RNfromMN

This is 100% what I am saying. My husband works for a bank. I tried to explain to him it's like having the CEO (or a department head or anyone else in management) walk into work for the day & being told they're needed as a teller. You don't know where anything is, or how anything works...you just have to do it.

Just before I had found out about this pregnancy, I was on the verge of accepting a nursing position with another facility. I don't get any benefits through this job, but at least I would still qualify for my 12 weeks unpaid FMLA time once the baby comes. I wouldn't be able to receive that starting a new job at this time (which only means I wouldn't be guaranteed a job after 12 weeks). I agree with parts of what you're saying (& for the record, I have not complained once about my schedule), but it's more than a bit frustrating when I can barely walk into my front door without assistance after a shift, while other non-pregnant nurses with no existing health conditions are just saying, "No, I won't do that," and no one thinks anything of it. Which leads me to believe that the nurses *do* have some leverage in this situation. If I thought it was just helping out for a little while, that would change my feelings on the subject, as well. However the staffing coordinator has shared with me that she doesn't see this ending anytime soon because no one is applying and the aides we have are dropping like flies because they're so tired of the mandatory overtime. We do have a new administrator starting next month, so I'm a bit hopeful things might change.

As a staff nurse that only works weekends & takes care of her 3 small children during the week, I really don't feel it's my place to try & hire nursing staff. And if I knew anyone qualified for a CNA position, I wouldn't exactly feel comfortable recruiting them to a place where I've seen other CNAs mandated for 16 hour shifts on their first day. I don't think management enjoys paying through the nose for their nursing staff, but I definitely think this is their hens coming home to roost - there's definitely a reason everyone's quitting & no one's coming in to apply.

Yeah, definitely not a volunteer thing. Don't get me wrong - some of the nurses (that started where I work as CNAs) love the change. But even they're getting tired of never being scheduled to work as nurses over and over and over again.

That's totally how I feel. The doc that wrote my coworkers note didn't believe her that she was being scheduled involuntarily for CNA shifts. I guess he was like, "I don't understand - did you get in trouble for something over there? Are you being reprimanded? Or put back on probation?" We are being paid our normal wages, so that's nice.

Where supplies are found in each room. How they transfer. Dentures? Depends or pads? How much assistance is needed in dressing. There are 25-30 residents on my floor with new admissions throughout the week - I know these things about some of them, but no, honestly, not all of them. And they are things I can go find out, but that puts us all behind. Staffing shortage :). I'm not exaggerating when I tell you that the many CNAs & nurses who have put their notice in over the past year or so have been strongly (& always unsuccessfully) persuaded to stay. I'm not really sure at this point what one would have to do to actually lose their job where I work. It's not occasional. It's looking like every shift for me. For an indefinite period, as explained to me by the gal doing the schedule. No one's applying and float agencies only respond about half the time they're called (I'm told). The full time nurses I talk to tell me it's the far majority of their shifts that they are scheduled as CNAs. I sympathize with my employer, but kinda feeling like it's more of a "not my problem" situation. Particularly when it's not a shared problem - the work is only required/expected of certain nurses.

Wondering what others opinions are on this topic. I'm an RN, been working at the same LTC for 8 years. I'm also 4 months pregnant with my 4th child. For the past 6 months or so, RNs & LPNs have been scheduled to cover CNA shifts due to the worst staffing shortage I've ever seen at this place. We can get pool aides to come in once in awhile, but very rarely. I've done a couple shifts - it's pretty terrible, mainly because I was never trained as an aide at this facility (I did work as a CNA for 2 years about 10 years ago). I basically follow another CNA around and we do every single person together. Another nurse I work with ran right out to her doc when this scheduling started and he happily wrote her a note getting her out of it. He couldn't believe this was how we were handling our staffing. I know of one other nurse that flat out refuses to do it and has said she will walk off the job if she's ever scheduled to be a CNA. I don't want to come off as a snob, like I'm better than doing this sort of work, but I honestly have no idea what I'm doing when I'm supposed to work as a CNA, training is not an option and I only work weekends so I don't think I'd ever get "used to it." I don't feel like it's safe at times and I don't think it's fair that some nurses have to do it, while others just throw a fit and get out of it. Thoughts?

