stamidg

Thanks everyone. I go to work at 2, and I will stop by the DON's office and report this. I am really struggling with my emotions right now. I am SICK over this, and, well, a little scared.

I work in an Alzheimer's unit; I'm a CNA. We have a resident that has to be approached just so, or she gets angry. An example of a typical good approach is: "Hi X, how are you today? Would you like to come for a walk with me? I really enjoy your company." After that, she is usually 95% compliant. However, if you demand of her, scold her, etc, she will get angry and very non-compliant. We had an inservice on her yesterday regarding this. We have a nurse who doesn't like this resident at the nursing station (on our floor, it's just a dining room table with chairs). However, X, who was always a homemaker, per her chart, is really comfortable there. She doesn't mess with anything, other than maybe to try to wipe the table. I was coming out of another resident's room, and saw X heading to the nurse's station. I tried to get to her first to intervene, because this nurse does have a habit of approaching X wrong. This is how the conversation went: nurse: X don't touch that! X: I just want to sit down. Nurse: NO! This is my place and my things, go away! Ok, so I'm literally between these 2, trying to verbally seperate them. At this point, the res tries to pull out the chair to sit in it. The nurse yanks the chair away from her, the res reaches out and slaps the nurse. THE nurse then scolds her on why hitting is wrong and how she is a mean lady. Now, this patient has Alzheimer's, so maybe doesn't really know better, and, imo, she was provoked. The nurse then told another nurse how mean X was (this nurse had just walked on the floor), as I was walking X down the hall, having finally calmed her down and removed her from the situation. I was up all night crying over this; I'm sick. I suppose I know it's verbal abuse, but I feel I need support.

HI, I'm Staci. I was a CNA for 2 years (2000-2002), and then let my certification expire because we were being sent to Germany for 3 years. The Army changed their minds last minute and sent us to TX, then GA, then SC. I am "home" now and going to retest tomorrow. I'm actually here looking for study material to calm my nerves. Having worked 2 years as a CNA, I don't know why I am so nervous about my tests; pretty sure I know what I need to know. Anyway, glad to be here!