AJ_427

Lately, I've trained a lot of people and worked on the floor with many new people. Things to remember: - Not asking questions is the worst for me. That is how you get in trouble at my facility and it shows me that you don't care. Not all residents are the same and things are done differently depending on the assignment. - If I let you do the vitals, tell me right away if something is off. - If I let you chart, ask if you've done it right. I will check them even if you don't ask me and you will hear some harsh words if you make a big mistake. - You do things my way and you follow my routine. I know where I'm supposed to be at what time so don't get mad because you want to do it your way. You will get to do that when you work alone. Ask questions and get involved as much as you can. I would even ask if you can try something on your own because that's how you learn things quickly. Don't slow the person down and at least act like you care. When working alone, don't be afraid to ask for help even if the person doesn't really want to help you. You will eventually be able to do everything on your own.

It's hard for me to even imagine this situation because my coworkers yell at me every time I say that I'm ready to drop out of school. "Stay in school!" is what I hear any time I mention school. Sorry to hear that you are in complete opposite situation as I am. Recently, one of the aides that I used to work with became LPN and actually started working as a nurse at the same facility as she was an aide and she said to me that it's fine so far. Everyone tries to help her out as much as they can. Don't let it get to you. People like that will either never become nurses or they will end up being a "bad" nurse. Just think about it. Why are these people still CNAs and not nurses? You've worked hard and you got into a nursing school. Once you're done you can forget all about them and you will move on. They will be stuck with a job that they hate. Don't let it get to you because this is just temporary. Good luck!

Being short-staffed is way too common at where I work. If you work enough shifts where you are really short, you will know what to do. First of all, you speed things up (speeding up is a huge issue where I work). Imagine that you normally walk for 8 straight hours and when you are short staffed, you run as if someone is chasing you . I normally stay away from slow aides because I won't let someone lazy bring me down with them (sorry if I sound like a b**** but that's reality). I tell my charge nurse that I'm not going to do this and that (prioritize!!!) and if she doesn't like it then oh well. It is her responsibility to call aides if we become unexpectedly short staffed. If we have to split the residents, I will pick the easy ones if I have a very hard assignment originally. Lastly, I don't take breaks. I can work 16 hrs straight without sitting down for 5 minutes. I always finish on time and get things done at least somehow the way they are supposed to be done. I help out those who need it but in my opinion, everyone needs to be able to work short staffed shifts. I will write this again: we will be short staffed until tragedy happens and someone gets hurt. It will happen. And of course, the aides will be blamed. It is so sad that money is the number one priority for the people who run these places. To put it in simple words: NOBODY GIVES A ****. Not about the residents, not about the care we provide, not about the standards of living, not about the aides. I almost quit my job 2 weeks ago because nobody gives a damn about these residents. When people stop caring, everything falls apart. That's why I see new aides come and go every day. PS- Yeah, but we are always good with staffing when the State is about to come hahaha. Oh man, I hate my bosses.

I work all shifts and combination of them (16 hr shifts). To me the 10-6 shift is the easiest because I have my permanent residents and even if they throw at me 20-30 residents I can still do it easily. There is no management and I usually work with the same nurse that I really like (the day nurses quit often so it can be a hassle working with them). The 6-2 is pretty easy too because 11-7 gets up the majority of the residents and all we do is feed, change, and do activities. It goes by really fast. The 2-10 shift is the hardest because when we are short, we have 10-12 showers each (90% of them are total care). Our residents get showered every day and you basically have 2-3 hours to do all the showers, rounds, and charting.

No one wants to work that shift, especially young people. The night shift starts at 10 pm at my facility and depending on where you live, you have to leave at 9 or 9:30 pm. So you can't go out and party hahaha. People often don't show up on weekends so then you are short staffed and then it's hard. I always work the night shift on weekends and this is very common where I work. But in my opinion the night shift is the easiest of all.

You will find people like that nearly everywhere. Some people just don't care. They really don't and I see it every single time I go to work. LTCs can be brutal for new people. Once you survive one of the worst shifts there is then you will feel like you can do anything. My advice: do your own thing in the best way you can (of course, following your facility's rules). This is coming from possibly one of the most hated aides. People at my place hate me and I love it. In my opinion I provide one of the highest levels of care possible and I'm not scared to confront those who don't do that. I would not advise you to do that because people can turn on you just like they did on me. The amount of times that people tried to fire me is crazy. As long as there is no abuse, I would not look at what other aides do. Provide the best care possible to your residents and you will feel much better AND your residents will feel much better too. Plus, you should be golden with nurses and bosses. If you are the type of person who prefers to work alone then do so. Your coworkers shouldn't be your friends and I wouldn't even try to be friends with them if I were you. Go to your job, do what you are supposed to do and move on.

