Just needed to share this HILARIOUS phone call we received at my new job. I work in a home care agency, and we also have a CNA/MA school associated with the company. Our marketing girls have been doing great work advertising and our phones have been ringing off the hook all week with potential candidates.
I got one call on Friday that totally made my week. Here is approximately how it went:
"(insert company name here), Julie speaking."
"Hi ummm, I was wondering ummmm what was the policy ummm in your CNA school umm on ummm....drug testing."
"(total silence on my part while I try to avoid laughing out loud and peeing my pants). Yeah, just a second, Im going to transfer you to our school, they can better answer your question. (This is where I put her on hold and proceed to warn our school receptionist to go pee before taking this call, and transfer it)
The receptionist later called me back, laughing, to say that when she told this obviously high `lady`that our policy was random drug testing, whenever we want to, she hung up on her.
When I questioned how in the WORLD someone like that would think to try to get work in healthcare, I was told that in the state of Georgia, CNAs need no more than an 8th grade education, and can be as young as 16yrs old. WHAT?! If someone cant manage to do something as simple as getting a high school diploma, or at the very least the GED, how can we place patient care in their hands?!
Ok, just needed to share and vent a little, thanks guys! :)
I think some people need to get off their high horses, take a deep breath and count to ten, and please stop taking yourselves and everything around you so darn seriously!
Yes, I agree with you about doing my own assessments. Actually, CNAs taking vitals is completely new to me. They are NOT allowed to do that in Canada. But even without that, I work as a team with the CNAs. With the increase in paperwork involved in nursing, sometimes we dont get to spend as much time bedside as we would like. CNAs DO spend that time bedside. So even if the CNA can not interpret vitals, I would like for him/her to have good judgment when it comes to patients behaving differently than they usually do, or patients breathing heavier than is normal for them, or any other issue that could arise. You dont need to be a nurse to know that when your leg becomes really swollen, red, and hot, its not normal. So if the CNA notices such signs in a patient while doing transfers, or changing linens, or wtv, even if I dont expect them to know what it could mean, I would like them to have enough common sense to advise me that something abnormal is going on.
you will have "good CNAs" who will do that. you will have others who don't even know how to count respirations and have no idea the importance of them.
treat YOUR patients as if they are YOUR patients and consider anything the CNA does as extra. that's my motto.
when i worked as a CNA my nurses knew that i was older and educated and reliable so if/when i came running to tell them something was wrong they KNEW something was wrong...and they knew if i didn't report anything to them...that everything was okay.
there were other CNAs who would make up BPs, RR, and temperatures and other than bringing a patient a drink or getting them a blanket..the nurses didn't depend on them for anything.
in fact, i had nurses (even though it wasn't allowed) let me reset IV pumps because they KNEW i was trustworthy and had some sense and they knew i was in nursing school.
Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
yes, really.
i assume that educated nurses know proper, simple grammar. also, i expect that they know proper medical terminology.
really.
I know , sometimes I am baffled by terminology when everywhere you know says xyz. The fact remains that there is a wide variety in the practice of medicine in this country and some remote areas that fiercely hold onto their beliefs. While those beliefs may not be the most modern or current.....they are still acceptable and practiced.
When I moved from the Midwest to New England....it was common practice to give a IV med glucagon to kidney stones and food bolus (food stuck in the esophagus) to cause smooth relaxation (it was believed) to assist in the passage of the stuck food/stone. This was as common as giving nitro for chest pain.
When I moved to New England and I have my first renal colic/kidney stone I asked the MD how much glucagon did they want.......the entire department stopped and froze. They stared at me like I had lobsters coming out of my ears. With a shocked expression and audible disdain the gasped "Why on earth would you do that??" as they muttered amongst them selves.... "I thought she came with experience"....jeez and "Where did she go to school, I wonder if she has a license." when in truth I could, and have, nursed them under the table and had more experience than ANY of them.
I was also shocked that n coming to this intellectual mecca that I would have catching up to do only to find that although I was accustom to most community hospitals performing interventional cardiology and open heart like the environment I had just left.......... to packing acute MI's in an ambulance with balloon pumps for interventional radiology 20 miles down the road. I hadn't done this since the eighties where I came from.....it was 1997 for heavens sake......talk about archaic.
So my expectation is that educated nurses are knowledgeable enough to be educated enough that there are different practices in medicine that while not current....are safe and still practiced.
As soon as I read your post, I knew there would be some very offended people. I, however am not one of then. If you are calling about a job and the only question you ask is about drug screening and hang up after the answer. That is suspicious. No way I would hire any one who did that. If they asked about it period without some medical explanation, it would be a red flag for me.
Thank you. I have a sense of humor and I got a chuckle out of it.
I wasn't particularly offended by the phone call routine. But I was offended by the rude remarks about perceived lack of education. and even more so by your later "digging in your heels, I am positively right" attitude. Perhaps you have little/no experience with the population within which you live/practice? Perhaps getting a hs diploma is not as prized as it might be, putting food on the table might come first.
And I take offense at your "at the very least a GED". My dear, I have a GED which has allowed me the great opportunity to persue two degrees (one of which I am almost finished, the other I graduated from with honors) and in the future I also plan to continue on to my Masters...maybe even to Ph.d; never thought I would ever go that far, considering the way I was raised (which insidently led to me have to obtain a GED instead of a highschool diploma....hard to graduate highschool when you have a drug addict for a day and alcoholic for a mother and they move you somewhere new twice a year), but as time has gone by and I have continued my education, my confidence has soared and I have come to see that the only limits that are set for me are the ones I set for myself.
There is so much more behind a person than simply what you imply over the phone.
Not minor when you're at the college level. It makes the degree meaningless if you can't even master English. In undergrad English classes, we received a full letter grade deduction for each spelling error (before spell-check). Employers understand perfectly which diplomas assure an applicant who has met standards and which diplomas represent applications which should be tossed into the garbage (in this age of 100 applications for each position). What service are we doing for students if we have no expectations for meeting any standards? Many intelligent people do menial work and have no choices in life because they have no education. Being smart isn't going to cut it.
Being literally unable to spell, is not the same as being unable to master the rest (grammar, etc) the person to whom i referred earned a BS. Being aware of your deficits, and compensating for them is the way to go.
Not minor when you're at the college level. It makes the degree meaningless if you can't even master English. In undergrad English classes, we received a full letter grade deduction for each spelling error (before spell-check). Employers understand perfectly which diplomas assure an applicant who has met standards and which diplomas represent applications which should be tossed into the garbage (in this age of 100 applications for each position). What service are we doing for students if we have no expectations for meeting any standards? Many intelligent people do menial work and have no choices in life because they have no education. Being smart isn't going to cut it.
It was the same in Tennessee and somehow I got around the 18 and over Florida rule. I've been a CNA since I was 17 and I thought it was a great decision. While working in home health, I've often been commended for my patient care. You don't need to be a high school grad to know how to care for people. I would assume that the OP knows what CNA's do. With a little training anybody could do it...but few actually want to. It's hard work and there's little pay for it. If you did want higher standards for CNA's you would need to pay them better as well. The drug addict thing is ridiculous, but I found your high school education comment highly insulting.
I hadn't done this since the eighties where I came from.....it was 1997 for heavens sake......talk about archaic.
uRNmyway, ASN, RN
1,080 Posts
I think some people need to get off their high horses, take a deep breath and count to ten, and please stop taking yourselves and everything around you so darn seriously!