cdicapua

I agree with the emotional satisfaction. I left a high paying job to be a cna at 57. I have a hard time with working short, aides not working with you on 2 person assist. Charge nurse expecting you to give care to someone who is a one on one and still do your rounds for 18 other patients. I was attacked by a resident , I was the 5th cna in one week to be sent to the emergency room. Unless you are a union worker you aren't protected. Workman's comp is lousy. I am out of work for 10 mos. I work for Catholic Health Care of Long Island NY, they didn't even apologize for not providing a safe place to work. The resident was 90 very strong but old he didn't mean to hurt anyone. He should have had the correct care.

It depends on where you live, I couldn't at 16 per hr. If you are single and live at home. Most CNA's work 2 jobs

I am a cna I was injured by a patient and it is thank god a small injury but none the less I can't work. I was enrolled in nursing school and was told how will I be a nurse if I can't use all my fingers. I am going to the school before the semester starts to change my courses if I can. For 26 years before I became a nurse I was a mortgage banker I worked hard to change my career to health care and now at 59 I am out on workman's comp. I have been home for 2 mos now and the feeling of being useless is overwhelming. My heart goes out to you. It is a feeling like you don't belong. Good luck to you.

We have the same thing in our facility. I thought since we were Catholic Health Care it would be different. I work 11-7, The last time I worked was 5/14. I was expected to change 18 residents and give one to one to a difficult resident who wouldn't sleep, at the same time. This resident who wouldn't sleep kept getting out of his chair, no alarm, I had to listen for him and give care to the other 18. When I was giving care in a room to another resident, I heard him jump up,(no chair alarm) i had to lower the resident I was working with , Lower her bed and run into the hall to get this man who had disconnected his feeding tube, only to be yelled at by the nurse, who was standing on the unit watching. Get him settled and go back to resident care , the resident was also sexually aggressive, had sent 4 other cna's to the hospital in one week, and when giving him care he broker my pinky. It would be nice to be treated as a human being at work. At the very least, after all we have to take care of people. I am a cna for 2 years, I never knew how badly facilities treated the cna's

anyone take the Veeb test I am taking it tonight, I took a 3 week course but it seems much more than basic math. It is proportions and ratios using fractions. They touched on the subject for 5 minutes. When I looked it up on the computer it is under Calculas. I have college with a 3.65 gpa and it is hard for me

i am starting nursing school in september 1 yr program at Veeb in uniondale will be an LPN. I am positive about it. The money is so much better. I was just hurt on the job, I broker my pinky working with a resident that has recently become aggressive. I find that at the nursing home I am in they don't care at all what happens to you. The resident who hurt me sent 4 cnas to emergency this week and admin did nothing about it. I am the 5th injury. Isn't this negligence? How can they jeopardize their employees health and get away with it workmans comp only pays 2/3 pay and no health care. I am financially screwed.

I am responding to the statement that Senior Citizen have so much to offer. It is wonderful that you feel that way. Many times I think the aides I work with that are young don't realize how important these Seniors are. They helped shape all that is good in our country. They are the salt of the earth and should be honored for all they have done. They worked hard all their lives and now they are old, sick, and need us to care for them and respect them. That elderly gentleman is lucky to have someone like you to visit him.

Night shift is the best time in a ltc, I talk to my residents who want to talk. Many can't sleep while I am doing care, I will linger in the rooms and hang up the clothes that were left out or label the creams in their draw. I look at the pictures and start asking questions and they do like to talk. The ones with dementia don't like to sleep. Last night we had a new resident and she cried all night, I went into her room after rounds she was calling for her Moma, I said I was there, and stroked her back and gave her a hug, and she fell asleep. It was one of those moments when you are glad you do this for a living. On the day shift I always talked to them about their children. When they don't want to do face washing or teeth brushing I reminice with them about when there children were little and they needed to wash etc. It always seems to spark something in their memory and they become for the most part agreeable

:yeah:No I work for Catholic Health Care, The Ltc I work at had a meeting with all staff and told us that we will likely not get a cost of living raise, last year we were given a 2% cost of living raise becuase of healthcare cuts. They also mentioned that there will be layoffs. I can't imagine what would happen if they laid anyone off as we are worked to the bone as it is.The reason why I am especially curious is because I was a mortgage banker for 26 yrs and changed my career 18 mos ago , I am now a CNA and I have my nursing school interview on Monday, at the same time A major lender has offered me a job. I have worked very hard at this career change I am not young, I am 58. I can't afford to turn down the banking job if nursing is on it's way out. I wanted to know if anyone else has had any notices from their employer.

