Lazy and disrespectful Nursing Assistants

Nurses Relations

Published

This is a vent post!

I just can't hold it in any longer and had to vent somewhere so I figured maybe some of you can understand or offer suggestions.

I work night shift on a medical transition unit and am often in the charge nurse role. We have 38 patients on the unit and are staffed with 1 charge( with 6 pt assignment), and 2 LPNs who 16 patients each. In addition to this we have 3 nursing assistants working with us.

I am often super swamped all night and rarely get a break. I barely manage to finish all my paperwork, Meds, assessments, etc but the NAs always manage to have nice long extended breaks plus sit at the computer on Facebook or watching videos for hours on end. But yet if a wandering pt comes out I am still the one who has to redirect them back to their room, they won't get off their butts unless I tell them too. Shouldn't they be able to do their jobs without being told all night? Then in addition to this they have been running to management complaining that they have too many people to change and Want nursing to come along with them. At the moment changing people is the ONLY thing they do and us nurses are struggling to get our other work done as it is.

Then to top it off yesterday we had a sick call and I ha to change on me of the NAs assignments around and she was YELLING at me about it right at the desk. Sooo disrespectful and unprofessional .

I'm beyond fed up!! I feel like they are creating more work and stress for me than the patients!!

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

I have already posted a comment about dealing with the problem, but I feel that I really need get on my soap box about how we created the problem. The whole thing comes down to respect, and we have created it for ourselves! I started working as a nursing assistant in a hospital in 1968. When I think back to that time, roles were very well defined and there was a chain of command that ended with the Head Nurse who always worked days but was also responsible for all shifts on her unit. Nurses were required to wear white, and they were also required to wear their caps, which they did with pride. Your cap represented hard work and achievement. I graduated from nursing school in 1973 and I donned my cap with pride. Somewhere along the line nurses decided they didn't want to look like a nurse and the tradition was lost. That is when everything started to change. There is no longer the passing of the torch from the Head Nurse to the Assistant Head Nurse. That generally happened because the assistant was learning, and when she assumed duties and responsibilities as Head Nurse she was prepared to do so. Now everyone is a "charge nurse". It doesn't matter if they have had training, and when you walk onto any unit in any facility I challenge you to immediately identify the charge nurse, as a matter of fact, I challenge you to identify the nursing staff!!

At my facility, the RNs and LVNs all wore white and caps for Nurses Week last year. Amazingly most of us were able to find our school caps. The transformation was incredible! I saw a total change in behavior. I saw nurses carrying themselves with pride and other members of the team interacting with them in a respectful manner. I saw patients amazed and happy that they knew they were dealing with a nurse. I saw visitors smile and stop to comment on "how wonderful it is to see a nurse who looks like a nurse". We now have what we call "Wednesday White". The licensed nurses all wear white and caps, and we continue to have nothing but positive feed back from patients and visitors, and YES I believe that it has started to take us back to a time of respect - not just for the nurses but for each other. Try it, you might be surprised.

P.S. I wear white every day, and sometimes I even wear my cap when it's not Wednesday.

0 Votes

As a night shift aide, and based on the number of patients you've stated, I have no idea why your aides seem to have the time to sit around. Sorry you have to deal with this :/

0 Votes

Wow when I was a CNA 2007-2008 before graduating LPN, I had the opposite experience. The STNA's were treated very poorly. I thought we had a pretty good team going. We had too many patients of course but worked together...but we were just constantly crapped on by management. So much so that I didn't even try to get a nurse position once I received my license. The floor nurses were fine from what I can remember just never saw them because they had two halls.

There are bad apples of course just like nurses... I worked with a lot of power tripping aides who felt like they had to take possession of "their" halls because I think it made them feel a bit important after basically being told your are not time after time. But now I have been a nurse for a bit, the STNA's do need to realize the huge amount of tasks we are expected to get done and that is why us floor nurses have no time to answer call lights. I tell my aides that the med cart (unfortunately) is my first job and that I could get in serious trouble if not being within certain med times and that my very next job after that is helping them with patient care if they are overwhelmed. It seems to create a positive work environment for both of us..,they know I will help when I can but they also know they can't get ***** with me when I have 3 admits and a ratio of 1:20 on a skilled/rehab unit...I can't even pee at that point let alone put a resident on the toilet.

0 Votes
Specializes in LTC, home health, critical care, pulmonary nursing.

I hate to say it, but I'm SO glad I don't have to deal with CNA's anymore. A good one is worth their weight in gold, but unfortunately the lazy, negative, whiners outnumber them. And management always caters to them.

0 Votes
Specializes in Hospitalist Medicine.

Just to comment: it sounds like management is taking a "squeaky wheel gets the grease" position here. I know you have said they run to management "all the time". Has anyone from the nursing staff taken the time to report the unauthorized computer use, cell phone use, laziness & disrespect? If all management is hearing are the CNAs complaining and the nursing staff only says "well they're doing X, Y, Z" in response to the complaint, they're not going to take your side as seriously. Unfortunately, they just want the complaining to stop and aren't interested in being fair or hearing sides.

I would suggest that the CNAs are reported for not doing their JOB, which includes being respectful and courteous to others. I'm sure it's in the employee handbook :up: The hospital where I work won't even let you get on the internet. Everything is blocked, except for certain approved sites and the hospital's intranet. If you are seen with a cell phone out, you'd better be on break or you're in violation. I'm surprised your facility doesn't have such rules. It makes the staff look unprofessional if they're sitting down, (even if it's a slow night). I'm a nursing student (currently working as a phlebotomist on the floor).

