Priorities?

[clarinets, CNA]

I am just curious what are the nursing priorities? I work in an acute care hospital as a CNA. The other day I was trying to pull up a heavy patient that could not pull himself up ( tried trendelenberg) and called for help. The nursing assistants were busy with vitals and said they would help me later so I asked the nurse and told him the Na's could not help because they were busy. He told me he could not help either right now.. He was on the computer at close to start of the nurses night shift...

I felt sorry and bad for this patient who was not sitting in a comfortable position... No one else was to be found... What can I do?

It seems as if the nurses want help from me and I cannot get help from them sometimes... No codes or emergencies were going on...what can I do?

[Cheyenne RN,BSHS]

It is obvious you are a caring person. I would recommend doing the same thing that I do which is if one person tells me "no" I will go ask someone else until I find someone to help me or explain to the nurse why I need the help. Is it the same nurse each time who does not help? If so that may be an issue for the manager to deal with and you could talk to him/her.

[Pangea Reunited, ASN, RN]

Of course the nurses want you to help them because you are a nursing assistant. If we (nurses) always had time to do these things instantly, we wouldn't need assistants to start out with.

Nursing priorities change from minute to minute. A nurse "on the computer" could be dealing with a critical or higher priority task than moving a patient- despite the comfort issue. If no one is available, sometimes you just have to wait for someone to become available. What I don't recommend is trying to move a heavy patient by yourself. Stay safe.