TurtleCat

I am a CNA/med tech at a group home for the elderly, a residential care home... it's different from the typical nursing home in that we care for only a few patients at a time, up to 6. And also, it's only one employee at a time caring for them, a CNA who does everything -- the typical CNA duties, plus passing meds, monitoring their condition, housekeeping, cooking meals, activities, etc... Don't get me wrong, most days I love my job and prefer working in it to the typical facility. But an incident came up fairly recently. We have bath aides that come in during the week to give a patient a bath -- the rest of the time, it's just us CNAs caring for them (and doing other things for them, including bathing on the days the bath aides aren't scheduled to come) Well, there is this one client, let's call her V to avoid any breach of confidentiality. V has a bath aide that comes in for her twice a week. This particular day the bath aide was scheduled to come in... I had checked V @ 6 am in the morning, to make sure she was clean and dry. She was dry as a bone, no urine or feces. My shift ends at 7am... so I figured that was sufficient enough time to make sure she was good for the oncoming day shift. And usually it is. But this is what happened. The bath aide came at around 6:15. The bath aide bathed and dressed her. And then, afterward, the bath aide called me into the room. The bath aide asked me when was the last time I checked her, and I reported the truth, which was that I checked her at 6 am and she was dry. The bath aide proceeds to basically accuse me of lying. She says her brief was soaking wet, that it appeared she hadn't been checked for hours, and that she's reporting it to my supervisor. I told the bath aide "for her information" that I check my patients every 2 hours, like clockwork, and that the last time I checked her, she was clean and dry. She accuses me of being "unprofessional" by saying "for your information" (?) and that she is reporting all this to my supervisor as soon as she comes in. Ok... I mean, all I have to say to this situation, is the truth -- that I checked this client at 6 am, 15 minutes before, and she was dry. It appeared she wet again since I last checked her, and you could say maybe I should have double-checked her before the bath aide came in to make sure... but at the same time, I don't think I did anything horrible, nor that I wasn't doing my job... I feel it's important to note that this particular client urinates in high volumes sometimes, in that, sometimes she'll be dry for hours, and then a whole bunch of urine will come out at once. Like she retains fluids and then it all comes out at once. So on that note, like I said before... I think my only error lies in not double-checking her right before the aide actually arrived. Regardless, I didn't feel it was right for this bath aide, someone who isn't even an employee there and only comes in for 20 minutes a week, to come in and antagonize me like that. She came off as really rude and unpleasant, not to mention, how is it her right to come in and accuse me like that? She is not my supervisor, she is not a family member of the client or anything like that... So when my supervisor comes in, the bath aide actually takes the wet brief, and practically runs to my supervisor with it... and is explaining how I must have left her wet for hours, etc etc... and at this point, and I ADMIT this was wrong of me, but it was an emotional and impulsive reaction... I'm just like "screw this, I'm not coming back" and walk out the door. And my supervisor is calling me up afterward begging me to come back. I'm just really hurt, upset and frustrated by this situation. I don't hurt, mistreat or neglect my clients... and yet this bath aide acts like I was. It was honestly just an honest mistake, where she urinated after I last checked her and I didn't catch it. But for whatever reason, the bath aide didn't and refused to see it that way, even after I explained to her what happened... I went home and I cried. I'm not going to lie. I tried to kill myself. I took a big bottle of pills and my roommate forced me to spit it out. I'm just tired. Most days I am just sick of life and force myself to keep living... my job and my clients are one of the few things that keep me going. I have a documented case of mental illness and psychiatric issues and stuff like this just adds fuel to the fire. Makes me want to give up entirely. I'm tired of coming in and working up to 20 hours taking care of my clients, I'm tired of constantly buying gloves, briefs, wet wipes, lotion, powder, food... all things for them, because I care about them and want to make their lives better... just to be accused of something I didn't do and would NEVER do, which is neglect a client and leave them wet for hours. I love my clients to death, they are my babies, don't get me wrong... but this is ********. That someone should be allowed to just come in and accuse me like that. I don't want to lose my job, because the patients need SOMEONE to care for them, and I still want to be there for them... but I don't think it's right for this bath aide to come in and accuse me like that. I just want to know, what I should do about this situation. When the supervisor called me, she said that I was not in trouble, that I was not going to be fired... she claimed "they" (she and the administrators) had my side, but I still don't believe it. This place has gone through so many employees... people who work a few weeks only to do a no-call no-show, or be fired because they just didn't care, and yet I'm the only one who stuck it out, have been there for 2 years now, because I loved and cared for my clients, and wanted to make their lives better. I just couldn't believe someone coming in and accusing me like that.

