AngelCNA

Awhile back I was in with a resident who had CHF. Her 40yo son had died earlier that year. She had put her call light on and I went into her room and she sat straight up in bed and said to me, "Can you contact my sister to make sure that my son is alright?" I said to her that I would ask the nurse to contact her sister but then reminded her that her son had passed. She looked me right in the eye and said, "I know he died, so has my sister, but YOU'RE the one who can communicate with the dead." She laid back down and continued to beg for me to have contact with her sister. A bit shocked I said, "I can't talk to dead people." And she said, "I KNOW you can, you just don't know it yet." I didn't know what to say so I just excused myself and left the room. What makes it freakier is that a week later my s-i-l passed away. I had dreamt that someone was drowning but I couldn't see their face. I woke up and shrugged it off as a nightmare. My s-i-l drowned that morning. And when I found out, the first person I thought of was that resident at work who had passed a few days before. No, I can't communicate with the dead. Just coincidence. Another woman passed away the day after this happened: I was in with her and she perked up in bed and stared right passed me over my shoulder. She looked all scared and reached up and grabbed my head in her hands and pulled me closer and proceeded to hug me. I thanked her and told her that I had to go take care of others and that I'd be back... she grabbed my hand as if she didn't want me to go and her eyes opened wide then she stared at me and then started looking over my shoulder again. It makes me wonder now reading these, if she was seeing someone behind me.

"As a CNA myself (for now) I see both sides of the fence, I see some nurses the DO sit and play (yes ...play) on the computer,I see other CNA's be lazy,and I do see the young new nurses (not to many)that don't want to get their hands dirty." Yes, we did have a couple young nurses come in and think they knew more than the older nurses and wouldn't do "CNA work". They didn't last long there, because even the DON does it. I was shocked the first day I worked on the floor when she was there and we took a resident to the rest room. I fully expected to do the wiping and she put on a glove, grabbed a wipe, and she did the wiping of a messy BM while I helped hold the resident up. I now work when (3rd shift) it is just the one nurse and I most the time. I respect her a lot because she doesn't feel above doing "CNA work". And she is always saying how CNA's don't get paid enough for the physically demanding jobs they do which is why she says she treats me like her equal. Most nights we do the exact same things other than she has to pass meds and chart more detailed information on her charting than I have to on mine. LOL! ;-)

I'm excited because I just switched jobs! I was working at a facility where I would work in the healthcare center OR the dementia unit on days. We were short staffed since August and it was wearing on me. In the beginning (Fully staffed) the resident to CNA ratio was 10:1. For the last few months it was more like 15:1 in the HCC and originally 7:1 in the dementia unit but most recently 14:1. The new place I work at (Since Oct. 1) I was hired for just the dementia unit only. I took an over night position. The ratio there for CNA on overnight is 18:1 (Days it is 6:1), BUT the night nurse really helps out so it's like 9:1. But on overnight, most are in bed with only 2 or 3 people awake at night. So it actually feels like maybe 2:1. Old place the Resident to Nurse ratio on day shift in the HCC was 40:1 and the dementia unit 14:1. New place dementia unit 9:1 (days). My new facility also has a HCC but I don't know the ratios. There are 65 residents there and when I walk through it at NIGHT I've seen 4 aides and one nurse... ??? I really love the new facility I'm at! They said it is really hard to get on there... and now I can see why. :nuke:

There will always be people out there like that. I have some pretty wealthy relatives who live a distance from us. We went there to a wedding shower for my cousin and my aunt made a comment about how she was hoping that her daughter would've done better, "after all, he's JUST a doctor." (Not only is her now husband a doctor, he's an orthopedic surgeon. LOL!) So, don't let others offend you. They don't always realize what they are saying.

This is so sad. Prayers to the family! When my sister in law anounced she was pregnant last Aug. I feared that something similar would happen to her... more related to her severe Diabetes though. I thought my brother would be left to raise thier child alone. It was just a strange feeling that I got. She reassured me that they were following doctors orders to the T... and that everything would be fine. Unfortunately, something bad did happen to her. She was home alone one Saturday morning in Nov. and she passed out due to her diabetes and ended up drowning in their bathtub. She was dressed, which makes it all more freaky. I still can't wrap my mind around that one. Anyway, the autopsy revealed the baby to be a boy (13 weeks). She was 26. Tragedies happen and none of them make any sence. It makes me stress the importance to everyone to take good care of themselves. Again, prayers go out to this family!

Hi! I'm Carla and I have been a CNA for one year now and have been employed at a LTC Retirement Community for one year. I love where I work! The residents are terrific, my co-workers are some of the best people I have ever worked with! However, it is a physically and emotionally demanding job. At our facility we do Home Care for apartments, duplexes and condos, plus we have a Dementia Unit, and an intermediate care facility (HCC). Our facility triess to encourage "culture change" in LTC. We are currently building an "End of Life" team that I have voluteered to help with. I can't wait until we get that up and going! I am also a student in pre-nursing doing pre-requisites. I plan to go for an LPN and then the RN down the road. I think it's a great thing to have this site! Thanks!

