Nurse's aides are running the the floor.

Nurses Relations

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Hi everyone! This is my very first post...(after being a follower/reader of posts for a while!) I am a fairly new grad and have worked on a hectic med surg floor for about 7 months. Everyday is filled with the struggles of being a new nurse: time management, prioritizing, handling emergencies, making sure pts receive the correct medication ON TIME, & putting out fires in every direction with unhappy pts/family members/doctors. The list goes on and on. I truly feel like I am doing the best I can (and trust me I am my own worst critic.) I always make sure all my pts needs are met before I chart/take a break. Most shifts I miss my lunch and am lucky if I am able to use the restroom! This being said, there seems to be a new motto on my floor.."The RNs are lazy and think they are too good to do the CNA's job." We just had a staff meeting (with all CNAs, LPNs, and RNs), which, in a nutshell, bashed the RNs ONLY for not answering call lights, leaving pts dirty, and refusing to toilet them. My manager was ALL ABOUT this, nodding her head and agreeing with the cnas who were complaining. She's now put into place a rule that no nurse can walk past a call light, beeping iv pump ect. and if it is witnessed one can get written up. Doesn't matter if I am on my way, narcotics in hand, to medicate a pt, or en route to hang blood, I have to not only answer the call light, but meet that pts need, meaning taking away care from my own pts. I completely understand the need for call lights, and that it could be something very important. Truth is though, that each nurse is only one person, has their own huge pt load and the cnas are there for a reason...to assist the nurses! Now I can only truly speak for myself but I know my fellow RNs on the floor are for the most part on the same page. We actually do spend a huge amount of our shifts doing cna work! I toilet pts, empty ready to burst foleys, I never leave a pt dirty unless it is to get a cna to help me clean then up. I had a pt who definately needed two people to help clean him up, boost and turn him. I asked a cna to help me (very politely) and all I got was eye rolling. She even said "I have too many pts and don't have time." And walked away. So I had to get another RN to help me. The part that infuriates me most is that said cna, (and honestly most of the others ones) can be seen talking on their cellphone, hiding in various spots on the floor, and they NEVER miss a break or lunch, and in fact take extended lunches! Most of the RNs including myself have gone to our manager recounting this behavior and NOTHING gets done. It is to the point now where its just a waste of time to complain and I just suck it up, keep my mouth shut, and do my job. Does this sound familiar to some of you or is this something unique to my floor? I in no way think I am above doing to basics of caring for my pt and I hope I am not coming off that way. I am just sick of running around like an idiot all shift! Am I wrong for thinking every worker should be accountable for completing their job responsibilities? On my unit, however, it seems to just be up to the RNs to do everything!!

I think this means that (and I wasn't aware of this until recently) many facilities have policies restricting the perusing of charts to people who need to document things in it, or need access to the information contained therein to do their job. Perhaps as a consequence of HIPAA. A CNA might not know the patient's diagnosis for the same reason.

At my facility we have access to the charts because we have to document vital signs, ADL's, blood sugars, etc.

It would be very time consuming and unrealistic to have to report to someone else every time something needed to be charted, but it would be fine with me.

On another note - we are told the patient's diagnosis during report. If you're moving someone around, it's important to know if they are having pain in their right leg or if there's a spine injury, etc.

So, do you CNA's do two sets of vitals on all of your pts? Do they bath and shower every single one of them every morning? Do they strip and remake every single bed?

Apart from the vital signs (though the time not spent taking vitals is spent by the fact that our residents are 100 percent total care, incontinent, and total feeds), yes, at my facility, we do, actually. Thanks for the assumptions.

Apart from the vital signs (though the time not spent taking vitals is spent by the fact that our residents are 100 percent total care, incontinent, and total feeds), yes, at my facility, we do, actually. Thanks for the assumptions.

we actually take 3 sets - but who's counting?

Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

Okay lets cool the tone down please. Thank you

Specializes in School Nursing.

I think this issue can (and does) apply in any workplace environment. The people on the bottom on the deck think (and sometimes do) they do all the work. These are the people who generally do the undesired tasks and are often feel unappreciated by the people at the top of the deck. This group generally complains that the people higher up are 'lazy' and don't do anything, blah blah blah.

The people in the middle usually have a more desired position but are still walked on by the people on the top. They are often the butt of the jokes of the people below them because as I mentioned before, they believe the middle folks are lazy and don't do anything all day. (of course a lot of times these 'worker bees' don't really get it as they don't have a full grasp of the job of those above them. Now the people in the middle often feel unappreciated by upper management often believing management is too far removed from the actual day to day operations to actually make reasonable decisions regarding policy and procedure. They often complain if management would spend less time on the golf course or locked up in their office doing God knows what, they could get an idea of how things actually work.

Upper management complain about everyone below them because they are constantly having to put out fires between the bottom and middle deckers. They complain that the workers simply don't understand that calling in sick affects everyone as well as the bottom line. Upper management complains that NOBODY does their job properly thus forcing them to constantly change policy and procedure. Upper management also complain that they are not appreciated by their employees.

