Nursing Student HATES Nursing Assistant Job

dorselm · Apr 28, 2007

I am a CNA at an LTC facility. I do doubles on the weekends. Being that I am a first semester NS, I will be doing doubles for the next 2 years! I HATE IT!!!!! We are always understaffed. On the 7-3 shift, when we get finished passing breakfast trays and feeding patients who can't feed themselves, and then picking up the trays, we will be finished with this around 8:30, we then have until our breaktime which is 11 or 11:30 to get all of our 10-12 pts toileted, bathed dressed, groomed including mouthcare, and room cleaned. I can never take a break until around 1:30 because everyone wants to be up by the time lunch trays come up which is 12 so it is impossible to get that many people up by that time. I work on the skilled floor so we see some of everything and everybody, it's like a mini hospital. The other aides don't want to help because they are bogged down with their own work. It's crazy. It does however give me insight into what its like to be a CNA so that when I'm finished with school I will have a greater respect for their job and it does help to learn how to communicate with patients and it also helps me to get used to seeing people naked and dealing with all kinds of bodily fluids and secretions.

NaomieRN · Apr 28, 2007

Try to get a nurse externship on ANOTHER floor this summer, where the nurses can recognize your knowledge and floor smarts while working with you in the role of an RN. Then transfer to that floor as a PCT after the externship is over! That's what I did....

That is a great idea!

Skrawberri · Apr 28, 2007

Oh lordy.. This post scares me! I start next week as a PCT at the hospital because I am on scholarship with them and have to work atleast 16 hrs a month to stay on scholarship. I'll be working 16 hrs a week to get on insurance, though...

I hope it's not this bad!!

BoonersmomRN · Apr 28, 2007

Try to switch units absolutely. I started off this year as a tech on a Medical-Psych unit and I couldn't have BEEN more unhappy. I was so miserable I would cry the entire way to work. I finally asked for a transfer and I couldn't BE more happier. The environment you are can make or break you.

MiaNJ · Apr 28, 2007

I think all prospective and current nursing students should work as a CNA. I worked as a CNA for 16 years before deciding to become a nurse and I will always remember where I came from and how difficult it can be to be 1 CNA with 20 patients and the demands of 4 RNs!!! I definitely learned to prioritize(and to rearrange my priorities as new situations arose) I learned to communicate with the nurses and I know that I will be aware of the fact that the CNA is not my own personal assistant and that there are other members of the team who need her for patient care, errands, ordering/stocking..etc..I will know that when things get hectic and busy, it is NOT above me to pitch in and pass meal trays, empty a garbage, make a bed or get my own supplies...we are all a team and should work together as a team...so, being a CNA, although completely different from nursing duties, is something I recommend..gives us a better appreciation for the work they do.

That may be a good idea for some, but I also know that many nursing students DO the job of a CNA during their clinicals, in addition to their nursing care.

During my clinicals, we had to change beds, give baths, change bed pans, change soiled patients, etc. etc. There were CNAs who sometimes helped, but when they saw students they basically left MOST of the care, if not ALL in some cases to us. Our instructor told us that since we only had 1 patient the first semester, we could do ALL the care, in addition to giving meds, etc.

Towards the end, when we had more patients, we had more help from the CNAs. But personally, just the first 2 semesters of doing ALOT of CNA work during my clincials was more than enough for me to appreciate their work.

I don't think it's necessary for everyone to work as a CNA before become a nurse.

Nursing school is tough enough, and clinicals can be stressful, esp. if you go full time, so I don't think anyone even had time/energey to get a part time CNA job after clinicals all day. Plus we had to study everyday since the course load was heavy.

Maybe some people are able to work and go to school full time, but it's not easy and I think most nursing school clinicals involve CNA work anyway, since the students are taught bed baths, etc. and expected to do them.

WDWpixieRN, RN · Apr 28, 2007

I think the experience would be great for someone who has had no healthcare exposure and wants to feel more comfortable in this environment. I probably could've benefitted to some degree by doing this, but couldn't afford to quit my full-time gig too much in advance of starting school full-time.

Basically, I don't think you need to have worked as a CNA/PCT to have an appreciation for what they do. If that were the case, then we should also have experience in the pharmacy, clerking, etc. There are people who know how to be nice and appreciative to others, and those who don't. If one falls in to that later category, it won't matter if you make them empty bedpans 24/7 for a year....they'll still abuse someone because it happened to them.

Watch around you in a restaurant sometime. You can pretty easily pick out the people who are decent to other humans just because it's the right thing to do, and those who will always consider themselves above the rest of us mere mortals!!! :uhoh3:

Cobweb · Apr 29, 2007

I think being a CNA is invaluable for a nurse, and even more so if you have worked as a CNA on a bad floor like this. You will know exactly what your CNAs can and can't do, and you'll appreciate the ones who do their job and go above and beyond it. The floor work that so many nurses denigrate is actually as important, or more important, to the patients than any amount of pills and IVs. It's extremely important to you, as the supervisor, to know when your coworkers are slacking and when they are great. Some techs look great while you are watching them but you won't really know unless you know what to look for.

Most importantly, you will know how to NOT treat your aides.

