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I love this site and all of you for sharing! I have asked the other CNA's and they get a little sheepish- that's why I suspect that they might be fudging the chart. The patient is fairly new to us though, so I will keep asking other CNA's as time goes by. I did not think of trying the cup, but I will certainly ask the nurse. The patient doesn't yet answer questions (verbally or with cues), but every now and again, she does give me these cute little barely there smiles, and she sometimes nudges me with her finger when I rub her hand to get her attention, so I really do feel like she's still "in there". Again, thanks everyone for sharing their advice/opinions, and I will keep checking back for more!

I feel the same way about the feeding tube. It's just so sad. :-( Thanks for sharing- I worry that her family isn't ready to accept what looks like it is inevitable. I guess that just takes time.

I have a stroke patient that is almost impossible to feed. She had the stroke about 2 wks ago, and is completely dependent/verbally unresponsive/still sleeping most of the time. The SLP told gave me a couple of tips (including tapping her cheek and throat gently which only works for about 5 mouths full, then she just won't open her mouth no matter what I do), and told me that I just "need to be really patient". Duh. I am being as patient as I can, but at this rate, I literally CANNOT spend the amount of time reqired to get her all the food she needs. It would take me over an hour and a half to feed her a single bowl of puree. Her family will not consider a feeding tube. The nurses, of course, do not seem to understand that I have other feeders that need to eat, as well as a full patient load. They have also told me that most of the other CNA's have been charting her as having eaten 60-70% of her food at every meal. I think the CNA's are lying because there is NO WAY they could get her to eat that much unless they spent 3-4 hours per shift just feeding her. Any tips?

When you have a patient in the shower chair, he leaves a trail of tiny turds all the way down the hallway on the way to the shower, and you laugh instead of scream/run away/cry. This happened to me today.

Striver- My experience so far has been that a lot of agencies will bait you with ads looking for "CNA's- New Grad okay" and when you get there, they will tell you that since you don't have experience, they will have to hire you as a "caregiver/companion". The agencies that I work for are all large national companies, so I thinnk it must be common practice. FEW of the cases I have worked on have actually involved CNA type duties; most have been situations where an elderly person needs a babysitter/diaper changer, or needs their house cleaned/rides to doctors appointments. This is oaky if you need the money, but I have spoken with some hospital H.R. people, and they all told me that they would NEVER consider home care (or so-called companion services) to be valid experience. I think they do this to skirt licensing regulations and pay you less (my opinion). In the SF Bay area, I have been offered jobs paying anywhere from $9-11/hr. I have had a hard time finding both full and part time work. It may be different where you live. If I were you, I would talk to some local places where you think you might like to work and ask if they would hire someone fitting your experience/education to get an idea of how you might fare once you start looking for jobs. If I had done that, I never would have gotten my CNA, I would have spent the extra time and money getting my CMA instead (I know quite a few people that did just that and got jobs immediately- even in this location). Sad, but true.

I will look into the BLS teaching. I just hope I won't be expected to pay to take a class to be certified to teach!

SHIRT: I appreciate the sentiment, but trust me, I have already asked everyone I know, and asked them to ask everyone they know- I've called people I haven't worked with in over 10 years! I already have BLS, and since I can't find a good paying, regular job, I can't take phlebotomy. I also have bills to pay, so I can't afford to volunteer, and at this point I already work 7 days a week through an agency just ot get a measly 30 hours and those hours are spread out over the entire day each week, so I can't schedule anything else. I have had a job for more than 20 years of my life and I am aware of how to behave in order to get one. I think the simple fact is that, particularly in t he SF Bay, nepotism, and not a good resume is what gets people jobs. Just ask all the unemployed nurses in the area.

I HATE the nepotism, but only because I have no connections. ;-) It's such a catch-22. You can't get a job unless you have experience (or you know someone), and you can't get experience without a job! GRRRRRRR.

I have almost of year of direct, though unlicensed patient care experience, and almost 6 months of licensed home care experience (CNA/HHA) I have sent out resumes to over 100 SNFs, LTCFs, and just about any other place that says they're hiring CNAs and I haven't gotten a single bite. Whenever I'm not out on some sort of "homemaker" assignment through the "health care staffing agency" I currently work for, I am searching the net for jobs, cold calling every facility within 50 miles, and sending out resumes. When I decided to try to put myself through nursing school by working as a CNA, I had no idea that it would be nearly impossible to find a job in the SF Bay area. It's bad enough that we have to wait years to get into nursing school. Is there something else I should be doing? I'm really discouraged and getting really depressed.