I live in NY state, The new Governor announced all the state cuts he is going to impose to get state back to healthy financial state. Our facility had a meeting to tell us about the changes they may make. One was possibly no raise, 2nd was layoffs. I noticed that we have less supplies. Is anyone feeling any issues liek this in theior facility?

I think you may find some of that in any facility, unfortunately like any industry there are some bad and good people. It is our obligation to go to admin and tell them what you have seen in the facility. It should be confidential, they should have signs up about compliance issues and where you can discuss them. If you don't give the ltc a chance to defend themselves, chances are leaving a job after 2 mos, is going to look bad for you. If you tell the ltc why you are leaving they have to fix it. We are not allowed to leave them dirty. The sheet issue, I come accross it everytime I work Last week I worked with an aide I like, and I helped her with a difficult bed change, When we lifted the chuck, I said this is a bed change, she obviously was doing it becuase I made her feel uncomfortable if we didn't. Later that night the Nurse said the aide mentioned to her that I made her change a bed, my response to the Nurse was yes because it had to be changed. I work nights as a float, I get to work with many different aides. Working nights you don't have the peir pressure of taking shortcuts that you do in the daytime.

They send you home because they have scheduled per diem's or agency staff which has t be paid . They should only send you home if you have sick or holiday time

I am probably the oldest, new CNA on this site, and I have worked in the banking industry as management for all of my career until 18 mos ago when I became a CNA. I left banking becuase I wanted a more secure position, I wanted to do something for the greater good, I am not as cut throat as I was when I was 40. I am a very kind CNA, but health care is broken.. Follow the rules, don't get used to the wrong way of doing things. Do the right thing. If more CNA's said I will not take the short cuts, they won't expect CNA's to care for more than 8 residents. Than the CNA could give the care they are supposed to. The CNA taking short cuts is trying to make the nurse manager and admin happy by doing the job quickly. Which I believe that a nurse with a 2 yr degree or admin with a 4-6 yr degree must know,and are turning a blind eye too, After all it is only the CNA that will be fired, not them. What I see alot of good aides doing is coming in 30-45 min earlier so that they can't get their work done correctly. That is an alternative, but it isn't good for everyone. When I worked the day shift that is what I did. Do what you feel it the right thing always, and you will feel better about the job you have.

Most agencies want 6 mos to 2 yrs experience. It is a shame that the schools that advertise to become a CNA don't tell you how hard it is to get employment. I got my job becuase my sister in law worked for the nursing home for 15 yrs. I am also from NY. If your school implied that they had job placement push them hard. I had to take part time every weekend 11-7 shift 22.50 hrs per week and was hired full time after working 6 mos. I was a banker and had to keep a full time bank job and work the cna job. I think becuase of recent health care cuts it has become even harder. I am not trying to be negative, but this is the toughest job and lowest paying job I have ever had. I am 58 I have been working full time for 40 years. Look at small hospitals. I don't think you should have to volunteer to get a job in what you have been trained to do.

The battles between rn/cna and cna /cna is only part of it. I figured it out when I was on the day shift. We have 8-10 residents between 7am-11:30 when all residents must be in the day room for lunch. Cna have 10 minutes for resident care per resident. It is impossible to get real patient care that way, granted the shift ends at 3, but after lunch you have a second set of responsibilites, nap time 2 nd changes transporting multi residents to dr, dentist and podiatrist appts. As far as the hoyer go, or caring for someone that is violent, or very big even for diaper changes, I get help, a hoyer is a 2 person assist, not one, I don't really care if another aide thinks I am a baby, there are definite rules that we go by, I also read the care plan, what the dr or nurse manager writes in is what I follow. If the facility doesn't care about the cna and her career, The CNA HAS TO!