Give it a good 6 months until you feel comfortable with your job...best advice a nurse ever gave me.

Wow! All these stories are just nuts! I think I'll just stay in my lil' ole LTC - the most "deceitful" thing I have to deal with there is a 94 y.o. man who's only allowed to have two 1/2 oz of alcohol/day d/t liver disease, yet consistently tells the night nurse he hasn't had any drinks yet after she's already given him his 2.

i honestly can't tell if you meant to or not, but i think that you just blatantly insulted the profession i worked very hard to be a part of and am very proud to be a part of.

I loooovvvvvee "pleasantly confused." I use it all the time - I'm a new nurse, I haven't really ever thought of the "appropriateness" of the term. I feel when I describe someone as "pleasantly confused" -to a family member or otherwise- I'm saying that no, they're not with it, but they're okay with it, it's not upsetting to them.

No apologies necessary for melodrama - try to hang onto and remember this feeling for as long as you can! Congratulations!

I just treat the knee like an elbow, if that makes any sense, and take it in the calf.

Prayers sent your way - God Bless

congratulations!!!

Well, Welcome to Allnurses, Ms Migraine! I can't give you any advice, but I wanted to let you know that I sympathize with what you're saying...you actually managed to list a couple of pet peeves of mine, as a CNA, a student nurse & as a nurse. I am so so so glad my school required its nursing students to become CNAs before they could be admitted into the program. I was 23 when I opened up the newspaper one day & saw salaries listed for RNs. I really started to pursue my degree when I found out I only needed 2 years of school. Honestly, compassion was the last thing on my mind at that point. Then I became a CNA. All of a sudden, "compassion" became my middle name. I don't know how you can physically take care of other individuals -other human beings- without feeling that compassion. I was a CNA for 2 years while I waited to get into my nursing program & I can honestly tell you, I loved each & every minute of it. Honestly, I enjoyed being a CNA much more than I've enjoyed my new little career as a nurse. I always tell people, "I would have been a CNA for the rest of my life...if it had paid even a fraction of the toll it would have eventually taken on my body." Probably a good thing we didn't have student nurses at the facility I was a CNA at because that whole, "It's not my patient, that's not my job," nonsense would have made me livid. As a student nurse, I can't tell you how many times I wanted to punch my fellow students in the face that would c/o being "bored" with their assignment. During clinicals, I was constantly emptying trash, asking the hospitals CNAs if there was anything I could do to help them, etc. There's always something to do during clinical. Shame on the instructor of this student you're talking about for not impressing that on her/his students. Have you thought about going to that instructor at all? Today, as a new nurse, most of my day is spent toileting folks, getting them dressed, repositioning them, etc. When I started the job I'm at now (only a few months ago, mind you), my floor had 2 - 3 CNAs, 1 floor nurse & 1 nurse to do paperwork. (I was the "paperwork" nurse, by the way) Because I wasn't afraid to get my hands dirty, my job decided to lower the patient status a bit, and now it's just me & another CNA that work the floor. And I absolutely love it. I pass the meds, I do the paperwork & I answer the call lights. A lot of times, I'm the only nurse that the aides are willing to work with because I help out so much. And I take a lot of pride in that. Your little nursing student has a lot to learn. I'd actually love to hear stories of nurses that had her attitude back when they were still learning & now have a different perspective & work attitude today.

I'm done with school, I've been at my 1st nursing job for about 6 months & I'm embarrassed to say that I just don't "get" blood pressure. Every time I go back to my text books to refresh, the words just don't click to me. I know how to assess it, I kinda got a grasp on some nursing intervention for low/high BPs, but other than that... -What's the difference between systolic/diastolic? i.e., what does it mean if the systolic is low or when the diastolic is low? What if one's a lot higher than it's supposed to be? I know I should know this & I'm embarrassed to have to ask, so thanks for any input:chair:

Ohhhhhhhh:smackingf Well, in that case...seems I have quite a few patients to apologize to on Monday Thanks you guys!

