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Thank you all for your advice and encouragement! Especially thank you to the advice about writing down what I'm going to say before the meeting! I wouldn't want to leave something out or let her take the conversation into a different direction! Well, the update is that I haven't seen this lady since two days before my original post! The DSDs came on their day off to have the meeting with me and this lady and she wasn't there! Magically an on call CNA was there to fill her spot! Then the next day she wasn't there! I haven't seen her since! I was so worried and so stressed out that I was having anxiety over this whole thing and I now haven't seen her for a good amount of time. I don't know why she hasn't been working, no supervisor has told me and I haven't asked. My boyfriend thinks she caught wind of the situation and may be ducking out of the confrontation. Many supervisors (charge nurses, personnel dept., etc.) have kindly asked me how my situation was going. Embarassing, but nice that they care. Apparently a meeting was held amongst all supervisors to discuss what's been happening with this girl, as I'm not the first victim apparently... I'm glad my employer is taking this seriously. We'll see what happens... I'm still slightly worried to see her again and I wonder how working with her will go. If anyone has a story of a similar situation and it's outcome I would love to hear it!

OP, I can't imagine what you've gone through and I hope everything works out for you! While waiting upon acceptance into my city's RN progam I decided to start work as a CNA. I think a lot of female care givers worry about coming into contact with male patients or residents who will sexually harrass them or physically hurt them. I was worried as we started covering some of these topics during my CNA program... Pulling back foreskin and washing memberes really got me wondering about what could happen. Females in my class began asking questions and my teacher told us that we would come into contact with men and women masturbating, errections while giving peri care etc. My teacher told us many horror stories, one of which included a face getting shoved into a naked crotch. Apparently the student NA was showering a man who is usually abrasive. She was kneeled in front of him while washing his legs and he grabbed her hair and shoved her face in his lap. The girl crying, left the resident in the shower and found our teacher. My teacher said it was her fault for being in front of him. She told us, always stand to the side. Many of the posters commented on tactics they use to avoid sexual harrassment. It could happen more easily, of course, if your guard is down or you have yourself in a vulnerable position such as this student was in. I was scared and worried after hearing this stuff... During clinicals I was given an all male group. I began CNA training in June and am working now. During clinicals in LTC and an Alzheimer's facility, I came across flirty male residents as well as an Alzheimer's res who masturbated openly. Now that I work in an ortho station as a CNA, I've come across a broad spectrum of patients. Young, old, demented, infected, amputated, etc. In ortho I currently have a guy who is supposed to get out of bed to use the toilet... Instead he uses a urinal and poops his brief just to be touched. He always tells us girls to get in there and wipe his scrotem. In the same room is a guy who has a huge Media collection (around 20 DVDs) and watches them all the time on a lap top. Another guy is pretty flirty whom I wash every two days. He's not very creepy or anything but he gets errect in the shower. He washes his own genitals. In fact, every guy but two that I have come across so far in ortho have demonstrated some sort of sexuality... But that's normal... Guys are... guys. Of the two that haven't, one is an amputee who is extremely underweight and has difficulty speaking, and the other is an amputee whose wife visits frequently (although he calls me babe despite my efforts to be called by name). In this short amount of time, these are things I have seen as a CNA. As a nurse, however, I think you wouldn't be exposed to these types of situations nearly as much. I have never been touched inappropriately at work and have never heard a CNA told me he or she was in my facility. Goodluck! I would advise you to tough it out until you can land your dream job in whatever specialty you choose! Hugs!

Thanks for the replies! I meet with her and the DSD in an hour and a half... I'm stressing, writing out notes so that I don't forget to mention something or let her take the conversation in a different direction. hey_suz, LOL! You're so right. I have laughed about the whole thing because it's outrageous and silly! I've never experienced someone behaving this way before! I just hope after today things can be normal and peaceful... I don't want her to follow me out to my car again over this.

Yes, I think you're right about aides that are familiar with a pt thinking their vitals are usually this or that, or that they don't matter. Who is an aide to make that decision? The fact that this CNA has been there 8 years and is demonstrating this behavior in front of me being brand new is silly. She should be a good role model. The worst part... Is that this is an orthopedic station. Pt's are here only short term recovering from surgery or serious infections. Vitals are crucial here and must be precise. Nothing ever came of my report about the fake vitals.

