Nursing student frustrated by CNAs...

[milliemack15]

I am a second semester ADN student who is working as a CNA in a LTC facility until I graduate. I honestly don't really love geriatrics, but I have passion and drive for nursing so I always do my best at work and try to go the extra mile with the residents. I am pretty quiet by nature and tend to keep my head down and do my work instead of sitting around and gossiping with the other girls on my shift.

There is a handful of other CNA's who aren't in school that are vicious to me, always calling me a goody two shoes, kiss *** and teachers pet because the nurses know that I am in school, and will often let me observe procedures as a learning experience. I really like my facility and the nurses I work with, but I can't stand how catty some of these other girls I work with are. I feel like they just don't take their jobs as seriously as me and that bothers me and motivates me at the same time. I thought about mentioning it to my DON in my performance review next week, but I'm not a fan of being a tattle tale or complaining when no one is really causing any harm, just being super annoying. Any advice for dealing with them?

[Anna Flaxis, BSN, RN]

... no one else really cares.

You keep coming back to this. I think this may be part of your difficulty. The reality is that no matter what you do for a living, there are always going to be people who just want to punch the clock, do their job, and go home. By setting up an expectation of what it looks like to "care", and assuming that you are the only one who does, you are sending a very clear message to your co-workers that you feel better than them.

Some of these career CNAs choose to make this their life's work precisely because they do care, but it is very hard, demoralizing work not being humanly capable of providing the care the residents deserve. It's back breaking work, and your best is never good enough. Others despise every moment they have to be in that godawful hellhole, and would rather be anywhere else and would quit in a heartbeat if they could, but they can't because they have bills to pay and have to provide a roof over their family's head, or they need to provide health insurance for their family, and it pays (barely) better than flipping burgers.

You have to stop framing your judgment of other CNAs based on whether they "care" enough to satisfy you. As long as you keep doing that, they know you're judging them, and it makes you look holier than thou. And the fact that you are in nursing school, so you won't be a CNA for the rest of your life, makes it easy to resent you if your co-worker wanted to become a nurse but was unable to overcome the obstacles in their path. For you, being a CNA is a stepping stone- a temporary situation. For them, it's the rest of their life. It's all they can ever expect to become.

As long as the residents are not subjected to neglect or abuse and their needs are met and they're treated with dignity, then that is all you should be judging your co-workers on. How they feel about their job is their business. You should treat them with respect, foster team work by helping them out and getting to know them a little bit, and show appreciation for their hard work, whether you think they care enough or not.

[milliemack15]

That is awesome advice, and brings up some really good things for me to work on. Thank you!

[Anna Flaxis, BSN, RN]

You're welcome. :-) Navigating workplace politics can be hard, but it's not something that's going to magically go away once you become a nurse!

Good luck with your future endeavors. As long as you remain open to seeing things from different viewpoints, I have high hopes for you.

[milliemack15]

Very true! This is the first healthcare job I've ever had and it's way different. I really appreciate the feedback.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

I feel like they just don't take their jobs as seriously as me and that bothers me and motivates me at the same time.

When you are working as a licensed nurse, you will find that many of your coworkers do not go the extra mile or take their jobs that seriously. You cannot worry about other peoples' attitudes toward the job. We're all supposed to be on the same team, but sometimes that is not the case.

[BBboy]

Sometimes you just can't help but work with less than ideal coworkers. I've had prior jobs where I was loved by all of my coworkers and residents alike but there would always be that one who always had something to say. What did I do? Just try to do my best to work with them if needed and at least try to share a friendly conversation every now and then.

[LPNtoRNin2016OH, LPN]

Ugh, I feel for you. You seem very receptive to feedback which is great -- that has been one of the things that has always separated me from other students/co-workers - I welcome it, I am not offended by it, it has been very good for me to hear things I need to improve on. But, I have worked with many nurses who only do as much as they have to without triggering any alarms to management. Very long story, but I ended up working with another nurse who literally did nothing all day long and because of the field we were in, pretty narrow those who have experience in it, management (I was really close to my boss) couldn't get rid of her because there was no one else to hire. People not doing their share has always been my HUGE pet peeve. I really had to learn there that it's not my problem if they aren't giving 100% -- it's thieirs. I am a big believe in karma, and that satisfies the angry part of me in these situations lol.

These girls are insecure -- and they are thinking your an easy target because you are not sticking up for yourself. You can stick up for yourself and not be a nasty person, KWIM? As long as your not trying to be a nurse at work, then you have every right to say "Hey, you guys need to back off". Take it from me -- learn how to handle those lazy co-workers now, because you will run into time and time again, it will eat you alive if you don't brush it off. I always tell myself, as long as I am going home knowing I did the best job I could do, then that's all I need to focus on.

[chemokine]

Anna Flaxxis had perfect advice.

My two cents: Don't start a big deal over this. Don't bring it up to management. Don't confront the CNA's about it. Just lay-low, do your time, and move on to some other place once you are an RN.

[nursel56]

I totally agree. I am really mindful of this because I don't like to pick up other people's slack, so I don't want anyone else to pick up mine. Its just frustrating because to me it's not "just a job", its something I really care about!

You can't make people "care" in a the sense of doing a better than "just enough" type of job performance, or in the sense of their personal emotional feelings of caring for the other residents. If you feel they are jealous of you to the point of sabotaging your work or reputation with management you need to find a way to address the problem directly.

Otherwise I would say to just proceed as you are. You can't stop people from gossiping about you but I have found that if that is all they do the best approach is to remain polite and civil regardless. Perhaps even cordial. Those mean-girl cliques usually have a few people who are not comfortable with the actions of the others, and they could become your ally one day.

Best wishes!

[mountainclimber]

Relentless positivity may be the best answer here. You're not going to be in this placement forever. I've regretted the times that I've allowed bitterness to make me act in a way I'm not proud of. Stick it out!

[Scarlettz, BSN, RN]

I think you should just be the best CNA you can be and don't worry about the other girls. I don't think there is any harm in watching the procedures and it is a good learning experience. Don't bring up the other girls at work over just simple cattiness.

Just try and make the best of your time at this place while you are there. Be open-minded and nice to these girls even if they are catty. Compliment one of them if you genuinely like something, smile, say "How was your weekend?", offer them help if needed. If they are still not receptive to this, then go on and do what you have been doing. You are going to work with a bunch of different personalities as a nurse, too, so you have to just learn to be the best nurse you can be, too.