NA's not professionals

[Jabramac]

I was the recipient of a complaint yesterday from another employee. An NA told me she had been called off before her shift and told on the phone that instead of having her work, the floor would run with "3 professionals." She took offence at the notion that she was being referred to as not being "professional." While I understand the callers true meaning was RN's and had nothing to do with "professionalism" it non-the-less offended the NA.

I then wrote an e-mail to all the people who may be calling staff off and informed them that this might be offensive and we should monitor ourselves with what we say and to whom. I got a response back from a manager stating that this is an industry term and the NA needs to be "talked to." She also asked me to provide the name of the NA.

Personally I know it that the meaning of "professionals" was not meant to be offensive and only referred to RN's. But, perhaps it's more offensive then I think? I would like to hear from some NA's if they would find it offenses that RN's are referred to as "professionals" and NA's are not.

Tonight I have to decide how to respond to the mangers e-mail with out turning it into a huge issue, but still respecting the NA.

[ERRNTraveler, RN]

Hahaha:lol2:

I just had to laugh out loud. An experienced cna is more useful than a nurse??? If you really believe this, then you are FAR more naive than we have originally thought.

:yeahthat:

[Athenas83]

An experienced nurse is just a CNA with more technical knowledge and responsibility.

oh my god ......WRONG

[Atheos]

Lol.

First off I said an experienced CNA was better than a shiny new grad BSN. It's true. New grads are not up to par. Not their fault.

Second. The point about feeling superior? I do feel superior over bad employees, but that is neither here nor there. A bad employee is a bad employee.

Third. I said 'when I was in the army I would have slapped someone.. blah blah' and a college educated person should be able to spot someone being facetious.

Fourth. Disrespect? I joined the military so I could say whatever I wanted? As far as your husband in GW1, good I respect veterans, but insofar as violence goes, you are married to a violent man. Violence is violence justified or not. Terrorism or war. Crime or 'justice.' Being married to a man that served to protect freedom and then trying to cow me into your way of thinking could be called disrespectful.

Fifth. I never said nursing wasn't hard. College should teach critical reading skills. Just not harder. I assure your 16 hour shorthanded shift is not harder than the cna's 16 hour shorthanded shift. I don't see as many nurses with work related injuries as I do aides.

Nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants--a subset of the occupational group nursing, psychiatric, and home health aides--consistently ranked among the detailed occupations reporting the most cases of workplace injuries and illnesses during the 1995-2004 period. In 2004, for example, nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants reported the third highest number of injuries and illnesses. Only truck drivers (heavy and tractor-trailer) and laborers and material movers (hand) had more cases.

http://www.bls.gov/opub/cwc/sh20060628ar01p1.htm

*Shrug* So harder, mentally maybe, physically not even close. Mental stress heals quicker than physical. Some people seem offended(sorry for offending you) that I might consider nursing not much harder than what CNAs go through. Tell me one thing that makes nursing hard. I will reply with an equally hard situation that is comparable in a 'lesser' field. Critical thinking is critical thinking. Split second decisions are split second decisions. Life or death is in the hands of many people.

Sixth. Coworker's get the consideration they deserve. I treat everyone respectfully and considerately. Until they are rude, mean, elitist, jerks or inconsiderate. Of course, sometimes there are mitigating circumstances. Sometimes not. Those people will not get my consideration. Also, I would like to point out that those inconsiderate people WON'T support you in anything. They are inconsiderate.

Seven. It is doubtful anyone got their BSN to "be a professional." More likely it was for more responsibility or options or money or advancement or desire.

My original post was intended to show that not nurses are not 'better' than aides, no matter what your 'school' taught you. It was not to suggest aides are better than nurses.

So let me conclude my part on this thread with the following facts of my world.

Yes, your education is superior.

Yes, your expertise may be superior.

Yes, your responsibility and risk is superior.

Yes, nurses have saved my behind many times.

Yes, I think nurses are in the same special class of people like teachers and saints.

Yes, CNA's and Tech are too. :)

Yes, I can't wait until I am a nurse.

Yes, I hope I can handle the new responsibilities of nursing.

No you are not superior.

No, you are not going to treat us with disrespect.

No, people don't get respect because of a title. It is earned and it is mutual.

No, you don't have to respect a CNA because we demand it. Respect us for doing a good job.

No, not all CNA's are good. Neither are nurses.

Teams survive by being a team. The quarterback is not better than the linebacker or the waterboy. The doctor is equal to the nurse AND the CNA. If one part of the team fails, the whole team fails.

Shrug

[ERRNTraveler, RN]

Yes, I can't wait until I am a nurse.

I can't wait until you're a nurse, either, because maybe then you will realize just how wrong you are.... I hope you can come back to this thread after you have been an RN for a year, and have a good laugh at how naive you have been, because I can guarantee you the the experienced RN's reading this are all having a good chuckle at what you've written- I am

[UM Review RN, ASN, RN]

I can't wait until you're a nurse, either, because maybe then you will realize just how wrong you are.... I hope you can come back to this thread after you have been an RN for a year, and have a good laugh at how naive you have been, because I can guarantee you the the experienced RN's reading this are all having a good chuckle at what you've written- I am

I'm not amused, I'm more than a tad annoyed that the work that nurses do has become so invisible (to borrow the phrase from Gordon).