This is not a special situation. The people that do the 'crap' work are usually the lowest paid and least educated (generally speaking).. the people in the middle are generally skilled to some degree. The people on the top are usually the most educated and deserving (at least to some degree) the cushy position they hold.

It's the circle of life. If you want better, go get it.

And forget about being appreciated. You have a job to do. Do your job. Your appreciation comes in the form of a paycheck. Nobody deserves special props for doing what they are supposed to in the first place.

I think this issue can (and does) apply in any workplace environment. The people on the bottom on the deck think (and sometimes do) they do all the work. These are the people who generally do the undesired tasks and are often feel unappreciated by the people at the top of the deck. This group generally complains that the people higher up are 'lazy' and don't do anything, blah blah blah.

The people in the middle usually have a more desired position but are still walked on by the people on the top. They are often the butt of the jokes of the people below them because as I mentioned before, they believe the middle folks are lazy and don't do anything all day. (of course a lot of times these 'worker bees' don't really get it as they don't have a full grasp of the job of those above them. Now the people in the middle often feel unappreciated by upper management often believing management is too far removed from the actual day to day operations to actually make reasonable decisions regarding policy and procedure. They often complain if management would spend less time on the golf course or locked up in their office doing God knows what, they could get an idea of how things actually work.

Upper management complain about everyone below them because they are constantly having to put out fires between the bottom and middle deckers. They complain that the workers simply don't understand that calling in sick affects everyone as well as the bottom line. Upper management complains that NOBODY does their job properly thus forcing them to constantly change policy and procedure. Upper management also complain that they are not appreciated by their employees.

This is not a special situation. The people that do the 'crap' work are usually the lowest paid and least educated (generally speaking).. the people in the middle are generally skilled to some degree. The people on the top are usually the most educated and deserving (at least to some degree) the cushy position they hold.

It's the circle of life. If you want better, go get it.

And forget about being appreciated. You have a job to do. Do your job. Your appreciation comes in the form of a paycheck. Nobody deserves special props for doing what they are supposed to in the first place.

Well said.

We dont work with Cna or nurses for the most part is is just us to 16 pts. Its nice sometimes, but we do have one nurse in the morning, once i drug myself into work when i was feeling HORRIBLE, i had a 102 fever and was up throwing up all night, but i knew if i didnt come in the other pca would be screwed, and noone would come in. This one lady i was taking care of was sick too and ended up puking all over her room. My nurse found her first and came and got me, KNOWING that i was queezy. I cleaned it all up, and went into the br and threw up.

Okay, here goes my input. I hope I am not stepping on a hornets nest here. I am a CNA. At my facility EVERY SINGLE PERSON is required to answer a call light. This includes environmental staff. This is a nursing home, so many times the call light is on for something like,"could you please turn my light on, get me my tissue box, fix my radio etc...., so anyone close by can handle it. If it is a situation that nursing dept. needs to handle, we are told about it. Most times the CNAs answer the call lights. On eves. and nights we are so short staffed it's ridiculous. Our nurses help with whatever they can. I do not expect them to do my job, but thank the Good Lord they are not too high up on themselves to take out a hearing aid or put eyeglasses away, or do an occasional toileting of a resident while I am busy with a shower.

The thing I see most often is the CNA staff abusing each other. One CNA walks by her own assigned resident 4 or 5 times instead of toileting her, then hollers for help when the inevitable explosion happens, and complains all night about it. We all need to help each other out, but don't expect others to do our jobs. Other people(nurses, CNAs, environmental staff) have their own assigned work too. Currently there are 23 residents on my floor, most complete care, and on 3-11 shift there is one nurse and 2 CNAs, and no environmental staff. We are all busy, and thankfully, most of us appreciate each other.

Oh, and as a post script....

All that paper work my nurse is doing while she is sitting at the desk would drive me batty. We have charting to do, but I dont ever want to spend the amount of time sitting and doing paperwork I see my nurses do on my unit. My nurse eats her supper at the desk while doing her charting. Yes, we have voice charting too, but there is a never ending world of signatures and sign offs for these nurses, and the fact that I never see her leave the floor for her break is very telling.

Specializes in geriatrics.

The fact is, we should all be helping each other. However, if you should decide for some reason that you aren't enjoying the job, then please do yourself a favour and consider another line of work. What's the sense in complaining routinely? That doesn't do anyone any good, especially the patients.

Yes it is true. I do not make up things to post on this site.

I'm sorry- I didn't mean to imply you were fabricating posts. But that is just so unbelievably stupid of the DON.

I totally get what you mean... I am a CNA and I am 19 and I noticed the RN's would get in trouble alot and the wait would be on them.. I have to say that I try really hard to do my job.. it just seems like everytime I try to "get everything done" and do a good job, "things" get in the way... as far as your frustrations.. I Know how you feel.

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