New Student, Frustrated CNA

[OneOnOnes, ADN]

Hello, I haven't posted in a forum before, but I have been thinking of doing it for a little while now because I am getting frustrated at work. I am starting nursing school this Fall and I currently work as a CNA/TECH on a unit in a hospital. I started this job 6 months ago, and I have 2 years prior CNA experience at a SNF.

Working as a nurse has been a dream of mine for years, and I strongly want to become a nurse. However, I am feeling at my wits end working as a CNA. I have no problem with doing direct patient care and working with a strong team of CNAs that promptly answer all lights and help each other out. What's frustrating me about the job is that all the nurses on the unit will seek me out and ask me to do something. I feel like I can't create my own routine for the day because whenever I walk by somebody they stop me and give me a new task to do as if I wasn't already in the middle of something. Other staff do this too besides nurses such as volunteers, dietary, housekeeping, etc! I understand that it is a busy floor and it's all about teamwork, but I feel like being constantly told what to do is what is annoying me.

Also, whenever I'm at work, there is that constant thought in the back of my head if they are going to float any of the CNAs today, perhaps for a 1:1 somewhere else in the hospital that cannot be left alone, or to help out” another unit while leaving our unit in a disaster with over 10 patients to 1 CNA ratio. Sometimes I enjoy floating to get off the unit and get new experience elsewhere, but I can't help but feel like I am just being thrown around” whenever a CNA is needed elsewhere, and they don't float nurses at the middle of their shift, it's always at the start. Floating aggravates me because my unit usually gets screwed over to help someone else.

The CNAs on my floor answer all lights all of the time, I can't even sit down and chart without being told to answer a light. Due to this, I pretty much know every patient on the unit and I feel like I have the entire floor to look after. I am starting to loathe the nurses for being able to sit down so much and chart, and they only have their own 4 or 5 patients to look after all day while I have the whole unit. I feel like when I become a nurse it will be so much easier because I can do my own routine and see my 4 or 5 patients strictly and not have all of the staff around me changing up my tasks all of the time. I understand that I am there to help the nurses with their workload, but it feels so disorganized because I am always being pointed in a different direction.

This post is half of a vent, but also me asking: will I still feel this way when I become a nurse? I know for a fact I will have greater responsibility for my patients and stress as a nurse, but at least as a nurse I won't have that constant fear of being floated away during the middle of my shift and I can plan for myself all of the tasks that I will have to do. Or is all this frustration just on me and I should just get over it because I am still going to be swamped as a nurse anyways? I am counting down the shifts until I start school in 1 month and am wishing I was working in retail or something else. :/

[oops I bradyed again]

Yes, you will still feel this way as a nurse if you think you're going to plan all your tasks for the day and expect them to happen as scheduled without interruption. You will not be doing your own routine when the doctors put in new orders, a upset family member wants to talk to you, you're waiting for another nurse to cosign your insulin, your patient unexpectedly declines, you need to cover another nurse for their lunch, the ICU is full so you get a new admit who really doesn't belong on your unit and is super time consuming, or your patient codes. Not to mention all the care coordination you'll be responsible for which includes calling and paging doctors, lab, family, and other departments...all at times that will likely interrupt another task you're trying to complete. If you think nursing is sitting on your a** charting all day after you've completed your perfectly scheduled tasks, that you have complete control over, in a timely manner you've got the wrong idea!