Older PCA/CNA

[Girlygirl69]

I usually agree with the idea that with age comes wisdom, more experience, and improved quality because of these factors, but when hiring assistant staff, STOP hiring old people!!!!!!! Lmao, my floor was in need of an aide during the night shift and my hospital hired a lady old of enough to be my grandmother. God bless her soul but she works at snails speed, limps while walking, and can't lift for sh!t. What's the point? When we send her to draw labs she comes back and says "I cant see the vein" or when she supposed to be emptying coleus she complains of a bad back. I like the lady and I respect my elders, so I'm the dumb @as nurse who does it for her because I feel for her. I'm sure she's getting over on me, but what should we do?

[pixie120]

I don't think she meant it the way you are implying she meant it....

It seems your implying that she is a nurse with a superiority complex that is too good to so the basic nursing tasks that PCT;s/CNA's like myself are hired to do....

The way I read it.... They are overwhelmed on their unit and need assistance... so they hired someone to do the basic nursing tasks... but the woman they hired is up in years and refuses to the job required because of physical limitations....sooo how much help is she really if she was hired to help the nurses but can't do much of anything anyway????

PCA refused or "was on light duty".

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

and the problem with using trendelenburg to pull patients up is . . . ?

[pixie120]

and the problem with using trendelenburg to pull patients up is . . . ?

exactttlyyyyyyy. if only my beds did that..lol

[leslie :-D]

and the problem with using trendelenburg to pull patients up is . . . ?

it compromises the pt's breathing by the diaphragm smushing against the lungs.

a minute or two is ok, but not much longer.

i found a couple of cna's doing this, and i went nuts (not really but you get my drift) on them.

pt w/advanced copd in trendelenberg, face bright red, lips blue.

lungs cannot expand in this position.

the cna's would do this typically, very obese pts.

leslie

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

it compromises the pt's breathing by the diaphragm smushing against the lungs.

a minute or two is ok, but not much longer.

i found a couple of cna's doing this, and i went nuts (not really but you get my drift) on them.

pt w/advanced copd in trendelenberg, face bright red, lips blue.

lungs cannot expand in this position.

the cna's would do this typically, very obese pts.

leslie

without lift equipment or six helpers, there's no other way to pull up an obese patient. usually, it takes less than a minute.

[chevyv, BSN, RN]

You argued one point, what is the other?

The other point would be that a younger cna might have some more pep in their step. I'm what I consider middle age now and I have mess energy than I did when I was 19. I like to think I now work smarter not harder, but I doubt that. So being young comes with perhaps more energy to run.

[Girlygirl69]

Ok, I will go gently here. I don't care what age a person is, not their creed, religion or their color. The only thing that I care about is, can they figure out how to answer a calllight. After that, the team can all work together to fill in the blanks. I hurt my back when I was a 19 year old CNA. I can pull up in bed, 2 person assist transfer and 1 person pivot transfer anyone. I will help transfer anyone. I put down my MAR (cuz we are NOT married) and I focus on the resident and my team. The rest comes with a team approach. I have seen very young, seemingly agile nurses apparently without movement below the waist, who move like slugs. I worry about them. I feel they will be enormous-ly dissapointed in the years to come. Who will give direct patient care if the RN's won't? I don't understand the mentality that has time to point out all the deficiences of their co-workers rather than mentoring and leading them. Am I wrong

I refuse to be a hero such as yourself because I'd actually like to avoid hurting my back like you did. No hospital will cover me if I'm reckless and try to be super nurse. Do you think your patient would risk their body and perform maneuvers which were unsafe? Yeah you go ahead and be super nurse. I'll pass. I haven't even had kids yet ii need my back. Let me help YOU understand the mentality..... I shouldn't be lifting patients by myself. I work in an ICU, not a nursing home, so my patient are sedated and are dead weight. Is it reasonable to expect me to do clean a 300 lb intubated patient by myself. That's not safe. Have you ever had a an ET tube migrate 2cm after washing ampatient by yourself? Well let me tell you it sucks. Reintubating a patient because it was my fault sucks

[Girlygirl69]

without lift equipment or six helpers, there's no other way to pull up an obese patient. usually, it takes less than a minute.

and imagine one nurse doing it by him or herself

[Girlygirl69]

Draw labs, not an RN responsibility?

Empty foleys,

Nurse does it for her......Are these patients your patients, or hers?

