Patient Care Tech duties..replacing Nursing duties?

[c5150b]

I recently had a friend/ PRE nursing student (not in the program yet) mention that she is Patient Care Tech which allows her to run IV's ,g-tubes, caths. and so forth. To me this seem that these would be the responsibility of the nurse or at least someone with more than a couple of weeks orientation? Are hospitals trying to crosstrain lower level positions to do this with the lack of RNs? I would think this is beyond the scope of a PCT? But then again I am just a green newbie?

[MysticstarD]

I started out as a Patient Care Tech on my way to RN. I went to school for 9 months and did 2 months of internship. 1 month at a nursing home and 1 month at a hospital. We are trained to do IVs and Catheters in school also phlebotomy, Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy, EKG, Office Procedures, Med Terminology, Anatomy and Physiology and CNA classes.

I worked under a Nurse. As a PCT you are not allowed to talk to patients about any medical procedures or medicines. Any questions I got I would politely just tell them I would get the nurse to answer that for them.

I got a lot of hate from CNAs and Nurses treated me like a slave. I did the time and finished my RN like planned. Now I get to be the slave driver (lol Just kidding. I don't have the heart to do that)

[iriska_meller]

Our hospital in NY just started transitioning NAs into PCTs. As PCTs they can do 3 additional things: draw blood (not from a central line though), do EKGs and fingersticks. No IV insertion or foleys. This is a good help sometimes, because a blood draw can take 15 minutes that I desperately need away from my work. One thing I dislike about it however is that now all the PCTs are excited about these new duties, but when a patient needs to be changed they show much less enthusiasm (

My dream however (never gonna happen) that they invent a position that will take care of the majority of my paperwork so I can focus on my patient care :icon_roll

[MysticstarD]

About the changing thing. I enrolled in PCT because aside from being a good foot into nursing I wanted to do more than wipe behinds and wash patients (I thought that was what CNAs were for). At school we were told over and over again that we were not butt wipers and then you go out to the field and that is the one thing they want you to do.

[RNperdiem, RN]

The cynic in me says that giving more nursing duties to PCT's means that nurses can be given more patients to be responsible for("the PCT can do more now!") so the hospital can hire cheaper labor.

Of course the sales pitch to the nurses would sound like "be a patient care manager!" "you don't need a degree to do xyz."

[iriska_meller]

About the changing thing. I enrolled in PCT because aside from being a good foot into nursing I wanted to do more than wipe behinds and wash patients (I thought that was what CNAs were for). At school we were told over and over again that we were not butt wipers and then you go out to the field and that is the one thing they want you to do.

That may be true if there are both a PCT and a CNA assigned to the same patient load. But we only have PCTs now. And me personally I don't mind wiping butts one bit. I do mind however when my IV meds, abx and blood transfusions are delayed, sometimes for hours, because I have to make sure patients are clean and turned and fed and assisted to the bathroom. Unfortunately, I cannot delegate my paperwork to PCTs either.

[winterallsummer]

What's the difference between a PCT and CNA?

I was told at the CNA school I enrolled in they are the same thing.

[WoofyMutt80]

In Rhode Island, due to the shortage of RN's, the CNA's are MAP certified (they go thru a med administration training program.

[miko014]

It's all just the terminology of the institution you work for. Technically CNA means certified nursing assistant, but if you don't actually have a certification, sometimes places might still call you a CNA. PCT is patient care technician, and they do whatever the institution says they do.

Where I work, our PCTs recently had a lot of stuff taken away. Apparantly it was decided that some of the stuff they were doing (e.g., sterile dressings and foleys) were out of their scope of practice, and now nurses have to do it. It had something to do with JCAHO I think. At least, that's what they said.

And side note - if you have a problem wiping butts, just get out now. It's something that is very important, desperately needs to be done, and if it was you or your family member laying in that bed, you'd be pretty pi**** if someone didn't clean it up soon. Nurses do it too! If you can't handle it, move on. I'm not targeting that at anyone specifically, but I have seen many many threads about wiping butts and how people don't want to do it. So just saying.

[MysticstarD]

I don't have a problem doing it. I just did not want that to be all I did all day. I wanted to learn other things. I like to learn as much as I can and work in different areas and PCT gave me that vs CNA. At a nursing home I worked assisting a Physical Therapist and also did Occupational Therapy Assisting. I can work at a lab, front office, and CNA.

CNAs at least when I went to school could only assist nurses by cleaning the patient and their beds and taking vital signs. CNAs in Nursing homes and PCT in hospitals is how they sold the program that is how they lured you in. "you are more than a CNA don't let anyone tell you you're just a CNA" said the lady from the government that came to talk to us to assure us of the importance of PCTs. They also lied about the pay. I guess now the duties vary by state and necessity.

PCT was my way to get my foot in the nursing field until I got my RN. So it served its purpose and yes I still wipe behinds big and smalls and I do it with pride and love.

[classicdame, MSN, EdD]

This is the very reason nurses ought to be part of a professional organization. These organizations have the strength and know-how to protect our license. States vary, but my state's Nurse Practice Act specifically outlines what CANNOT be done legally by unlicensed personnel. Does yours?