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.
It is difficult to take pride in your work. when you have people constantly telling you that all you do is wipe butts and drool off of people.
I've never personally seen a nurse tell a CNA anything like that.
Besides, a person who believes their job is of value can overcome that sort of thing, by knowing that they are helping the patients. The really excellent CNAs are totally professional, interact with the nurses (I think of CNAs as the "trunk" of the tree and we, the nurses, as the branches), and they are a vital part of the healthcare team.
I think the really good CNAs don't even depend on the administration to reflect the true value of their job. I think they are so over that and they know in and of themselves that their job is more than worthy.
That is basically the same way I feel about my job.
TPTB are concerned about profit and couldn't care less about nurses. That's why I don't rely on them for my own professional self-worth and esteem........
I haven't seen that sort of behavior from nurses to CNAs, but I have seen alot of disrespect, hostility, and downright rudeness from CNAs. It's pretty frustrating, to say the least.
hi aspentree13. i'm a hospital rn and a ltc rn. i'm sure you've heard enough already. but i just wanna say that we're not all like that. the other thing i wanna say is: i just posted at a thread which was about how nurses get treated by real grumpy doctors.
i can understand how you could think you do most of the work. a couple of nights i had to do my job and the psw job. the psw called in sick and i was left to fend for myself. i did all of the duties that were required for a psw inclduing charting. but i also did my own duties. the psw and the rn do the two rounds together so i had to do it by myself. i was very tired by the end of the shift but i somehow managed. i had to do it again two weeks later. finally, when the third time came, i was ready to cry.
so, you know what? there are some rn's and rpn's out there who are "power trippers" and on the lazy side. but there are those out there who can handle the work and at times MORE THAN THEIR SHARE. after those few shifts, there is not one psw at my ltc job that'll ever accuse me of being LAZY!!!!
I was a CNA for 3 years while in nursing school & now I'm an RN. I have to say that EVERYONE, whether CNA or LPN or RN has a very important job. Anyone of us can be lazy or work extremely hard-it is up to the individual how she/he chooses to act. I've seen lazy nurses and lazy CNAs, and also very good nurses and very good CNAs. But you cannot say that CNAs work harder than nurses, anymore than you can say that nurses are better than CNAs. It's just that we all have different roles with the same goal:taking care of patients. I worked hard as a CNA when I was in school giving baths, making beds, setting up trays, toileting pts, ambulating and transferring pts, taking VS, and checking blood sugars and reporting info to nurses. Now as an RN I work hard examining and assessing patients, giving them PO meds, giving insulin, giving other injections & IV pushes for pain, nausea, anxiety, alcohol withdrawal, etc, hanging antibiotics and IVFs, giving artificial nutrition, giving blood transfusions, monitoring the pt every 15 -30 min or so when receiving blood transfusions to make sure they are not experiencing fluid overload or a reaction, drawing blood from central lines, taking phone orders from docs, checking neuro signs every 2 hours on trauma/neuro pts, doing every 2 hour CIWA checks on alcohol withdrawal pts, ckecking telemetry strips on my cardiac pts, dropping everything to check out with pt if a telemetry monitor goes off, re-assessing my post-op pts like every hour for pain and nausea and bleeding and reminding them to move and use their spirometer, checking pts' urine output and if it is too low call the doc and ask for an IV bolus, giving tylenol for a fever and rechecking temps after, checking HR and BP before giving ANY cardiac med and if the number is too high/low, call the doc before giving med to see if it is ok, being interrupted doing any of the above tasks with calls from docs, lab, X-ray, MRI, family members who all want info now, giving or getting report from the cath lab on one of my pts, then I check lab values and if they are too high/low I call the doc to make sure she/he knows this and see what we can give for treatment, charting my assessments and anything else I did, saw, etc, and you know what? We do all this IN ADDITION to helping out with toileting pts, setting up trays, cleaning out vomit, taking pts. on and off bed pans, transferring pts, taking vital signs, checking blood sugars, fetching extra blankets, etc. I did all of these above things last night because we only had 2 CNAs on our floor instead of the usual 3. It was crazy but I did the best I could trying to do what needed to be done. So please do not ever say that LPNs and RNs do not really take care of pts because they pass meds and chart. The honest truth is that until you become a nurse, you will never really understand what it is like on the other side of the fence.
Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
Respect is a two way street. No one "owes" it to you. If you want it, try GIVING it---and try imagine walking in the other's shoes before you get too judgemental.
We have done tons of threads like this. THEY GET NOWHERE cause no one wins the old "CNA's are lazy; RN/LPN's are lazy" argument. It's very tired. We all have important roles to play. Let's just appreciate that eh?
Then WHY are you working as a CNA? Eventually your negativity and lack of pride will show in your job performance and in turn reflect on the care you are giving to the residents. These people deserve to be cared for my people who like thier job, care about people, and have compassion. Doesn't sound to me like you should be in this profession.
Okay, I won't get too defensive on this one...
I guess I should have mentioned that being a CNA is stepping stone for me to work with psychiatric patients. This is NOT a lifelong career, and I am currently looking to get out of it. I do not like it. It was not my first choice. But it's a paycheck and I've gained valuable experience and insight. Please, don't give me any self-righteous lectures, I need to eat, too. I'm ready to move on now.
Thank goodness there are people who have the personality to be in nursing; I would just rather help people in a different way. I am glad that there are nurses who are glad to be nurses. It ain't for me, and I already knew that, thanks. Make no assumptions.
I am a nursing student, and I worked with really terrible CNAs..Let me get this straight to you, I treat people how I want to be treated..One CNA while, pushing a bed to another room, wanted to run me over with the bed..I mean, she was going very fast pushing the bed while I was on the other side..And she had a very bad attitude to every student on the floor..Also, I worked with another CNA, who actually started yelling at me for no reason when she spoke to me..Another CNA, told me to do some crazy stuff with a really bad attitude..
But there were some CNAs, that I worked with that were really pleasant and respectuful..Those I liked the best..
The bottom line is that, I treat people how I want to be treated..CNAs are very important in nursing care, and I believe that they are part of the team..
I never disrespect people because of their position..I know some people do and I am not part of that...Most people do that are just insecure about how they are...
One trait we all need is a strong sense of confidence that what ever we are called to do is valid, and can be done with professionalism and dignity. As a CNA, I have gotten remarks that are similar to the ones mentioned. The fact that it has become far less important how others see my position in life is very liberating.
At my job, CNAs are the ones who run the place (not literally) and are a bunch of hardasses who will not take crap from the LVNs or RNs. There are some who have been here for 5+ years, and they are the most strong, efficient, people I know. Unfortunately, they're also the most stressed people I know because we're responsible for 16 people each, or even worse, there are only 3 CNAs on the shift due to 3 other CNAs simultaneously "calling in sick." That happened today, and I'm contemplating homocide.
At my job, CNAs are the ones who run the place (not literally) and are a bunch of hardasses who will not take crap from the LVNs or RNs. There are some who have been here for 5+ years, and they are the most strong, efficient, people I know. Unfortunately, they're also the most stressed people I know because we're responsible for 16 people each, or even worse, there are only 3 CNAs on the shift due to 3 other CNAs simultaneously "calling in sick." That happened today, and I'm contemplating homocide.
I've seen the "I won't take crap" from nurses attitude, and not just from CNAs either. It's used as an excuse most often for a lousy attitude, disrespectful behavior towards others, lack of work ethic, and results in a lousy work environment and inadequate patient care. They also tend to act like anything they do is some great big favor to others, despite the fact that they are doing the job they were hired for. Usually the bearer of these kinds of attitudes EXPECTS everyone to treat them with the utmost courtesy and respect at all times, yet they often do not return that in kind. They only see things from their perspective. Some of these LTC nurses have up to 70 patients they are responsible for. Being an RN or LPN does not immune us from the same disrespectful attitudes that CNAs complain about.
Q: How many nurses does it take to change a light bulb?
A: None, they make a CNA do it.
Please, I'm sure at your place the appropriate answer would be "One. They do it themselves because the CNA's don't take their crap."
Regardless of whatever job title one holds, they are there to do the job they were hired for. The grass isn't always greener on the other side of the fence, it's just different grass. Oh, I've scaled a couple of fences within the health care setting. Know what, got treated the best when I was a housekeeper.
Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN
12,126 Posts
It is difficult to take pride in your work. when you have people constantly telling you that all you do is wipe butts and drool off of people.