New CNA feeling pretty fed up.

jb2u, ASN, RN · Mar 27, 2008

I understand how you feel. Good luck in the new job!!!!

Holls131 · Mar 27, 2008

I'm right there with you! I'm also going to get my RN and recently my school as made the CNA program a required class for the RN program. Anyhow, we just started clinicals and I cannot begin to express how frustrated I am after seeing some of the things I've seen!

It's sad that the residents are asking for us, "the girls in the green scrubs", to care for them rather than their regular CNA. They light up when one of us walks into a room and we've been able to get a lot of residents to do things they've never done before! Why? Well gee, maybe because we actually spend time with them and they know that we genuinely care about them!

We do get to spend more time with them which helps and I love it!! I just hate to see the RN's running around there like they could give a crap less about any of the residents in the place! The younger CNAs aren't bad at all, but it's the older ones who need to quit their jobs! If you don't like your job anymore, get out! Don't take it out on those residents there!

If I was any of those RN's in any of those halls and saw the things I've seen in the past 3 days, there would be quite a few people with their jobs on the line! That's the problem though...the RN's are really no better than those who do the things they know darn well they shouldnt' be doing!

TiggerBelly · Mar 28, 2008

Don't give up junebride. When I worked in Assisted Living, I would get very frustrated and just plain worn out everyday by the lack of real help and all the things that I felt I was missing. Then I got a job in a hospital and have really learned alot since then. For me the hospital experience has been the best in learning about time management and picking up on all the little things that will help me when I become an RN. Hang in there.

TPS360 · Mar 28, 2008

amazing.. you complaining about CNA JOB.. i JUST WONDER HOW U WILL react to body fluids when u become a nurse....

coolpeach · Mar 28, 2008

I am not a CNA, but I was one back many years ago. Now I am just a nursing student working to get my RN. I just came in here to check it out. I totally understand what your saying. She is not complaining about bodily fluids...its just thats all she does...am I right?

When I worked LTC I did nothing medical at all. I basically changed sheets, cleaned butts, and showered, dressed the patients. I got into the profession because I wanted to learn nursing, and help people, but I didn't do any of those things. I remember the residents BEGGING for attention (wanting someone to visit), but we couldn't. At the end of the day I felt I had done a bad job because I didn't REALLY help them. I was just a mess cleaner upper. I hated it.

To this day I will never put someone I love in a LTC facility after working in one.

APC53 · Mar 28, 2008

Working in LTC is an experience like no other. I've worked in a LTC/MR facility for almost 3 years and I'll tell you...it's one of the most stressful things I've ever done in my entire life. And I admit, there are things you'll see in LTC that you just won't see anywhere else. Things can get very busy and insane at time, and at times it seems more like a crazy house than a nursing facility. But my best advice is to stick it out as long as you can. While LTC as its setbacks, it also gives you a one of a kind learning experience. And you might even find you like it after a while. For example, I have so many options around me, so many different places I can work as a CNA, but I always decide to stay where I'm at in the end...even though I know I may be better off somewhere else.

junebride · Mar 28, 2008

Thank you, coolpeach. I do not have an aversion to body fluids at all, in fact in previous jobs my coworkers would make fun of me for being "the boil whisperer". ( I actually love really gross skin stuff-fascinating) My favorite part of the whole job was getting to interact with my residents, but like coolpeach said, I didn't get to talk to them much. I really was just a mess cleaner-upper. Although it is an important job and someone must do it, I think it was to everyone's advantage that I was honest enough with myself and the facility to admit that it was not for me.

I'm not upset at you Tcube; you don't know me. I find myself wrinkling my nose at my fellow students when I hear "Ugh, I could totally never work in a nursing home.", because I figure that they have some glamorous idea of nursing, and LTC does not exactly fit that picture. I would be turned off by a person if I thought that they didn't like a job because it was "too hard" or "too dirty" or they "just don't like old people". I promise, that's not me.

I don't ever want to become a person that believes they have the bar set at what are the right and wrong reasons for becoming a healthcare professional. But I do believe that if the inspiration is in your heart and mind, not your bank account, then you're most likely on the right track.