Sorry you have to deal with such frustrating co-workers. Whatever happened to the team concept? :rolleyes:

0 Votes

I am a CNA, and at the place I work, cell phones and internet are strictly forbidden while on duty. You get written up for that behavior. Therefore, those sorts of problems aren't really an issue. People still sneak an occasional text, but not nearly as bad as what you describe. It seems to me like every place should have this policy because too many people can't handle their responsibilities.

0 Votes
Specializes in Family Medicine.
What is "NBD?"

No Big Deal.

0 Votes

I wish I could tell my CNAs and phlebotomists to clock out and go home. They are quite often surly and crass. In reality, I'm not really sure how they are able to hold a job. I work for a major health system in SE PA, and am continually amazed at the behavior that is tolerated. I have CNAs disappear for hours, phlebotomists voicing their distaste for their jobs repeatedly, while I run around for 14 hours without a break. I'm not really sure what the phlebotomists would be doing, were I to draw labs. I leave work frustrated and discouraged often. I've taken to documenting the behavior of my subordinates regularly, I guess stockpiling for the day when I really can't take it anymore.

0 Votes

It seems like we, as nurses, continue to absorb the jobs of anyone unwilling to do theirs. I feel like each day I am forced into absorbing the jobs of unit secretaries, CNAs, and dietary. I have plenty of things to do within my own scope. I work rehab, and often hear PTs and OTs returning pts. to their rooms saying, "Just call your nurse." Regardless of what the pt. wanted at that point. Did they wish to be returned to bed? Who cares? The RN has an endless amt. of time....

0 Votes

I'm a CNA in the dementia unit of an LTCF and I can't imagine behaving this way towards my nurse. I would expect to be fired for yelling at a nurse-no question. If we are having a slow night and have the time to sit around and chat (we would never dare take out our phones!) our nurse finds us something to do. There are lifts and stands to be sanitized, baseboards and doorknobs to be washed, rooms to be straightened...always something to do! If you don't want a chore to be found for you, you keep your butt busy. The way they look at it is, if 4 aids have all this free time, then management will decide we don't need 4 aides and cut a position. A lot of aides don't like working with my nurse because of these things, but she is respected and she is the first to stand up for her aides if we need it. To me, if I find a nurse doing something that is 'my' job because I am busy with something else, I am almost ashamed because she is taking time away from her job to help me.

0 Votes

Staff meeting time on what they SHOULD be doing each shift. And 2 can round together, while one takes the call bells and float. You need the support of your manager and education person. And a plan for the night. And to be clear on the plan. And that the IT department should disable the internet on the social media websites and you tube stuff, and no cell phones. Have a written schedule of what it is the CNA's are to be doing on the night shift. If there are 3 CNA's then 2 can be tag teaming patients. It also works if there is a lead CNA per shift. It then puts the responsibility elsewhere to direct. You could suggest a lead CNA on a trial basis, and see if it impoves any. Best of luck!

0 Votes
Specializes in NICU.
I have already posted a comment about dealing with the problem, but I feel that I really need get on my soap box about how we created the problem. The whole thing comes down to respect, and we have created it for ourselves! I started working as a nursing assistant in a hospital in 1968. When I think back to that time, roles were very well defined and there was a chain of command that ended with the Head Nurse who always worked days but was also responsible for all shifts on her unit. Nurses were required to wear white, and they were also required to wear their caps, which they did with pride. Your cap represented hard work and achievement. I graduated from nursing school in 1973 and I donned my cap with pride. Somewhere along the line nurses decided they didn't want to look like a nurse and the tradition was lost. That is when everything started to change. There is no longer the passing of the torch from the Head Nurse to the Assistant Head Nurse. That generally happened because the assistant was learning, and when she assumed duties and responsibilities as Head Nurse she was prepared to do so. Now everyone is a "charge nurse". It doesn't matter if they have had training, and when you walk onto any unit in any facility I challenge you to immediately identify the charge nurse, as a matter of fact, I challenge you to identify the nursing staff!!

At my facility, the RNs and LVNs all wore white and caps for Nurses Week last year. Amazingly most of us were able to find our school caps. The transformation was incredible! I saw a total change in behavior. I saw nurses carrying themselves with pride and other members of the team interacting with them in a respectful manner. I saw patients amazed and happy that they knew they were dealing with a nurse. I saw visitors smile and stop to comment on "how wonderful it is to see a nurse who looks like a nurse". We now have what we call "Wednesday White". The licensed nurses all wear white and caps, and we continue to have nothing but positive feed back from patients and visitors, and YES I believe that it has started to take us back to a time of respect - not just for the nurses but for each other. Try it, you might be surprised.

P.S. I wear white every day, and sometimes I even wear my cap when it's not Wednesday.

Yes, but those were also the days when nurses were subservient to docs...I had to wear white pants in nursing school, which such a big PITA. We weren't allowed to wear it in psych rotation and in peds because of the effect it might have on the patients.

I work in a children's hospital now and everyone in the facility has a different colored badge with the name of their profession on it to denote where they are from patient care techs to RNs to pharmacy to doctors. Even PT/OT has their own color. I much prefer this to wearing white and/or wearing a cap.

0 Votes
+ Add a Comment