school diploma or GED, most of them have enough common sense and are with a patient long enough to see things nurses can't.

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Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.
Alot of nurses say they got into nursing because they wanted to take care of people, but the fact is they spend more time passing meds, and doing paperwork, and getting paid alot more for it, then the people who actually do the care.

Is that TRULY the NURSE'S fault that they have to do the paperwork and meds, leaving little time for anything else? If you have a gripe about how much the paperwork and the meds take up a nurses time, take it to corporate office.

I really resent the fact that you think that someone who's doing paperwork and meds doesn't care. Pretty much a statement like that is giving an answer as to why you might be getting disrespected, and your job title has nothing to do with that reason.

I'm sorry untill you wiped up someones BM, or vomit, or urine, can you really say you take care of those people.

This statement could almost be turned around and stated as "until you give meds, can you really say you've cared for people". Either way, it's a reaching statement.

Sometimes I know what a resident needs better than the nurse does, and they should know that.

Again, if anyone walks into any job with this kind of attitude, they REALLY cannot be that surprised that it goes over like a lead balloon.

Sorry but I get really bitter about the disrespect I receive constantly from the nurses.

Sounds like there's room for improvement all around, and not just the nurses.

Granted there are lazy nurses, there are lazy people that exist in the world, however, there are also a lot of people that think they have it all figured out.

Oh, and i also worked as a CNA for 11 years, before it's assumed that my answers are coming from someone who doesn't know how it is to work as a CNA.

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Specializes in Psychiatry.
So if you want to do actual care every now and then try helping out a CNA.

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Wow! I'm confused! Sounds like what you are saying (among other things) is that nurses are NOT doing pt. care, unless they are helping out a CNA??

That's a pretty bold (and uneducated statement). While I value your opinion and your right to express it, you are really swatting at the hornet's nest here!!

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I am always on a hard working CNAs side, but please step back and look at the big picture.

It is team work. Yes, the cna is the back bone of the LTC industry, but nurses have an important part in the picture.

While we are passing meds, we are also assessing the residents, making calls to families, docs, etc, assessing lab values, monitoring the residents response to the medications and treatments.....I can go on.

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Specializes in geriatrics.

i am a new lpn just starting out on a transitional care unit and i definately will be a hard working nurse, but also a nice nurse. i will never forget how much work cna's do since i was once one not so long ago!!!!:)

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Specializes in Education, Administration, Magnet.

Granted there are lazy nurses, there are lazy people that exist in the world, however, there are also a lot of people that think they have it all figured out.

Yes, that is a very good statement. It sounds to me like aspentree13 had a bad day at work. Everybody has a right to state their own opinions, but I don't think that it is right to say that nurses don't do patient care just because they don't clean BM's (and by the way most of them do). I am a nursing student, but I am working as an aide. I still think that nurses have to be amazing people to do what they are doing. And you really can't know better than those nurses, even if you feel that way. I have learned so much in nursing school, and I think you should appriciate those nurses with the RN or LVN education a little more. Respect goes bothways.

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

I'm sorry that you're working so hard in the direct patient care and the nurses disrespect you.

I am recently recovering from an altercation with a CNA who said essentially what you did........."all you do is pass meds and chart, I do everything else." I was furious that that attitude, because it's so not true.

I however, don't work long-term care where the RNs are even further removed from the residents that I am from my patients.

Respect is a two way street. I'm sorry you're not feeling respected. Just take satisfaction that you're doing right by the patients and forget about what the nurses are doing and thinking. Maybe find another job where the environment isn't so toxic is another option.

Good luck.

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Specializes in LDRP.
The truth is I do more actual care for these patients then anyone else in the field. Alot of nurses say they got into nursing because they wanted to take care of people, but the fact is they spend more time passing meds, and doing paperwork, and getting paid alot more for it, then the people who actually do the care. I'm sorry untill you wiped up someones BM, or vomit, or urine, can you really say you take care of those people. So if you want to do actual care every now and then try helping out a CNA.

Respect runs both ways. If you want respect, give it.

Second of all, you have an incorrect perception of what nurses do, apparently.

I am a RN, and I clean up puke, blood, urine and poop, too. I take vital signs, set up meals, assist patients in transferring bed to chair, etc. So I guess by your standards, I "take care of them".

And though it may seem like all we do is paperwork and meds, those are both quite vital things. Meds are also more than just popping a pill in a person's mouth and being done with it (which is why we are mostly all opposed to med tech's). "paperwork" is assessments, discharge/admission forms, etc. All important. We have to talk to doctors, talk to families, talk to other disciplines (Like PT/OT, speech, etc). We are also responsible for everything YOU do. It's our butt (and license)

I could write pages about all nurses do all day that consists of caring. Until you walk a mile in my shoes, don't tell me that "all i do" is this or that, or that i'm not really doing the caring.

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I have always said (and I really SAY it) that CNAs should make more than nurses. They have the hardest job of almost anyone I know and they don't make squat. :o I know that nurses have a hard job as well, but the CNAs really have it bad especially in the LTC industry. You could NOT pay me enough to be a CNA!!!! I wouldn't even do it for an RN salary.

I'm sorry that you were treated like that. Maybe try to find a CNA position in something other than LTC. I agree that it has to be difficult to deal in that kind of enviornment.

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Also, if we didn't do the paperwork, the facility wouldn't make any money, if they didn't make any money, we would ALL be out of a job!

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This thread is a PIA.

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Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.
This thread is a PIA.

Exactly, it is a Potential Information Acquirement. :)

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