Those are really tricky situations. This happens at my facility A LOT. Back when we used to have a supervising CNA on our shift, I would complain about things like that and nothing would slide by me. In my opinion, before you leave, you have to check all your residents. Your changing round should be within the last 20 minutes (30 is max) of your shift. The last checking round should be 5-10 minutes before you leave. Why the last round? So you can check that none of your residents have vomited, all the side-rails are up, no one is on the floor, no one is walking around, etc. You would not believe how many residents I have found on the floor and with no side-rails, no diapers on, or those who have G-Tube feedings with their heads not elevated. If you feel like certain residents are heavy wetters, put extra pads under them. Heck, I sometimes put 3 extra pads because I know some can pee through their diaper AND manage to get the entire bed wet. Hopefully, there is no rule against putting extra pads at your place. There is another thing. It also depends when the aide that worked after you checked the residents. Who knows, maybe she checked them after 11 pm. My advice is to tell the aides that work after you that you are new and ask them who is a heavy wetter so you can put extra pads under them and so you can check them the last. Sorry, but I check my residents within the first 5-10 minutes after I get my assignment and if I see that they are wet (not a little, but a lot) then I will complain. I've worked after many aides that managed to change their residents and most were dry so I know it's possible. I shouldn't have to clean up after people who are lazy (not you, I'm actually thinking about one particular aide at my facility). Seriously, I come to the main nurse's station 10 minutes before my shift starts to get and assignment and the aides are all sitting around, texting (my annoyance level goes through the roof). Keep in mind, some of us complain not because we are lazy, but because we have to clean up after lazy aides. This puts us behind. I don't remember the last time that I got to go on break (during night shift!) because for the first 1-1.5 hour all I do is change entire beds, diapers, bedbaths, and clothes (16-22 residents, all total care). Don't take it personally, but try to get a feeling of who gets wet around what time (I know that this is sometimes impossible). Once you get to know your residents, it will get easier. Don't worry about since you are still new.

If it makes you feel any better, I got 15% (that's right!) on my last Physics exam. I basically left 10 pages of the exam blank. I studied my *** off and nothing. I've never had any problems with math (Calculus was a breeze for me) and I froze. With Bio classes it's all about memorization and understanding. All you can do is study, study more, and then do some more studying. Study until you get it. Is there anything that helps you with studying? What I do when I get ready for my bio exams is I teach the material to myself. I pick one thing, for example, Na+/K+ pump, and I go over the diagram, I make sure I know how to draw the diagram, explain the process, and say everything out loud.

I've worked at my facility for over a year now and I finally got some seniority at my work. Not many people last at that place. You will find aides who've worked at my nursing home for 5-20+ years. And there are those who can't make it past the first few weeks. So I'm interested to see if seniority plays as big of a deal at your LTC facility as it does at mine. These are the pluses (in my opinion) that go with working at my facility for a long time: - Aides get to choose or get permanent assignments/residents. Most go for the easy ones, obviously. Either way, the assignment/schedule maker gives them easy residents (I've asked and I see a pattern). - They get to pick which holidays they want to work. - They can choose to never work during weekends. - People from all shifts know their name. - New aides always ask for their help. Especially with difficult residents. - Nurses don't say anything bad to them. - Bosses don't care if they're late, they call-off or not show up. - They are less likely to get fired. - The shift after them never complains about them. - The aides that have worked here for a really long time are supervisors. - They've been through it all. Even having 30+ residents won't move them. - They don't need permission to work overtime. - Residents listen to them. Those residents with behavioral problems are easy for them to manage. - Nurses trust them. I can definitely put my name by many of the things that I've listed. So, what about your facility? Is everyone treated equally? Maybe you have something else you want to add.

Don't worry about your age. I was the youngest one in my class (18 yrs old). I was the baby, as they said lol. Most people were over 40! Two were in early 30's and quite few were in their 50's. Yes, few even had grandchildren. Trust me, I work with plenty of aides in their 40-60's at my facility. Good luck!