How can we ever hope to educate the public about what nurses do if we cannot even educate our coworkers?

[ERRNTraveler, RN]

I'm not amused, I'm more than a tad annoyed that the work that nurses do has become so invisible (to borrow the phrase from Gordon).

How can we ever hope to educate the public about what nurses do if we cannot even educate our coworkers?

It irritates me, too, but I also have to laugh at the things this person has written- it's obvious that trying to change his mind is a waste of breath, so perhaps if & when he becomes an RN he'll see what we mean.

[smk1, LPN]

While you may be certainly correct, it is the training, not the degree, that gives the nurse that boost. And the environment. There ARE places in the world where aides/tech do just what a nurse does and a new grad with a shiny BSN is absolutely less trained than a CNA and less useful. An experienced nurse is just a CNA with more technical knowledge and responsibility.

This stupid argument has been going on forever. BSN's assuming they were better than ADN's or Diploma nurses. CNA's think they are better than Home Health Aides. Doctor's think they are better than everyone. It's elitist crap.

As far as saying I shouldn't get easily offended or I would be a bad nurse. LOL. My patience extends to patients and their family. Supposed mature and 'educated' adult coworkers get only the consideration they show. Just because I am in nursing school doesn't mean I'm going to be a docile sheep. Maybe that's why male aides and nurses don't have quite the same problem with respect from male doctors as many females I know do. Shrug.

By the way, if anyone choose to be elitist to my face, I may not slap them as I am no criminal, but I would dress them down, put them in their place, shut them up and move on.

Best DON I ever had was a Diploma nurse lol. Worst one had a MSN. *Shrug*

How can a job that takes a portion of the workload from someone else be deemed just as "hard" as the job of the person who is still held responsible for the totality of the work that they do as well as the work of the former mentioned person? If nursing is a 10 slice pizza and a CNA takes 3 slices of the pizza away, the nurse still has to finish off the other 7 slices, while still retaining the responsibility for the 3 slices the CNA took. CNA's are valuable and I think there is no reason to deliberately offend other people just because you can, but you also cannot equate the job of a CNA with the job of a nurse.

[RN4Nascar]

Lol.

First off I said an experienced CNA was better than a shiny new grad BSN. It's true. New grads are not up to par. Not their fault.

I disagree very much. No disrespect to CNAs. Not up to par huh? Well I dont know where you work or go to Nursing school but all the new grads I met and have graduated with are very well up to par.

So no its not true. And who are you to judge them as not up to par, you havent even finished Nursing school yet. You have NO idea whats coming.

[itsmyturn]

Once again, it is not about the title you hold, but how willing you are to become a team member that is willing to put everything to make the "whole" better. So what if the CNA does not know as much as the LPN and so what if the RN has had more schooling than the LPN and the DR. thinks he is God. Isn't that the way it is suppose to be because one person can't manage all the tasks known by each title?

If my patient's blood pressure goes up because the care team is sitting outside his door preaching and numbering the pions they work with, I am going to find another place to work where everyone goes by the title "guys and girls", doesn't mind helping clean up a patient if someone else is busy, apologizes when feelings are hurt and when the day is done, can stand in a group and give high fives for the day we completed because we were the team we were trained to be.

[RN4Nascar]

Its funny I have never come across that at my job. Thankfully, I work with a great group of people, we dont really do the Im this and Shes that...our titles are respected, but we all do the same things within our protocols. Nurses help clean pts, titles go out the window when it comes to getting thru a shift.

Most of the Drs are really cool, good to their patients and are funny to work with lol.

[cardiacRN2006, ADN, RN]

Fourth. Disrespect? I joined the military so I could say whatever I wanted? As far as your husband in GW1, good I respect veterans, but insofar as violence goes, you are married to a violent man. Violence is violence justified or not. Terrorism or war. Crime or 'justice.' Being married to a man that served to protect freedom and then trying to cow me into your way of thinking could be called disrespectful.

Ok, now I see that you are totally irrational and completely insane. I'm sorry I played into your ignorance. I'm sorry you call yourself a vet. What a shame to honorable men.

Yes, probably against TOS, but completely justified and correct. You are a fool.

[Virgo_RN, BSN, RN]

A CNA's job is a hard job. At the end of my shift, my entire body would ache from head to toe. It was exhausting. I remember getting a little more than annoyed when a nurse would track me down in another patient's room to tell me that a patient needed a sandwich or oral care or a bed change. I remember thinking "In the time it took for you to track me down, couldn't you have already done it, since you were there anyway?".

I remember during my CNA orientation, one of the CNAs orienting me told me "Some of the nurses will try and get you to do their work for them, but we have our own work to do.". Sorry, but part of a CNA's work is to do tasks that have been delegated to them by the nurse.

Now that I am a nurse, I am embarrassed by some of the things I thought about nurses. I've found that most CNAs have absolutely no clue how hard the nurses work. I recently had a lab tech who is a first year nursing student undermine me in front of a patient and their family. I could only chuckle and think to myself "I cannot WAIT until you are a nurse!".

But there is one thing that I always appreciated when I was a CNA, and I keep it in mind as a nurse. That was being treated with respect and as a member of the same team.

CNAs are not members of a profession. That is not to say that a good CNA is not more valuable than their weight in gold, but no, not a profession, IMO.