PhePhe

My cousin is a clinical educator RN there. She loves it, mostly for the educational environment and the opportunity to work with world class specialists. I have been there several times on business with a pharmaceutical company. The area surrounding it is terrible, parking is difficult--but its not unlike many inner city hospitals.

Stand your ground! Please don't fold. You are doing what you are supposed to be doing. Grab the job description and sit down with the supervisor as a witness and ask the aide just what she is REFUSING to do in conjuction with that patient. Also hint to your manager that you have had it with not being supported and for now on you will document all refusals when patients are not gotten out of bed. You can't fight city hall! This place sounds like one where the NAs think they are going to boss you around. You may have to start looking for another job. Or ask for a transfer. When will nurse managers realize that it is this kind of non-support that drives a nurse to quit!! I feel for you honey. Again, stand your ground. They are challenging you. I know you can come up with a workable solution. Gettin an AZZ out of bed, indeed! How unprofessional.

Zoeboboey, I like your style. I can guarantee you would get major atitude if you spoke those simple clear requests! I am with you all the way! I'll try it at work today

Ideally all nursing staff must work together. Years ago, I worked on a 24 bed general surgical floor that was really busy. We had 3 teams of an RN and an aide or LPN. When one team was done, we always went to see if the next team needed help. We were not finished until ALL teams were caught up. The difference is now, the RN may find herself in a situation where the person he/she must delegate tasks to may refuse or ignore him/her. This is what I am taking about. This a pressure of being a RN. Sorry if some NAs take offence. I and others have said all along that there are good NAs. But look at all the RNs who are reporting problems here? This is not an issue to be swept under the table. NAs can start their own thread, "NAs who feel RNs Boss them Around". Every response from an RN should tell you that "delegation" is part of the RN job description. Being "Bossy and nasty" are not.

This is obviously a sensitive subject, one that many nurses and aides can relate to. The NA/RN relationship is an important one--when there is no cooperation from the NA it makes the job more difficult for the nurse. Nurses are told to delegate. Its sad to see NAs on break or ignoring lights when the RN is running around trying to do everything. This is especially true when the RN is much younger than the NA--they get intimidated. As many have said there are plenty of good aides around. It is the bad ones that can ultimately help to drive a nurse out of the healthcare facility. This is a big problem--nurses cannot do everything. The acuity level is much higher now and there are so many technical things to accomplish in a shift that often there is very little time for RN patient care. That is the reality--its not that nurses don't want to do it--its just that there are many things they have to do that the NA does not have to worry about!

There are bad nurses and bad NAs..I agree it is always best to approach ANY coworker politely. There is no excuse for rudeness. A good NA is worth her/his weight in gold! Often I am treated rudely because I am from an agency. I try not to go back to those places.

I would be very angry. Maybe you should pick up your extra shifts at an agency? As I said in another post, management is always quick to chastise the RN, but when it comes to Nurses Aides or other union staff they suddenly get cold feet. We nurses put up with so much CRAP!

You know, I have heard nurses aides say that the nurse HAS to help, and just because they are an RN doesn't mean they don't have to do patient care anymore. Yes, nurses are supposed to help, but they have other duties that the nurses aides do not. The nurses aides do not have to pass meds, check charts, do treatments, accuchecks, IV /IV meds etc. So why is a nurse supposed to do half the nurses aide job plus all the other professional duties? The acuity is so much higher now than it used to be, whether hospital or LTC facility. This logic doen't make sense. Why can't the nurses aide get another nurses aide to help, when the other one is not busy? Why do they have to "wait" for the nurse? In my opinion this is done on purpose, as I have heard many NAs talk about the "nurse who thinks she's too good for patient care". I used to be an NA, and I worked with the other NAs to get the job done, when the RN was busy. We wouldn't dare be insubordinant to the RN, by saying "no" to requests that are within the NA job description.

When will nurses ever learn to delegate? When will nurses ever collectively stand up and get some backbone--Fight for higher wages, and better benefits like a company matching 401K plan? I get sick when I work at institutions (I am an agency nurse) and I see the Nurses aides doing whatever they want when they want--unlimited breaks, breaks all at once together leaving the floor uncovered, flat out refusing to answer lights or doing a task. Its no wonder nurses are leaving the profession in droves. Management appears to be scared to approach the NAs too, but have no trouble when it comes to chastizing an RN. Whenever I ask an RN why they tolerate a situation, the response is always the same--management lets them get away with it. I have returned to Nursing after 13 years of working in a business setting. Not much has changed. PT, Pharmacists, and OT have all manged to get substancial financial increases while many nurses are still making $21 bucks an hour. I don't allow NAs to get the best of me, and all I get for my trouble is even more resentment. Not all NAs are like this but I will go out on a limb and say the lack of RN delegation and management skills are detrimental to the professionof nurses. Phe Phe, RN, BSN, MBA

I could not do homecare. I could not stand to go into a dirty smelly bug infested home, where you are reluctant to breathe in the noxious odorus air! I would not put my coat down nor want to deal with dirt and filth. It would make me sick. Hats off to those who can stomach that line of work. P.S Didja see any mice?

I could not do homecare. I could not stand to go into a dirty smelly bug infested home, where you are reluctant to breathe in the noxious odorus air! I would not put my coat down nor want to deal with dirt and filth. It would make me sick. Hats off to those who can stomach that line of work. P.S Didja see any mice?

Nurses-stand up and fight for what you are worth. All of you are seriously underpaid. There are jobs you could get in pharmaceuticals where you walk in the door with an RN and get $55K! After returning to nursing after a long absense, I am convinced that hospitals pay what they do cause they can get away with it! There is a nursing shortage--wages should be going up--significantly. Look at pharmacists--they used to make less than a nurse in the early 80's--now they make upwards of $75K as a beginner. We nurses have got to stand up for better wages and also for 401K plans!

It is sort of like having a teacher for a tough math or science course, and you can't understand their accent. That is very stressful. The vietnamese nurse told me the only time she speaks English is in the hospital. Outside the hospital family and friends all speak vietnamese. In other words, she doesn't get to practice conversational english.

I work at a hospital where a number of Indian and Spanish speaking nurses speak broken English, at best. Sometimes I wonder if they understand everything I am saying to them. Also ran into a Vietnamese nurse who everyone was giving a hard time to on her orientation because her English was so bad. The Spanish and Vietnamese nurse were brought to the States by the hospital. The Vietnamese nurse could read written english well, but had difficulty speaking. The Spanish speaking nurses seem to have trouble with passing the NCLEX. I wonder if recruiters evaluate the nurses command of English. I can understand them and am patient, but a number of my colleagues are impatient with them. I feel sorry for them.

oops. This a wonderful company with great benes!