Heartsofangels

You did the right thing. You covered your butt no matter what the other people say. I would have called the doctor too! Obviously the other people you work with aren't very good at what they do or are they very professional. Keep up the good work!

Hey Kitkat. I am a nurse, but I was a CNA for a long time first and I did enjoy being a CNA and when I worked in the nursing home, I helped the CNA's when I could. CNA's are very important. They are our eyes and ears. They see these people more than the nurse does, especially in homecare. No one has the right to call you anything but professional. I wish you the best in your career advancement.

When I worked in the nursing home, we had a main floor with 60 patients on it, and a subacute unit, which was in the basement near the kitchen, and laundry room that held 10 patients on vents. I used to fill in on 3rd shift sometimes and if our unit was low on patients, I would be alone down there since the CNA was needed on the main floor. I remember sitting at the nurses station facing the patient rooms. I would be looking down charting. I remember seeing a flash of something dark go by me a few times, but when I looked up there was no one there. I also used to hear footsteps a lot but one particular night I was again at the nurses station and I was expecting the CNA to be on her way to help me when I heard footsteps and I thought it was her. I waited a few seconds then got up and looked and no one was there! Another time I heard footsteps in a different area than the first time. It is really spooky down there when you are alone at night. You could be with a patient and hear footsteps and go out into the hallway and no one is there.

My biggest pet peeve is when I walk into a room and a CNA or nurse has completely stripped a pt to wash them instead of exposing one area at a time. My other pet peeve is nurses who think they are too good to answer a call light or "get their hands dirty"

When I was a CNA, I heard about a 3rd shift nurse who gave one of our little ladies 10 times the Morphine that was ordered. She did die, but I don't know the exact cause of death since she was declining anyway. One day I went into work, now an RN, and the previous nurse and I counted the narcs and we discovered that one patient was given double the dose of the prescribed morphine 2 days in a row by 2 different nurses. The 5 rights are there for a reason! There was this one nurse who was working 3rd shift and one night she slept and she was the only nurse on the floor. She was slurring her words. She didn't check blood sugars or give insulin. There was something wrong with her and the assistant DON talked to her and they figured out she had done too many nights in a row and wasn't getting enough sleep and since she is Bipolar...yes I said Bipolar....she wasn't taking her meds right. She would come in with lots of coffee and donuts(manic phase). They let her stay telling her this can't happen again. They fixed her schedule so she wouldn't work so many nights in a row and things were good for awhile, then it happened again and she was fired. Not a safe nurse at all.

When I was in nursing school, our class didn't have to bathe each other. We used mannequins, but another class that was in the same room on that lab day did have to wear shorts and shirts and they had to bathe each other. I would have died if they would have told me I had to strip down to my underwear and be bathed by another student. I personally don't think that is right. That's what the mannequins are for.

I have always been taught over the leg, but lately there has been conflict where I work about foley cath positioning. Some are taught different than others. I would just like a definite answer so I can tell everyone, but I see everyone on here also has different opinions. I'll take any more advice. I work in long term care. Thank you.

I am always a 1/2 hour early for my shift. By the time I get report and do narcotic count it's 3pm and I can get started right away. There is this one nurse who is always late. She was always driving in at ten past. And of course they won't do anything because we are short of nurses, and this nurse only does the bare necessities, nothing more. One night I was sick of her being late again, so when she walked in I looked at her and said "late again." Of course she made something up, but she's been on time ever since!

I have to say that when I was a CNA, we always had people that called in on the weekends, so they had a policy that said you had to work the next weekend and if they didn't need you they kept a list of how many days you were out on the weekend and filled you in where ever they needed you. When I first became a nurse I remember another nurse being in the hospital during her weekend on and they made her make it up. I don't think they should make anyone make up their weekends unless it becomes a habit. It's not fair to the people who do go in on their weekends then they become sick and have to call in and they are expected to make it up. It's not like they were out partying. I told my last DNS that I didn't agree with that policy.

I work in a nursing home so most of our orders are verbal over the phone, but when our new admissions come or our pt's return from the hospital, we have a hard time understanding the writing. I have had to call the hospitals frequently to get clarification. I also don't let any Dr leave from seeing his pt's till I go over all the orders with him/her!

I work in long term care and it usually takes 15-20 minutes depending on the nurse and what has happened. I like taping reports the best. The next shift comes in, you do count and leave. We also have a report sheet we fill out for anything that's new so the next shift can also read that. I don't really like verbal reports because you can get off track easy and you're there longer, but I like it because I feel like I won't miss telling the next shift anything important.