tryin4newlife

I understand your concerns and feel your pain. I am a CNA and I am finishing nursing school as well. It seems as if it is the same story every place you go....give everyone the maximum patient load. The longer you do your job however the better you will be able to handle the number of patients. I work in acute care on a med/surg floor and we typically have 10 - 15 patients depending on the number of patients on the floor. Having said that - number of patients is not all there is to consider. The level of care needed for each patient is a huge consideration. Some days I can have 15 patients and actually have time to grab a quick drink or two - or even better yet - use the restroom in the course of a work day!!!(WOW) Other times I can have 9 patients and barely have time to grab a 15 minute lunch. Keep your chin up and hang in there. Organization is key, and the longer you work the better things get;)

I feel for your situation. This behavior is bad for morale. I have worked with people who sound just like this woman, and you begin to get really tired of dragging yourself into work and doing the best for your patients when others just seem to skim by...... Hang in there:nuke:

so funny - I am just finishing school, and I have the same situations. In addition I get calls from family members all the time giving me a bunch of symptoms and trying to get a diagnosis. I always tell them that "medical diagnosis" is not (or rather will not) be within my scope of practice.

We have cases of cdiff from time to time. seems like it goes in spells. I always glove and gown when I go into a cdiff room. We always have designated equipement in the room on contact precautions (own thermometer etc). In addition, you must wash with soap and water when leaving the room. I see so many doctors entering cdiff rooms without gowns or gloves carrying charts etc into the rooms - even though hospital staff may follow contact precautions sometimes the physicians just don't....Anyone else find this in their institution?

I am currently an aide that is not certified. I have one year of clinical nursing school under my belt and that is the minimum requirement at my facility. Those starting wages are crazy to read about...my starting wage sounds much better now a days - although tragically enough there are many places that you can actually make more flipping burgers than caring for people.....What a crazy world...

That truely is a bad situation - where I work our calendar goes from July to July. You can call off three times from July to July with no problem. Once you call off the fourth time, you get a written warning.....after that I think you get another warning or two before you actually can be fired. Only calling off three times in one 12 month period is pretty difficult if you have small children or you seem to get a lot of illnesses. In addition, we have signs all over the hospital that state if you're sick or have flu type symptoms the hospital requests that you refrain from visiting at this time for the welfare of patients. That always makes me chuckle - they don't want visitors, but your health care provider can hang over you all day sick as a dog. Any yes I know, you can wear a mask while ill and working in the hospital - I've done it - but patients usually as why you're wearing a mask and some look very uncomfortable if you state that you are slightly ill. I do understand that we have patients to care for regardless if workers call off or not, but if you're a good employee and you have real illnesses and reasons for calling off that should be taken into consideration.

omg - talk about a hair raising moment.....Have you recovered yet???

I think that it is important to delagate, but there is a line that can be crossed at times. As an aide, I've had nurses search for me down a different hall (my unit has four different halls) just to tell me that a patient needs put on a bed pan. Now I can respect that the RN can do things that I can't, and I believe that if you ask anyone that I work with they will tell you that I don't have a problem assisting in any way...but, it takes more time to search patient rooms for an aide than it does just to put someone on a bed pan....Not to mention the poor patient has to wait for someone to return...I think that is really poor!!! Fortunately, I can say that this type of RN is the exception not the rule on my floor, and I just make myself a promise that when I'm an RN I will not do such things. To me, as an RN you don't "educate yourself out" of doing these types of tasks, but you "educate youself into" additional tasks as well. I truely believe that everyone (house keeping, dietary, nursing etc) working in healthcare can feel overwhelmed at times and I think that we should all take a minute to pat ourselves on the back that we care enough to continue to report for work each day...GOOD JOB EVERYONE!!!

Sorry to hear so many bad experiences. I am an aide on an oncology floor and I have to tell you that for the most part it is a wonderful experience. The nurses are great and I love my job. As a matter of fact, there are portions of my job that I will miss when I'm done with school. It seems like sometimes I actually can spend more time with patients than RNs because I have a lot less paperwork to do. My job has taught me the ins and outs of the floor, and in addition I have been cross trained as a unit secretary which has given me great experience reading charts and doctors orders. I love it and would recommend it any day;)

I think that is not true. Sounds like a statistic or study that someone would make up to prove a point. If there was a study, who conducted it? Generally speaking, when I read a "study" I usually ask myself that question, and if anyone has anything to gain by certain outcomes of the study. Sounds like a study conducted by healthcare management - probably conducted on a REALLY bad day with a goup of very unhappy people. :smiley_ab

Just finishing up the last excelsior nursing concept exam. Just wondering how others are finding the cpne...Is is really difficult. One nurse I work with states that if you know your clinical elements and practice the lab portion until it's second nature you should be ok. It seems however that I keep reading that documentation is a sticking point for some people. I guess for me it is just fear of the unknown...Any information would be appreciated...what the expect etc. thanks for any help..