Hey... I wanted to make a post here and I'm hoping you guys won't be too judgmental. I already feel stupid enough and have berated myself, telling me what an idiot I am won't help any (except making me feel even worse.) Anyway, here's my problem: I have finished my CNA class, clinicals, and am supposedly on my way to becoming certified. My test results have been sent into the state and I am just waiting on the results. I loved my clinicals and I really want to work as a CNA ASAP, here is my only problem. I am scared to death of making some careless, stupid mistake, and either being fired or hurting a resident. See, right now, I am working a fast food job... and my mom is sick and just got out of the hospital. I plan to see her for Thanksgiving, since she's been sick, and after I get back, start applying for CNA jobs. But I just keep thinking, what if I make some stupid mistake and hurt a resident in the process. Like if some resident fell and injured themselves, or otherwise hurt themselves because of me... I don't think I'd ever get over it, I'd feel so guilty. Like people keep telling me, they don't think I should stay just a CNA, they think I should go on to RN school... but man, I can hardly handle the stress of being a CNA... I think all the stress, liability and responsibility that comes with being an RN would literally kill me. As an RN, you LITERALLY have lives in your hands. See, here's the thing: when I was working in the nursing home during my clinicals, I did some things that were pretty stupid and absentminded. I hate to even admit them, but here's a few examples. -- After we'd changed a resident, I was carrying the dirty pads and linen in the hallway cause I wasn't sure where to put them, no one had told me where. The nurse had to tell me that I shouldn't be carrying them in the hallway, and where to put them in the next time. (Usually, the aides put out a barrel by the resident's door to put everything in, but they hadn't this time.) I just felt stupid cause I felt like I should have already known this based on the infection control practices we learned in our class. Just in the real-life setting, we weren't told where to put them so I wasn't sure. -- At one point, we were putting a resident to bed, and the aide went to check on something in another room real quick and asked me to help set him up. I'd started setting up the lift and everything, etc. I hadn't moved him or anything, just started setting it up, and when she came back in, she mentioned that I hadn't locked his wheelchair wheels and I should always make sure to do that. I felt real stupid for that too I mean, sure, in clinicals, it wasn't THAT big a deal cause I had the aide and others to supervise me and correct my mistakes, but what about in the real world? In the real world setting, if I'd been given a job and was actually working, and forgot to lock a resident's wheelchair wheels while lifting him, there could've been a nasty fall and he would've been injured. I would have hated myself forever if that would've happened. All this just makes me scared and makes me wonder if this job is really for me, if I should continue to seek out a job after I get certified. I mean, I did somehow manage to pass the clinicals, and people I worked with, including one of the aides I worked with, said I did a pretty good job... but I wonder if they were just saying that to be nice. Like I said, I'm just mainly scared of hurting a resident. I loved my residents, even just from a few days of doing my clinicals in the nursing home, and I want to do my best by them always -- even the thought of something hurting them breaks me. I know my heart is in the right place, I just worry if my brain is too, that I'll accidentally do something absent-minded or scatterbrained that'd hurt them. I really want to pursue a CNA job after I get back from seeing my mom, I guess I just want some advice, without too much harsh judgment or words (although if I deserve it, I understand.) Thanks in advance. I am just trying to figure out if this is something I should pursue or not.

Hi, I'm thinking of becoming a CNA and working with the geriatric population, then later on possibly going back to school for RN. However, there's just one aspect I'm worried about and it's the fact that I've been told that the residents in nursing homes often sexually abuse the CNAs and nurses, groping them and making unwanted sexual advances, etc. Without wanting to go into much detail, I have a childhood history of sexual abuse and this would make me very uncomfortable. I posted about this in the General Nursing forum but was promptly told to "get over myself and please don't even bother going into nursing." I was hoping to maybe get more understanding responses here. Now, I know some of the patients engaging in this behavior may suffer from Alzheimer's/dementia and simply don't know any better, in which case is very sad but admittedly would still make me uncomfortable. And then I'm told some patients are just aggressive/perverted people to begin with and think they can get away with such acts in a nursing home. I'm wondering if this is really THAT common an occurence, being inappropriately touched by patients, and if so, is anything ever done about it? I mean, if a patient is really sexually aggressive or makes me uncomfortable, would something be done about it and would I be able to get someone to help me with them, etc. or am I expected to just deal with it? I appreciate any advice and hope to receive possibly more sympathetic and understanding responses here. I really want to become a CNA because I love people and helping take care of them, especially the elderly, and I also have experience caring for a dying family member and found it to be a very wonderful, fulfilling thing I could imagine myself doing for a living. This is just the one thing that's making me have second thoughts, cause admittedly such a thing could be triggering for me. Now, I realize that you have to do a lot of cleaning of bodily fluids as a CNA, seeing people naked and bathing them, etc etc. That kind of stuff wouldn't bother me, I am just a little worried about being touched or made to do things against my will.