I'm a new CNA who graduated from CNA training in late July. I was offered a wonderful FT position with benefits on an Orthopedic station. Long story short, I made an impression and worked my butt off to get this position. I'm one of 3 FT pm CNAs on this station. I shadowed one of them for 3 days and she was wonderful. I was very happy to have such a great CNA for a coworker. Then I met the other one. Right from the start I knew she didn't like me. She would never answer my questions fully, only snap at me with her fingers and make gestures for me to follow her. She always tells me, "Come here now" instead of saying so and so in such and such room needs ______ . I'm always confused when I'm with her because she doesn't communicate with me. There are always only 2 CNAs on my station. So days when it's just her and I, we work hard, avoid eachother, etc. Until she wants me to do something; she snaps her fingers and waves her hand then points to a direction. It gives me a head ache just thinking about how silly that is. What's the purpose? It went on like this for a while, clearly she didn't like me. I was fine with that. I just figured it would take some time for her to get used to a green CNA on her station. She has been working at this facility and on this Ortho station for 8 years. I figured it was just her being territorial and it wouldn't progress. Until one day, it was slow, we had a lot of down time... She came up to me and flat out asked me how I happened to land a job FT in Ortho. She told me, "It's just that... I like to work with people who work". I was shocked! She started walking away as she always does and I asked her if she was saying that I don't work. She waved me away. Shortly after, she set up two chairs in a pt's room (the pt has dementia) and interrogated me. It went on for 20 minutes. She kept asking me if I was afraid, kept repeating that she was mean. She told me there's a long list of people at the facility that have been waiting to get into Ortho and she prevented all the ones she didn't want to work with from getting in. That's when it clicked... She must know someone that wants to get in and was hoping s/he would. After our shift ended she followed me to my car and talked my ear off for another 30 minutes, telling me I shouldn't have got the position. Protocol should have been followed, meaning someone else employed at the facility should have had dibs on my position. The next day she followed me everywhere on the floor. She was hovering over me. Watching me chart from over my shoulder. Watching everything I did. I complained to the charge nurse, who then confronted her. The shift ended and I was relieved that she was no where in sight. I left through the double doors and sure enough, there she was. She followed me to my car again. Asking why I went to the charge nurse. There was more involved that day, part of which includes my other post "Fake Vitals???". I had told her to her face earlier that she was stressing me out and making me flustered by hovering over me and dragging me from room to room giving me dog commands, snapping her fingers. So since I had told her to her face, I was surprised she waited for me to ask me why I went to the charge nurse. It came to the point where I mark my shedule to let me know if it was going to be a day with her. I stress out before I go to work. I finally had a meeting with our DSD and we made plans to confront this lady today. I'm scared and nervous. I just want my first job as a CNA to be normal! I love my job but my coworker's intimidation tactics are making me fret. I'm worried for my job if she tries to sabotage me (Fake Vitals), or complains about me. My charge nurse advised me to talk to the DSD because this girl ran out two other CNAs. I'm the first to go to the DSD. I'm afraid of what work is going to be like after this... Has anyone ever had to confront the person that was tormenting them, having to work SIDE by SIDE with that person??? I've had the past two days off and this is all I can think about. I'm stressed. The confrontation is going to happen at the top of the shift. The lady has no idea.

False vitals data! Long story short, a girl in the same room as me took a pt's vital signs. She presented me with the data and it included a b/p... I asked her how she got it because she didn't have the station's cuff or stethoscope. She told me she had her own equipment. I asked her, "Where?" then she told me she had magic hands! This CNA has been on my station for 8 years. I'm brand new (second week). I told the charge nurse that I hadn't seen her use any device to measure vitals. What the heck? Why give false data? What are consequences of false vitals?

California here. We rarely ever practiced on eachother. We practiced on dummies and residents. As far as oral care goes, I only did dentures and mouth swabs on a resident to get checked off for the skill. The only thing we did on eachother was practice transfers with mechanical lifts and making an occupied bed. That's it. Some folks in my class had to do other stuff on students (like nail care) because they didn't manage to get it done during time at the clinical site. Oh, and we practiced vitals on eachother a lot! :) Don't sweat it! Your teacher probably won't have you do teeth brushing on a student! Good luck!!!

Also... We get more admits in the PM... Lengthy process!

I work in a facility that has LTC, short term, alzheimer's and an ortho station. I work in ortho PMs. To me there are many unique pros and cons to working each AM and PMs. I did my clinicals not too long ago in the AM. AM Pros (my opinion): You get to be apart of someone's morning and can ensure their day starts out right. You avoid sundowning and full moons... Employees are usually chipper. You stay busy, so the shift seems to zip by! Many patients (in my ortho station) have Dr. appointments during the AM which makes it so easy to change their bedding and clean their room while their gone. AM Cons (in my opinion): It's very busy and sometimes you don't get to spend very much one on one time to talk with patients or residents. Lots of showers... Lots of toileting... 2 meals! Eek! Getting up cranky people... Frankly, getting up, dressing and ADLs for 10 people (or how ever many you have) before breakfast... Crazy. Family vists. We get lots of family in the AM... While it's a plus for the pt, it's a hastle for you to perform your tasks amongst a small room stuffed with people! PM Pros (in my opinion): People start to settle down usually... Not as many showers. 1 meal... It's so much easier to get people into bed than out of bed... It's so much easier to take off make up than to put it on... (The pt's.) You get to sleep in! :) Laundry's usually done in the AM or ready by the PM, you don't have to hassle much with the pt's dirty personal laundry getting done. Most beds have been changed. Most showers have been done... PM Cons (in my opnion): Meds, meds, MEDS! People want so many meds before the day's over! GERD. After dinner, and then going to bed a lot of my pt's complain of heartburn which has you running around. SUNDOWNING!!! EEEEK!!! FULL MOONS!!!!! Double EEEEK! TONS of call lights! Remember, a lot of people stay up pretty late! Once put into bed, those call lights light up the hall way like a Christmas tree! Back rub requests. LOTS of requests... "I want ice cream." "I need another pillow." "I spilled my water, can you change my whole bed?" So, it depends on you and what you're up for! All my own opinions based on my own experiences!