They are OUR patients and we need to coordinate to provide care, but if half of the team refuses because their physically

Not up to the job, then I'll do I'll be @seed out

And doing it by myself

[Girlygirl69]

I don't think she meant it the way you are implying she meant it....

It seems your implying that she is a nurse with a superiority complex that is too good to so the basic nursing tasks that PCT;s/CNA's like myself are hired to do....

The way I read it.... They are overwhelmed on their unit and need assistance... so they hired someone to do the basic nursing tasks... but the woman they hired is up in years and refuses to the job required because of physical limitations....sooo how much help is she really if she was hired to help the nurses but can't do much of anything anyway????

But let me correct one of your statements. The CNA is hired to assist me in doing patient care because he/she shouldn't do it alone. We should work together to get the job done. What's the point of hiring an aide who can't do the job at all? I'll still be doing all the work by myself

[RNDance]

Ok, I will go gently here. I don't care what age a person is, not their creed, religion or their color. The only thing that I care about is, can they figure out how to answer a calllight. After that, the team can all work together to fill in the blanks. I hurt my back when I was a 19 year old CNA. I can pull up in bed, 2 person assist transfer and 1 person pivot transfer anyone. I will help transfer anyone. I put down my MAR (cuz we are NOT married) and I focus on the resident and my team. The rest comes with a team approach. I have seen very young, seemingly agile nurses apparently without movement below the waist, who move like slugs. I worry about them. I feel they will be enormous-ly dissapointed in the years to come. Who will give direct patient care if the RN's won't? I don't understand the mentality that has time to point out all the deficiences of their co-workers rather than mentoring and leading them. Am I wrong

I refuse to be a hero such as yourself because I'd actually like to avoid hurting my back like you did. No hospital will cover me if I'm reckless and try to be super nurse. Do you think your patient would risk their body and perform maneuvers which were unsafe? Yeah you go ahead and be super nurse. I'll pass. I haven't even had kids yet ii need my back. Let me help YOU understand the mentality..... I shouldn't be lifting patients by myself. I work in an ICU, not a nursing home, so my patient are sedated and are dead weight. Is it reasonable to expect me to do clean a 300 lb intubated patient by myself. That's not safe. Have you ever had a an ET tube migrate 2cm after washing ampatient by yourself? Well let me tell you it sucks. Reintubating a patient because it was my fault sucks

Rest assured, Girlygirl. There is no danger of you ever being accused of being a Super Nurse.

And I'm curious---why would a patient have to be re-intubated after an ETT migrated 2 cm? Sounds like a matter of ETT adjustment and re-taping, if anything. 2 cm is not even an inch-worth of movement. Most ETT are anywhere from 22-26 cm at the lip. A movement of 2 cm is not worthy of re-intubation.

Sorry, but this whole thing is just turning into a really weird b***h session with some really questionable posts here.

[RNDance]

And imagine one nurse doing it by him or herself

That's ridiculous. I've worked in ICU's for many years and there is no way that I couldn't get a group of co-workers together to help lift a heavy patient. And yes, my co-workers certainly do pitch in---if for no other reason than they know that the help they gave will be returned in kind when they need it.

We routinely have patients weighing over 300 pounds and it is not unusual for us to have patients weighing more than 500 pounds. We alll help each other. On the rare occasions where we have a CNA on the unit he or she pitches in too. Yep, we have a few elderly ones who can't lift but really....some have been lifting for thirty or forty years and we treasure what they are still able to do but don't ask them to kill themselves by lifting a heavy patient.

It's just human kindness, from one human to another. Try it once in a while, instead of being so incredibly angry about being so terribly wronged.

BTW, I usually make a linen bedroll and wash the front of my patient myself, even if we have a CNA. Then I call someone (or several people if it is a bariatric patient) to help turn so I (yes, ME MYSELF) can wash the back of the patient (great opportunity to inspect the skin) and put on the new linen.

We also do all our own labs, wound care, dressing changes, foley insertions, etc. Never worked in a place that had techs, LOL. Amazing what you can do when you have to. Frankly, I wouldn't want a tech doing my dressing changes or much of anything else beyond assisting me directly (that means with me in the room!) and stocking supplies. I want to know what is going on, first hand, and with a max of two patients in most of the ICU's I work in now I feel that it's my duty to know.

Methinks thou dost protest too much, Girlygirl. :redbeathe