Oh my...last night was a toughie at my job. See I just became an agency nurse and trying to find my bearings on returning to hospital...lets say it is a re-learning experience big time, but all and I am really enjoying it! (it was just one of those nights...uhggg, like running on a hamster wheel and going no where...).
Well last night a charge nurse for the next shift started ordering me around for various tasks...no probelm I am a team player...so I did them. She was rather rude to me, and spoke down to me quite a bit, but being new I sort of expect that at times...so it didn't phase me that much...more like a hmmmmm oh well type of deal!
Then she caught me at the Pixis machine getting IV set up materials and said "you can't do that!". I turned and said "oh my patient needs and IV, so where do I get the stuff?". She then realized, and I realized...she didn't know I was an RN!
She explained how sorry she was for mistaking me for a CNA, and then was so very supportive and sweet and helpful the rest of the time. Quite a turn around from before.
Like I said, I am a big time believer in teamwork...so this struck me as very inproper indeed. You don't treat CNA's like dirt or maids. Without their kindness and helpfulness our jobs would be a whole heck of a lot tougher!!! They are to be valued and respected...
I didn't say anything, but hmmmmmm...how do you think we should encourage, in a positive way, respect for CNA's and other team members that aren't RN???
Amen to all that's been said. Good patient care doesn't happen without competent CNAs. I've been so blessed to work with so many good nursing assistants. And I hate the word "only"...I'm "only" a CNA, LPN, whatever, really burns my butt, if you'll excuse the expression. We're a team, and no one job is more important than the other on the team!:cheers: Besides, there is no excuse for rude behavior...didn't her mama teach her anything?:rotfl:
This is why I quit my job as a CNA ... and I will never work as a CNA again ... because, there's always an RN or LVN who treats you that way ... and I just couldn't stand it.
Ya know what is so sad about this from a patients point of view? When hubby was hospitalized, one person that really stands out in my mind was the man that delivered his meal everyday. He was so sweet!!! Always told us that he was happy to see us and always asked if the food was OK. No he wasn't an RN or even a CNA, but he really and truly made a miserable time better.
I believe you should always treat every member of the team with respect no matter their title. I was a CNA for 7 yrs before becoming an LPN. I treat my aides with every bit of respect and help them when ever I can because without them our jobs would be alot tougher.
I am a nursing student, and I will tell you right now...the CNA's are our best friends...they know where things are, they help us when we ask, and they are not rude to us. In return, we help them out as much as we can...at least I do. There are usually about 2 of them per floor where we do clinicals. That adds up to about 15 or more patients each, and hospital policy is to have all patients bathed with fresh linens by 11am...yeah right. So, I have learned to treat the CNA's with respect, because if stuff is not done...it will still come back to the RN in charge of them.
Has anyone ever had this from the patients too? Because I work at night the nurses tend to do work that the aides do during the day. We only have one tech/aide per floor at night. Sometimes when we get a new patient I'll answer their light and they'll start ordering me about. Then when they say "Oh, and tell the nurse I need some percocet" I'll say I am your nurse. They suddenly change their tune.
Yes, I do normally introduce myself as their nurse but when you come into a room and you get greeted with Fetch this! Reheat this hot chocolate! it's rather difficult.
It's a shame really that you meet the odd patient with an attitude like this.
Amen to that! As that past patient... I will admit that it was the CNAs and the LPNs I remember most (except for ICU)... but on the regular floor, I only rarely saw the RN. Hats off to all CNAs and LPNs who do the MOST to truly make the patient feel good while they are away from the homes they miss and love!!! :thankya:
I work in an Urgent Care clinic an a LPN. This weekend a daughter brought her elderly dad in who lived in the assisted living across the street. He had cellulitis in both legs--she brought him in to have his wounds treated. Turns out he's wheezing, lungs full of fluid etc, O2 sats in 80's.... 3 of us LPN's took turns hooking up oxygen, wheeling him to xray and lab and sitting with him while his daughter read a book in the pt room, started his IV when the doc decided to have him admitted, called the ambulance, etc.... During this process of treating her dad, the daughter tells us she's an RN and started ragging about the LPN's at her dad's assisted living home, how incompetent they are, etc. I guess she thought we were all also RN's and she was dealing with "peers". Funny she didn't recognize the classic signs of chf. I'll bet a buck she was the same kind of nurse the OP was dealing with that night.
I WAS a CNA, then an LPN, then an RN. We couldn't make it without CNA's, but you'll unfortunately find those arrogant, stuck-up, elitist kinds of attitudes everywhere,
I agree that attitude stinks! CNA'S, MA'S, LPN's, and RN's are all a team working toward the same goal....making sure the patient receives the proper care. No one is better than the other based on education or rate of pay.
But what about students who are learning in these hospitals under the RN's. I am currently in school working toward becoming an RN. Though I have not begun clinicals yet, my current instructor is also the clinical instructor for another RN class this semester. Recently she was in a hospital with her students and the RN's on the floor were so hateful and rude to the students that after a few hours the instructor pulled every student off the floor and refused to return to the hospital.
It baffles me that adults, "professionals" can behave in this manner. These are future nurses, for whom you are supposed to be setting an example. These are future nurses that may soon be working on your floor under your supervision. You should want to take time and encourage these students to strive to be the best nurse they can be, to live up to their full potential, and that the patient is number one.
I am excited, and at the same time terrified about starting clinicals in May. I am going to have people's lives in my hands with very minimal room for error. That in itself is pressure enough, I couldn't imagine having the stress of being degraded like that added on to it. To me it seems that that is setting some people up for failure. I think you handled the situation very well but some people may not have the ability to brush it off, some may be very sensitive to that type of treatment, and as a student in that situation (who is already nervous beyond words) may make an error that could cost him/her their career before it even starts, or even worse it could be fatal to the patient.
People need to learn that you lead by example, not by degradation.
It seems to be true more and more these days that the saying that one of my intructors told us in nursing school "nurses eat their young" is very true and it is a shame.
This attitude is unfortunately present at a lot of places. I work in registration, and where I used to work (a large, inner-city academic trauma center), most of the RNs treated everyone (including each other) like substandard individuals. I got a different job at a smaller, for-profit hospital just down the road before I started nursing school in August. It's totally different. Here, it's as if I'm part of the team. They make sure we get what we need, and they all talk to us as if we're on the same level. They also always ask if we'd like anything when they order out! It's the little stuff like that which makes me feel like part of the team. Thank God my nursing school is at this hospital, and most of our clinicals are done there.
chadash
1,429 Posts
nicely put! your'e excused....