I just have to share this: I am a CNA in a LTC. I feel every resident is my resident even when not on my hall. Yesterday I answered a call light for another aide. The woman and her husband (who was visiting) smiled big when I walked into the room. The hubby said, "I'm so glad it's YOU this time." That's probably one of the best compliments or feeling of praise I have gotten. When my residents are happy and comfortable, that's the best feeling in the world.

I am a CNA in a LTC. Teamwork is what makes our facility one of the best around. On 1st shift we have four CNAs on the floor. This gives us a 10 to 1 patient to CNA ratio. Plus we have a CNA assigned as bath aide and do an average of 10 baths per day excluding Sat./Sun. Second shift has four aides, no bath aide. The aide does the baths in thier hall or designates which aide will do baths that evening. They average 4 - 5 baths per night. We have ONE nurse. This nurse can be either an RN or an LPN. The nurse does in room med passes twice per shift, then does various other treatments and then does charting. Us CNA's do all the waking up, dressing, ADL, cleaning BM's or incontinence, we deal with wide ranges of emotions (depression, confusion), and family members. We take the residents to their meals, watch for irregularities, feed those who can't feed themselves, encourage those who can but don't want to or nod off to sleep at the table, we set their bed up appropriately and then tuck them into bed at night. When we dress and undress the resident we are always on the lookout for skin breakdown and report any signs immediately. We make and strip the beds and put on new linens, take out trash, tidy up the rooms, and take the residents to planned activities and exercise. We take vitals daily. We also do cleaning of the body after a death occurs for family viewing and/or for the funeral home to do pick up. Most our nurses, whether RN or LPN, will help out willingly with any duty when asked. None of them are above doing anything. We have great communication and give the nurses all the information they need. I've even witnessed our DON and ADON do butt wiping. Our nurses always tell us that without the CNAs and they actually say "the quality of CNA's we have" they would be lost. We have phenominal TEAMWORK at our facility. I'm very proud of where I work and all the people I work with! But I also know that it isn't that way everywhere.

In our Facility the codes are these: Code Blue - Medical Emergency Code Red - Fire Code Green - Missing Person, Search for resident (room # then given) Code Purple - Resident has fallen, immediate Help (location given) Code Black - Severe Weather Approaching, Close windows/blinds/curtains

After reading all these posts, I am happy to say that I love ALL my co-workers! I am a CNA (obviously) in a LTC Facility. We work in teams all day. The LPN's and RN's depend on us to tell them everything. At every shift change, they thank the CNA's for doing such a great job that day... and sometimes they point out specifics from the day. One day I was working and our DON came into the area and a light went off. Her and I went to help the resident off the toilet... and she did the wiping, then thanked me for helping her. I've never had a bad experience with any one of any level or area at our facility. I'm so grateful to be working where I am. :)

My 26 year old sister in law had Diabetes since she was a pre-teen. She wore a pump and just got a new pump in Oct. Her blood sugar levels would get so low that she would pass out or would not wake up on her own in the mornings. My brother and her wanted to have a baby and talked it over several times with her Diabetes doc and family hysician and with the docs blessings, they got pregnant. The docs words of advice to her was to "maintain low blood sugar counts." This didn't make a lot of sence to me since low sugar counts was a bad problem for her. But I figured they knew what was best... Well, in Nov. 2005, at 13 weeks pregnant, she passed away. She was found clothed in their bathrub submerged under water. We do not know why or how. But the autopsy revealed that she passed out due to diabetes and drowned. Though she tried to maintain what the docs suggested, it didn't work out in her situation. And though the cause of death in the coroner's report is drowning, she wouldn't have drowned if she hadn't of passed out due to the Diabetes. At work I test blood sugar levels on people who complain about having it done. I stress to them the importance, now more than ever, of keeping a good eye on the counts. It does mean the difference between life and death. Thanks.

In Iowa, an LPN starts at about $14.00/hr. An RN at about $18.00/hr. CNA's (or Patient Care Tech's as they are called in hospitals) can make anywhere from $9.75/hr. to $11.00/hr to start. Most facilities give raises after 90 days. Shift differentials here are not near as good as what I've been seeing posted though. RNs in trauma can make upwards of $25./hr and more. I saw an opening for $38./hr in a trauma unit. Our facility gives us an extra $1. per hour if we are called in to cover a shift with less than 24 hours notice. They are eliminating one holiday this year but are replacing it with having our birthdays off with holiday pay. That is cool!

I've worked in two LTC Facilities. One provided uniforms for all the staff. The nursing staff wore teal, housekeeping blue, kitchen red... ect. The one I work in now is much smaller and allows the staff to wear our own scrubs. They want us to pick out our own so that the home feels more like... home instead of an institution. Our scrubs let our personalities come out and the residents really enjoy commenting on the latest fun scrub set. Plus, if they can't remember our names, they will often ask for "the one in the bubbles top"... then we know exacty who they are talking about. Both places let us wear scrubs from home. We didn't have to change into them there. Both cautioned about wearing scrubs out in public BEFORE our shifts, but afterwards didn't mind because they knew they'd be washed before we wore them to work again. I wear mine in my own car, straight to and from work. However, if one of us got bodily fluid on them, the facility doesn't have extras there to change into. That is a good thing to bring up at our next meeting. Thanks for the thread! :wink2: