Night shift, CNAs and homework

Nurses General Nursing

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Where I work there are 5 of the 10 CNAs who regularly work night shift that are going on to school. These CNAs bring their homework on a regular basis to do during work hours when things are slow or on break. If they are fortunate enough to have down time during the shift and all other work is completed I see no problem with doing homework. Some other nurses that I work with feel differently and have not allowed homework to be done on their floors.

This is becoming more of an issue due to one of the CNAs now trying to hide out during the shift to do her homework when she should be on the floor. Yes, she has been spoken to regarding this but it seemed to have little to no effect. There has also been other problems with taking turns answering call lights during "homework time". Again addressed and issue is resolved for now. I should probably add that I work in a long term care facility.

How is the homework issue handled at your facility? Should they be allowed to do homework on the floor or only on break, opinions please!

I don't see why it would be an issue to do your homework during breaks. Every facility is different, patient needs are different and acuity levels are different so there very well maybe some downtime to complete some homework. It all depends.

I am in school and I always bring my books with me to study. However I only study when all my patients are ok, the nurses I'm working under do not need anything, the other PCAs do not need my help AND there is nothing for me to run and get such as anything from SPD. If ALL that is said and done then I sit down and study.

So that usually is never to about 5 - 10 minutes.

Specializes in Critical Care.
People know what happens on the unit they work on, no others. I was a great CNA (I won't be modest here) and if there was work to be done I was doing it but sometimes there was NO work. All patients in bed, everything stocked, checked in with every RN - I guess I could have mopped the floors but they would mean Housekeeping would be bored so yes, I did my homework! It depends what kind of unit you work on. Some are busier then others. I floated occasionally and yeah, sometimes I didn't have time to do homework but that didn't mean I was working any harder.

Sorry, I am just sick of people going on about how people aren't doing their jobs when they have no idea. If I have learned anything from this board it is that while we have the same title we do not have the same jobs.

If I remember right, the OP asked for opinions. No one questioned your abilty as a CNA, but for some reason, you feel a great need to justify why you did homework while you were on company time and being paid r/t your job description. If there was no work for you to perform, you should have been sent home. I know of no job that pays someone for personal responsibilities...

Specializes in Pediatric Cardiology.

Nevermind. Carry on :)

woops, re a post that questioned why the OP thought she had the right to dictate what CNA's do or do not do in their down time. As the Nurse on the floor, she is responsible for what does and does not get done. Should there be a concern on day shift, it will be the nurse who is on the hotseat.

I have never had problems with what anyone does in the few hours of downtime (usually less than that). Some study, some read, some text, some do needlework, some clean and label things...(me). My only hard and fast rules are no attitude, we work together. No sleeping. Cigarette/phone breaks after rounds, not during or before. Sense of humor mandatory!

When I worked noc shift as a CNA in an LTC, I had absolutely NO time to do homework! I had up to 20 residents to care for without any help from the nurses or other aides. There simply was no time to adequately care for the residents, let alone do homework.

I'm sorry you had to work alone, but I bet your patients loved you.

I work nights, and while I am going to school, I do not bring homework with me to work. In my opinion, they are paying me to work, and even if my patients are OK, there is probably cleaning or restocking that could be done or stuff I could do to make my co-workers lives easier. I just prefer to keep homework at home and work at work. That way nothing can be said, and I feel better about it all around. (Besides, I find it nearly impossible to do any real studying or paper-writing at work).

I am one of those that allow CNAs to do homework or study on downtime (Nursing Home). The fact is, on my shift, the best CNAs, the ones that are always on the ball and I never hear one complaint about, are the ones in school furthering their education.

The bums that come to work on their bluetooth (or is it blueteeth???) and don't get off the phone all night. And somehow manage not to change anyone or turn anyone till last round yet manage to take a smoke break every 30mins, then bi**tch about how busy and short staffed the shift is,,,,,those are not going to school. They are too comfortable where they are.

We recently had the powers that be run back cameras from the shift and they decided no one should be doing homework on shift. We have some LPNs that are going for RN too and they were studying too.

My point is,,,If the staff member is a good worker and I don't ever have to baby sit them, then I trust them to only study when all their residents are well taken care of and stable.

No flames please.

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