Potassium has to be given whole, right? It can't be crushed or broken in half, I thought. Another nurse was challenging me on this & she asked me if that's true, then why are the pills scored? Any thoughts?

Well, here's my typical day:). I work on a floor that has 13 residents. The only other staff I have on the floor is one other CNA, but that's okay because I don't mind doing cares & all these residents are 1-person (they only need one person to stand them up, get them dressed, get them into bed, etc). 6:00 - 6:30 a.m. I come in & count all the narcs/controlled substances. I get report from the night nurse, then she goes home. I set up my med cart with water pitchers & juice pitchers, a container of apple sauce or pudding, a container of protein supplement and glasses & med cups. 6:30 - 7:00 a.m. I log onto the old computer & read all the charting from the day before, or the last couple days before if I've been off. I'm usually the only RN in the building, so I like to know what went on while I was gone & what stuff needs to be followed up on with ALL the residents, even though I only take care of less than half of them. 7:00 - 10:00 a.m. The morning med pass. I'm passing pills & answering call lights that the aide doesn't have time to get to. I actually love this part of my job - this is my 1st nursing job, so I love all the experience I get with all the meds. 10:00 - 10:45 a.m. - daily morning meeting. I hate it - we have it every single morning except for on the weekends. A nurse from each floor, the DON, ADON, kitchen manager, activities director, social worker, campus administrator get together & talk about what's going on with the residents & if we'll be getting any admissions any time soon. Like I said, I'm a new nurse, so if I have any ?s about anything I'm doing, this is when I ask them. 10:45 - 11:30 a.m. - I get back from the stupid meeting, usually take a little break, give the aide a break & answer call lights until she comes back, draw any blood that needs to be drawn for labs. Then I check to see if any faxes have come in, send faxes out to the MDs that I need to, update any families on stuff that I need to, chart on the residents I'm supposed to chart on. This is the part of the job that I really don't care for - paperwork, trying to communicate with docs via fax machine, updating families on the smallest little things. 11:30 - 12:30 The noon med pass...I start passing a few pills. Then the lunch trays come up & I pass those out. After all the trays get passed, I finish up with the noon meds. After lunch, I go back & collect all the trays & document how much people ate. 12:30 - 1:00 p.m. More desk work. I check the fax machine, send out more faxes, do some more charting. 1:00 - 1:30 p.m. - The 2PM med pass. This one only has 2 people, so I get it done pretty quickly. 1:30 - 2:00 p.m. - finish up my charting for the day, answer call lights. I'm a pretty big procrastinator, so this is when I'm usually running around doing my assessments. I recount all the narcs & clean up the med cart for the next nurse. 2:00 - 2:30 p.m. - give report to the next nurse & GO HOME! I really like this set up because I get to do it all - which I really think is the best way to provide care. I see all the skin, I see the bowel movements, I see how much people eat, I do all the vitals, I pass the pills, etc.

I don't know what our policy is (I also work in LTC), but all I would need to hear is that the family didn't want the chaplain there & that would have been the end of the story for me. Assuming, of course, there wasn't anything indicated in pt's chart about wanting a member of the clergy there in there last moments.

Thank you for sharing this moment from your day - it really is very touching, despite the fact that it may not be the most ideal situation.

Wow, October, I don't know what to say...how awful. I can't believe they haven't done another tap yet...what's the reasoning behind that? I sincerely hope you can get somewhere on the phone tomorrow.

I followed your previous thread & just wanted to say....good for you! Your courage is inspiring. I can easily list off on 2 hands, girls in the same situation as you that don't have the guts to do anything about it...which becomes particularly difficult to sympathize with when they have children involve. I really don't think you will ever regret this decision - if nothing else, it will give you the chance to realize that you can do this on your own! If you truly want to go back in the future (after taking this much needed step back), I'm sure you'll be able to. Keep us posted!

Perrrfect...thanks, Ilstu; I'm gonna use this one!