JeepDudeRN · Apr 29, 2007

WOW! I am amazed at these horror stories. I am in my second semester of the program, and am a CNA in a LTC. I work on the "medicare/rehab" side, so 99% of the patients are post op. It makes it more like a hospital setting. I have no more than 8 patients a shift, and only work Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I love it. We come on duty, get report and start work. We do vitals, a few showers (no more than 2, usually), then dinner. We pass trays, and help everyone into their night clothes. Usually from about 8:30p-11p, there isnt too much going on, and I have time to study and do homework. I must really have it good! The RN's help us if we need it, and take time with us to show us procedures, etc. Of course we have do to all the things mentioned earlier vitals, bedpans,foley's etc, but I feel it really laid the foundation to nursing. I would always recommend being a CNA prior to being an RN, BUT the enviroment you work in makes ALL the difference.

PeachyERNurse, BSN, RN · Apr 29, 2007

OMG!!! I never thought I'd get so many responses when I started this thread. I just needed some place to vent. First of all I just wanted to thank everyone for their support. Well, I'm definitely going to quit (although I'm not really sure how to go about it since I've never quit a job before). I thought about transferring to another floor, but I've talked to PCT's on other floors and it's the same story there. I have started clinicals (completed Fundamentals and Psych this semester; on to med-surg I &II next semester) and it's definitely not the PCT duties I hate. I love taking care of people; always have. I love the hospital where I do my clinicals. The PCT's seem happy, and I would just transfer to that hospital, but I think I'm done with being a PCT. Because of my sour expeience with med-surg, I DEFINITELY don't ever want to be a floor nurse. Now I have no clue what I'm gonna do when I graduate (in December!). I have so much admiration for those that do CNA work long term, because nurses wouldn't be able to make it without them. Thanks again everybody and good luck to all those nursing students taking jobs as CNA/PCT's while in nursing school!

Suitepea79 · Apr 29, 2007

FYI if you hate working as a pct now then nursing may not be for you. BTW I work currently as a unit secretary and I am in nursing school. I respect my fellow co-workers but letting them know that patients are in need of assistance is part of my job so DON'T KILL THE MESSENGER. If you need help doing something then you need to take it up with the nurses that are part of your team. Every night I work I have to constantly hunt down someone to do some piddly little thing that a patient needs and all I ever hear is crap about it. If you don't want to do it then look for another job--the bottom line is everyone needs to work as a team to give good patient care and everyone needs to realize they are part of that team. I also understand why nurses get fed up with pct's that are in nursing school because they try to be nurses when they're clearly not. They try to tell the nurse what he/she needs to do instead of minding their business and taking care of the patients within their scope of practice. :nono:

pagandeva2000, LPN · Apr 29, 2007

I wouldn't really say that nursing is not for the original poster. This was a heavy adjustment for a newcomer. Many times, schools fool us all, CNA, LPN and RN schools will endorse this 'we are family-we are a TEAM' motto, but in reality, it is a different world and the pecking order is in place. I can understand stating 'don't shoot the messenger', because in many cases, the unit clerk is doing her job...however, (not saying any one person), there are many people, period, may it be unit clerks, physicians, nurses and even other CNAs etc, who make a goal to humilate others. Here was a classic example; a patient rang the call bell, and in most cases, it would be a CNA that may answer at my hospital. The CNA answered the patient, and the request needed the intervention of the nurse (pain meds). The nurse responded and said to the client in front of the aide " I take care of the medicine, this girl just changes your diapers". How horrible and humiliating this probably was for the CNA!! Even though this may be true, this CNA may be a mother, grandmother, a person of value to SOMEONE!! And, do you think that this CNA would go out of her way to be of better service to this RN? I would think not...

Before throwing the towel at the OP, I think that we should see the perspective this person is talking about, and much of it comes from simply respecting a person as a human, not a work horse.

I can agree that some PCTs or aides may, in fact believe that they know more than the nurse (whether they are in nursing school or not, actually...LOL), and as a nurse myself, I am very annoyed at that as well. Those should be dealt with as they come.

pagandeva2000, LPN · Apr 30, 2007

I think the experience would be great for someone who has had no healthcare exposure and wants to feel more comfortable in this environment. I probably could've benefitted to some degree by doing this, but couldn't afford to quit my full-time gig too much in advance of starting school full-time.
Basically, I don't think you need to have worked as a CNA/PCT to have an appreciation for what they do. If that were the case, then we should also have experience in the pharmacy, clerking, etc. There are people who know how to be nice and appreciative to others, and those who don't. If one falls in to that later category, it won't matter if you make them empty bedpans 24/7 for a year....they'll still abuse someone because it happened to them.
Watch around you in a restaurant sometime. You can pretty easily pick out the people who are decent to other humans just because it's the right thing to do, and those who will always consider themselves above the rest of us mere mortals!!!

Being a home health aide, CNA, MA and PCA has taught me to deal with people in a health care setting, but it did nothing to really prepare me for being a nurse. I always did think that nurses were burdened; I was not that naive, but, going through the training, NCLEX and being a nurse was more than what I expected, and I just went the LPN route. I can only imagine the added stress of being an RN.

I found that I was able to see people and gain empathy for seeing them at their most vulnerable, but, I did not see care plans, and except for the bare minimum training it took for me to administer oral meds in a psychiatric hospital, knew nothing about medications and treatments, did not understand any portion of the nursing process or even deal with nurses that closely, really. I don't see it as necessary, either to be a CNA because fundamentals of nursing has taken care of that for the most part (at least from my experience).