I'm tired of: - always being short staffed and having to be put on a different assignment at least 2-3 times before I can start my shift. - always having 20+ total care residents to take care of. - aides who don't do stock. - aides and nurses who talk about others. - morning shift always being late. My shift ends at 6:00 am, not 6:30 am. - aides who tell me what to do when they are the ones who sit around throughout the entire shift. - the 10-6am shift aides. - the 2-10pm shift aides. - the 6-2pm shift aides. - new aides who don't ask any questions or help. - 2-10pm lazy aides who don't bother to do their last rounds and change residents' diapers. - aides who don't position residents correctly, feeding tube residents in particular. - having to get up 11 residents on weekends when the morning shift only has 2-5. - sitting for other aides because they are never finished on time. - getting the hardest assignments. - aides who always get the easy assignments. - going to the laundry room to look through huge piles of clothing because laundry people are late with laundry. - aides not putting pads under residents. It's not fun to change the entire bed and pajamas of heavy residents. - lifts not working. - finding messy rooms. - nurses who lift the covers of residents to check if I changed their diapers, but don't bother to cover them up. - not knowing where my nurse and partner are. Tell me! I shouldn't have to ask. - those meetings where they point out all the accidents and wrong things that we do. It makes me feel like an idiot. I stopped going. - there not being call lights in residents' rooms. Some know how to use them and I can always hear them screaming when they need something. - only being able to change diapers. - not having time to go on breaks. - having no supervising CNA. - getting called in to come to work when I'm in school. - not being able to hear pages because half of them don't work. - having so many bosses. - management for being greedy, selfish, ignorant, etc. - management for not hiring more people for the night shift. - management for treating aides worse than teenage McDonald workers. - management for keeping lazy/bad aides and firing the hard working/good aides. - management for not caring for aides. - not being able to quit. - feeling all these things when I start my shift. - working as a CNA at that particular facility. I'm just so tired of being treated like ****. That felt so GOOD.

Well, 90% of the aides at my facility would get fired if we had the same bosses as you lol (VERY few people come on time and it's a pain to wait for them as they are my relief). But I think you will be fine. How are the aides at your facility with being on time? IF some are late regularly and they are still working there then they may be trying to just get rid of you. If that's the case then I would just quit since it's not worth working and stressing over that you may get fired over stupid errors. Usually facilities have policies regarding tardiness and call-offs. For example, you are late once and you get a verbal warning. You are late twice and you get a written warning. You are late for the third time in a row and you get fired. I don't see a problem with you getting another job if you get fired. You have experience. You seem to have good coworkers that will probably be willing to give you their phone numbers as references. Plus, you can always explain what happened.

I am not entirely clear what you mean by "forcing." Is it physically forcing them to take a shower? Or is it verbally trying to get them to shower? I know that at my facility, if an aide tries to physically force a resident to take a shower then she/he can get fired. I am not sure if this fits the category of abuse so I can't write about any laws. At my facility every resident is to be showered unless parents/family or the nurse gives an order to not give a shower. Then on the shower sheet I write "No shower given per parent's request. My name." When a resident refuses a shower (we have few residents who do that quite often) then we have to try to verbally get them to the shower room. If you feel like you can't convince them to take a shower then you have to tell the nurse and she/he has to talk to the resident. If they refuse the shower with nurse, the shower is not given and on the shower sheet I write "Refused. My Name." In my opinion, if an alert resident/patient refuses to take a shower after you try to convince them for a while then the shower should not be given. Nurses, case managers, and upper management should be aware of which kids refuse to take shower, but then again, other staff members force them so you may be seen as a person who just can't get them to shower. I used to have a resident who would refuse a shower after he ate dinner. One time he refused a shower and I told the nurse. He became very aggressive. The nurse yelled at me and said that when I work with him, I always create problems, other aides always shower him, and I can't deal with residents (she couldn't even get him to the shower room!). I yelled back saying that other aides don't even shower him (they write on the shower sheet that he's been showered but everyone knew that he was not showered for days sometimes). She couldn't believe me. With some people you just can't argue since it's like talking to a wall.