Button2006 · Mar 29, 2008

hi there,

i have been a cna for a few weeks now and i certainly do clean up a lot of mess. especially working the graveyard shift. but i find that i can still interact with a lot of my residents.

i think it is adorable when they wake up asking for milk and cookies.

when we do rounds they often need water because they sleep with their mouths wide open and it feels like sandpaper in there!

when i get my 2 or 3 people up in the morning i get to interact with them a lot. and i pamper them too.

i have some very priceless positive and negative experiences with them so far. it is easy to judge and berate staff in nursing homes because if you haven't been there for a while, you tend to think that the nursing and care is horrible. especially if you have only been on one unit for just a few weeks. i know when i came out of orientation a whole bunch of red flags went up for me. but now i see why my co-workers do some of the things they do. i also realize that it is a burn out job. people get tired and overwhelmed and i know for sure they didn't start out that way. they need a vacation and they need to really reflect on why they came into the field in the first place. i do so daily, especially after a crazy and frustrating day (well, night usually).

i guarantee you that the entire building in that ltc you are at is not like that. you got yourself a bad unit and i bet it is just that shift as well. its too bad you didn't get yourself a good unit and a good shift. i love all of my charge nurses, even the ones that aren't particularly friendly because i know they care about every single patient and i can count on them when i need them. i also love my fellow cnas because i know i can truly count on them when i need them. even the unfriendly one that screamed at me a few times and only grunts at me.

i could type for days but i suppose my main point is that ltc can be very frustrating, it is easy to judge and berate ltc staff, and my biggest point is that as long as you treat your residents kindly and document your but off, don't worry about the rest of it.

okay, i am done. (for now)

~button

collegegirl972, CNA · Mar 30, 2008

I worked the nursing home for a month. LOL Two weeks were training, followed by an immediate 2 week notice. It was awful! My co-workers were so lazy and complained about the pay, the job, the residents, everything. In the end you just went home tired and delighted when you finally got to wipe your own butt once in a while. I just got hired at a hospital as a PCT and I love it! It's so different, I get to take vitals and do minor medical stuff.:)

bethin · Mar 30, 2008

amazing.. you complaining about CNA JOB.. i JUST WONDER HOW U WILL react to body fluids when u become a nurse....

More than nurses see body fluids. I'm a CNA and I've been peed on, pooped on, blood squirted in my face, etc.

From the tone of the OP, her complaints were not in regard to the work itself, but instead that there is not enough time for everything to be done and still have time to converse with the patients.

To the OP: what you're experiencing is not unusual. When I work ICU I love it! I am able to know the pt's whole health history, know their families and know the pt's dislikes and likes. Sure, it can be stressful but the stress is managable. When I do med surg all I wanna do is cry. I hope you find a unit that fits.

coolpeach · Mar 30, 2008

I want to tell you guys a story that happened when I was a CNA at a LTC. Alot of the other CNA's were really horrible. Now mind you I am 38 now, and this was when I was 20 so 18 years ago. I hope things have gotten better since then. Anyway, the CNA's would be in a room changing sheets, cleaning a patient etc. They were so rough, and would talk about the patients in belittling ways, and say the meanest things. Most of our patients were bed/wheelchair only, and a lot of them couldn't/didn't speak or were in various stages of dementia. The CNA's assumed this meant they more than likely couldn't hear or at the least couldn't make sense of what said....thats the excuse the gave for saying such horrible things. While in a mans room I actually told one of them to stop saying stuff, and she said it doesn't matter he's going to die soon anyway.

One morning I got this particular patient cleaned up, and in his wheelchair for breakfast. I always went out of my way to do what I could to make them feel a little better. He was all twisted, and gnarled with arthritis so he could really only get in a hospital gown. I combed his little bit of hair, and found a watch in his bedside table which I put on his arm. Next to watch was a pair of glasses which I very carefully positioned on his face. I told him how handsome he looked and off we went to breakfast. I was feeling very proud of myself because I thought I had done a great thing finding his glasses. As long as I had worked there I had never seen him wear glasses, and how miserable he must have been not being able to see.

I start to feed him, and he is a bit more cranky than usual. Remember this is man who has never said a word the 3 years he has been there, and I was told he cannot speak.

He looked right at me and said, "These are NOT my glasses. I can't see a thing." I thought I was going to fall over.

That means everything I said to him he was aware of, and every horrible thing some of the other CNA's said he heard that too.