Nurses will do the CNA job

[bongids]

I heard that some hospitals are requiring nurses do the cna jobs. Just want to know if this is true or not.

[RN1982]

I work in ICU and we hardly ever have aids. The CNA job is the RN job also.

[Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN]

Here in California, since ratios were passed, CNA's have been fired in many hospitals and nurses do all the work.

Sometimes we shoot ourselves in the foot.

steph

[Bill E. Rubin]

Nurses have always done "CNA" jobs... When CNA's exist on a unit they are just there to lighten the load a bit. My unit is the one and only all-RN unit in my hospital so we don't have any CNA's. Our patient ratios are generally 3 pts per nurse. Sometimes, it would be nice to have an aide or two floating around to help if you have a particularly difficult total-care patient, but by and large, it works out pretty well and we get to spend more time with each patient. Plus it does foster a sense of teamwork among the nurses since we are all each others' CNA's in a manner of speaking.

[heron, ASN, RN]

So what else is new?

It's PrimaryNursing 2.0: mainly a way to reduce costs by cutting payroll.

[Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN]

You are right that teamwork means nurses also do "CNA work".

I guess my understanding of the question is that CNA's are being removed and nurses are without a team.

steph

[racing-mom4, BSN, RN]

I work in an ICU setting with No CNAs we do total patient care and actually I prefer it that way...yes it would be nice to have an extra set of hands but we all work well as a team so it is not a big deal....

Once when I was a CNA on the MS floor I had a young child vomit and the LPN at the time called me in to clean it up, I handed her a pair of gloves and she held her hands up and said "I didnt go to school to clean up puke" That moment in time I vowed I would never be that kind of nurse ...

[ArwenEvenstar]

Not sure exactly what OP was referring to. Sometimes certain units will do "total care". There are no CNA's, so each nurse then has less patients and does "total care" for each patient.

But nurses have always done some CNA work. There seems to be a misconception in the "general public" that there is a strict line between what a nurse and a CNA does. But health care is a team effort. I've been a nurse 17 years, and I've emptied MANY bedpans, MANY foleys, and other such tasks.

There are a few lazy and pathetic nurses out there who refuse to do things like empty a bedpan. More than once I've seen a nurse spend 10 minutes looking for the CNA to empty a bedpan - when the nurse could have emptied the bedpan herself and been done with it in 2 or 3 minutes! Duh!!! What about the poor patient having to wait 10 minutes for the nurse to find the CNA?? The patient should come first!

There are times when a nurse has to prioritize tasks though. Sometimes we must delegate. If I have a patient in chest pain and another needing off the bedpan - well, the chest pain must take priority! Sometimes CNAs and patients don't get this....

[casi, ASN, RN]

I hate to break it to you but nursing assistants provide basic NURSING care. When your patient needs to use a bedpan or be turned the CNA isn't going to always be there to do it for the nurse.

[Batman24]

I work on a M/S unit and we do have CNAs. My friend who works at another hospital in the state in a different department also has CNAs where she works. A lot of it can depend on the unit and/or the state. CA has done away with a lot of them due to mandatory ratios. Our ICU doesn't have CNAs and most ICU units don't.

[WickedRedRN, BSN, RN]

Several times as an LPN I wound up being one of the assigned CNA's for the floor. I have to admit, it was kind of nice to be able to spend time doing actual patient care again rather than running like a chicken with my head cut off.

I figure it's all part of nursing. I did it before as a CNA and I never turn my back on helping the CNA's if I can help it.

[Vito Andolini]

I think it's time for CNA to go back to the Legislature and demand that aides not be counted in the ratio business. How ridiculous to expect that nurses are going to do total care on 6 patients, depending on how heavy they are or aren't. Not these days.