I like what one person above me wrote: be honest from the beginning. The key to a good start. I think everyone in the facility will know that you are training so no one will care if you go slower. That's part of orienting. If I were you, I would have a plan. Say at the beginning what you expect from the OT (like asking questions, "you go wherever I go," "first round you watch, second you do it," taking notes, etc). Even if you are not the nicest person ever (like me) then at least pretend to be. Tell them as much about each resident as you can. One trick that some aides at my facility use is to send the OT on a break alone and then you do your job as fast as possible before they come back. You don't have to open up to them. Tell them only things about the residents and the facility. When I was oriented, I annoyed every single aide who trained me with questions. It was so much easier later on. Good luck!

It happens quite often. To be completely honest, a lot of people don't like to orient/train new CNAs. The number one reason is because they slow them down. If I were to orient you, you would not sit for five minutes and I would not be the nicest person ever. You will meet a lot of mean people in nursing homes. My advice: grow a thick skin. If you are pre-nursing then it will help you a lot. One thing that annoys me more than anything is when the OT or someone who is working alone for the first time does NOT ask for help or does NOT ask any questions. I'd rather have you annoy me for eight hours straight with your questions than have anything happen to the residents. I very much care and like my residents so if I see a "bad" aide then it usually doesn't end well. If you need more training then tell whoever set up your orientation or whoever hired you. As I wrote before, a lot of aides hate orienting so don't take it personally. Everyone is slow and clueless for the first few days or weeks when they are working alone. It gets so much easier once you get to know the residents and staff. Survive the first few weeks and then decide if you want to stay.

Not all of us think that we are nurses. Yes, there are some nursing students who work as CNAs so opinions are sometimes exchanged. Plus, we spend more time with residents than most nurses (in LTC setting) and if we think that something is wrong, when you think it's not then think twice. Not to be rude, but your grammar and spelling are painful (LPN? I'm scared). I smell troll.

One night lol. If you keep yourself busy then it's not hard to adjust and stay awake. I sleep normal hours during the week and during weekends I sleep in the morning/early afternoon (when I'm working). I think part of it is that I'm a young college student and I sleep whenever and wherever I can. I personally love the third shift. It may be the easiest of all three shift but the biggest reason why I work the night shift is because no one bothers me. I do my own thing and I have my own routine. I even volunteer to take the hardest assignments (I'm on my feet the entire night!). Keep yourself busy! Good luck!

At my facility, it's always the CNA. Even in emergency when a resident needs to go to the hospital a CNA assigned to him/her needs to go with the ambulance. I know that some residents have behavioral problems (hitting, running away, etc.) then a CNA and a nurse need to go. CNA's at my facility hate that. No one likes going to the hospital since they end up doing nothing. It's pointless. And for appointments, CNA's sign up for those. You sign up, you go.

Nursing homes are pretty good with students and working with them so work won't interfere with school. I have a fixed schedule at my facility and I am not on-call. The way my week looks like: 5 times a week I go to school (M-F), I go to work for the night shift on Friday, I also work the night shift on Saturday, and afternoon shift on Sunday. I work around 24hrs per weekend (about 30hrs if you count the commute). I get one Sunday off per month. This is the 2nd semester that I've worked this way and it's tough. This job eats up all my weekend that I could be spending on studying. I told myself that I am either quitting in January or I'll be working once a week. Learn from my mistakes: don't let work interfere with school. You grades will drop, just like my did. Those grades will stay on your transcript and you won't be able to do anything about them. The toughest time would be when you have to take a lot of science courses. I'm not pre-nursing so I take advanced chem, bio, and physics courses and they require a lot of studying. What I suggest you do is to find a FT or PT job at a nursing home right after you graduate (summer). You will get to know the facility and the residents. Once you start college, work only one or two shifts per week maximum.

My facility is pretty good with that too. I only work 3 shifts during the week (that's weekends only). My supervisor and coworkers are pretty understanding too and are willing to work for me if I need a day off. Part of it is that most of them encourage me to stay in school and say not to worry about work. My bosses (I don't even know how many of them I have lol) give me days off if I need time for studying. All I have to do is write a request form before the master schedule is out. But I'm hoping to cut down on work and only work one shift per week. I'm hoping there won't be any problems. Pre-Med track is killing me lol. 5 classes of which 4 are science related plus labs? I'm already freaking out for the Spring semester.