Thank goodness. Thanks to the OP for this thread. As soon as I heard in my CNA training program that it's against the law for CNAs to call themselves nurses my mind went directly to allnurses.com All the time I see CNAs referring to themselves as nurses on this site. It drives me bananas. I have never run into a CNA in person that ever thought of her/himself as a nurse. I'm a CNA in CA. My employer is so strict on CNAs adhering to a CNA's scope of practice. CNAs at my workplace (LTC) can not even give CPR! There was a huge lawsuit involving an incident where a CNA commenced CPR successfully on a DNR... And I know that there are CNAs who think they're nurses checking this post out. I doubt they're getting the picture. Read this --> CNAs ARE NOT NURSES.

Thanks, RNperdiem! I didn't really think about the increase in vitals recording. I'm excited! I've been in my facility's OCE once or twice before and it's so quite and peaceful in there compared to the other stations. Are there still activities going on or is it just recovery?

Hi there! I just passed my CA CNA examination today! :yelclap: Whoo hoo! I've been hired full time as a CNA at a large facility that has multiple stations. We have an LTC, a short term, an Alzheimer's Care Unit, an Acute ACU, and an Orthopedic Center of Excellence in which patients are recovering from orthopedic surgeries. I've been hired for the OCE! I'm very excited, however my experience is with Alzheimer's and LTC... What can I expect working with patients recovering from surgery? What is an orthopedic station like? If any charge nurses are reading this; any tips or advice for a CNA? :) Any insight is greatly appreciated! Thanks for reading! Have a wonderful weekend!

I'm so relieved and happy it's over! I was in a free 30 day training program that I graduated from 7/31 and just took my American Red Cross tests today! I was at the testing location from 8:30AM-1:15PM! There were lots of student CNAs there to retest a part of the exam that they failed. :uhoh21: One girl said she had failed the skills portion because she didn't wear gloves during nail care... The other said she failed because during a transfer from bed to wheel chair she didn't use both hands to lift the patient with the gait belt... There was a big group of students from my program and we were all nervous! The examiners split all of the students into groups of three for skills testing. My group consisted of my classmates, so that comforted me. I was still nervous, doubting myself, not knowing what to expect. My group was the first called to test! Our skills testing was split into 2 different rooms. One room was handwashing plus station A, the other was both stations B and C. We began in the room with B and C. Of us three, I was the last to perform. I acted as the patient for both of my classmates. My classmate that went first drew assisted ambulation and weight. My second classmate drew PPE and transfer from bed to chair... I noticed that the examiner wasn't replacing the cards that were drawn... I started sweating because I knew there were some difficult ones left like vitals! Next was me, and sure enough I drew BP and passive ROM for upper body. I started to sweat after hearing about so many people failing over BP... I performed ROM first which was easy. She asked how many times you would perform each motion and why you would stop (pain). She asked for me to demonstrate rotation, abduction, extension and flexion, as well as a couple movements of each joint. "Show me two exercises of the wrist." Etc. Then came BP... The examiner and I shared a double stethoscope and luckily I heard the systolic loud and clear at 130 and the diastolic faded completely at 84. She asked me what I got and I told her... She said she didn't hear it. She checked it again quickly all by herself and said what she got was higher, but I was within the acceptable range (8 mmHg). PHEW! Next, my group moved on to handwashing plus station A. The first classmate drew bedpan, then I drew feeding a paralyzed resident while the last classmate drew lower bed bath. My classmate was seated to act as my resident. I checked her ID band and went to gather the correct tray. The tray told me what her diet was and listed allergies as well as food to be omitted. My resident was allergic to milk and eggs and could not have salt. I check the food on the tray and removed the milk and salt. I assisted her with feeding. It went great because I have so much experience with feeding from clinicals! My group passed! My whole class passed except for one girl. The written exam was easy! Some questions have lots of right answers, the key is to choose the best answer! My advice is to pay great attention to infection control, safety as well as the rest of the 6 principles of care. They're really hammering down on infection control and safety. If you forget something, let them know! Everyone stresses out so much prior to testing, it's not that bad. I'm so happy I'm a CNA now! I start full time work on Tuesday on an orthopedic surgery station. I can't wait! Goodluck to all of you future CNAs and congratulations to all that have passed! WHOO HOO!

Interesting... I'm in CA and my test is tomorrow with the American Red Cross. I know that you can be off by 8 mmHg.

Thank you very much for this thread! It was very helpful! My test is tomorrow morning with the American Red Cross. Eek! Thanks for the tips!