I know exactly what you mean. I work at a facility for the disabled and we have to fill out the activity books. The way they are put together at my facility is: - It's a binder that is divided by residents - First page tells you something about the resident (mobile, can feed themselves, likes to listen to music, etc.) - Then there are goals. One goal per sheet. It states the resident's and case manager's names. The goal is stated. Under the goal, a detailed description is written of how the goal is to be performed (hand over assistance, verbal prompting, gestures, etc.). Then a long checklist is put. The first row states the days of the month, then there are two rows for the morning and afternoon shift. Each aide has to check plus for residents doing the goal and minus for not. Aides have to initial. As an aide, all I can write is they can be a pain to deal with. If we know that the resident can't or won't do the activity then we don't even try. If we know that a resident can do a particular goal then we just put plus. Those aides who have worked at a facility for a long time will do this most often. New aides do goals because they want to get to know the residents. If I was not as busy as I am when we are suppose to do the goals then I would be more than happy to do them. But the reality is that I sometimes have to look after 22 residents with no partner and I just can't do it. But if the aides at your facility don't seem that busy then why not?

The bed thing is a big problem for me too. I work with disabled and most of them can't really move. If a resident can sit up, crawl or walk then they have to have their bed in the lowest position. When they have a BM and it takes me a while to clean them up, my back kills me afterwards. If the bed has a manual crank then I don't lower it because to me it's a waste of time. If it has the remote control to move it up then I do it. What I do sometimes (I'm not really suppose to do it) is I will put my knees on their beds so I'm in a lower position and my back is not curved as much. You know the feeling when you get home and you lay down for the first time in your bed and it feels like someone is sticking needles in your back? Yeah, I get those a lot. Especially after night shift. The thing is that we have to protect our residents. IF there is a resident who can't move in bed (even from side to side) there is NO reason for the bed to be in the lowest position (try rolling 300 lb man when their bed is around knee height). If there is a possibility of them falling then the bed should be at the lowest position. Just recently, one of my resident fell and if his bed wasn't at the lowest position, he would have cracked opened his head. Electric beds for all my residents would be nice.

I am going to be honest, I'm the complainer at my facility. Sorry to write this but hopefully it will clear things out a bit. One thing that I don't do is complain to the bosses. I will first tell the CNA. If she is not there then I complain to the supervising CNA. If there is no supervisor then I complain to the nurse. I never go further BECAUSE I know that once I complain to the management, the aide WILL be fired. My facility is very strict and I know people need the job. I know what aides are supposed to do each shift. I know their routine and I know what is supposed to be done when I come in to work. If I see a resident still in his/her wheelchair at 10 pm, I will complain because unless there is a specific reason why that resident is up then they should be sleeping. If the bed is put in an incorrect way (siderails down, no mattresses around the bed, etc.) I will tell the CNA what she did wrong so she can fix it. That's why when I get my assignment, the first thing I do is check every single resident. I simply don't want to be blamed for someone else's mistake. I get it that you were short staffed and you had to do 12 showers (I've done 12 showers too so I know how it feels) and I won't bother you. I will even help you. There is one thing that bothers me more than anything: not changing residents before I start my shift. I know these residents and I know who gets wet at what time (around 95% of my residents are incontinent). There is a huge difference between wet and soaking wet diaper. Just be honest and tell me who you didn't change and I will change them. No big deal. But if you don't tell me then they are lying wet for 2 hours (a lot of residents get wet around 12 am so I start changing then). To this day there is a war between the afternoon and night people about that. Same with morning and afternoon shifts. I don't complain to make people feel bad, to get them fired or just because I'm an evil CNA. I do it for everyone. I do it for the residents so they feel safe and comfortable. If the state comes unexpectedly then I'm protecting you, me, nurses, and administrators. If I point out what you did wrong then hopefully you won't do the same mistake twice. I'm not perfect either. Stuff happens that you can't predict.

First days (even weeks) are bad. If it makes you feel any better, I cried on my first night alone when they gave me 33(!) residents to take care of. I will never forget that. I see "slow" CNA's frequently since my facility hires new ones all the time. With time they learn the routine, take short cuts (in a safe way!), get to know the residents and all that. Believe it or not, it does get better. I started working 1 night and 2 afternoons per week. It took me months to get into the routine. If you are working full time and they put you on the same assignment instead of rotating you everywhere then you pick things up much faster. Don't give up yet!

I work at a facility for children and young adults. Our youngest one isn't even a year young and the oldest one is not even 60 yrs old. They are all disabled one way or another. I think it's much better than geriatric LTC facilitiesl