blaundee

I wouldn't make comments like that to any patient, male or female. I always try to provide privacy and dignity to all of my patients, and have never taken offence to a male patient asking for a male provider. The men that I work with also do not take offence if a patient asks for a female provider (both females AND males will ask for female-only providers).

Thanks

I'm having brain freeze. Is there an abbreviation for "precautions"?

That's how it was for me- 2 shots and then a titer showed that I was immune. Now I just get titers drawn.

I've been driving 2 hours one way to get to school, so I'm looking to rent a room... hopefully I'll have a room by this weekend!

Fwiw- regular strength hydrogen peroxide will quickly and completely remove blood stains, and most facilities have that on the shelves!

Bump. I googled for this, maybe it'll help someone else too LoL

That's how I was when I was a new aide, so slow because I was trying to do everything the right way. The sad reality of nursing homes... they're understaffed, and you can only get the bare minimum done. Perhaps as an lpn, you could help out with some of that. I worked with a nurse who loved to do the "little things" like brushing their hair, applying lotion, helping them with their fancier clothes that take so long to put on, painting their fingernails, brushing their teeth... it made life better for the residents and helped the CNAs too. It's just plain impossible for one aide to do everything like that for 20+ residents.

I agree with Verene that it would be very very difficult to live independently on a pt CNA wage.

Pay varies widely from state to state. It also depends on the facility and your experience. Hospitals generally pay better than nursing homes but want you to have experience. There are a lot of threads on this topic in the Facebook group "CNA's" (yes, I know the apostrophe shouldn't be there, LoL, but that's the name of the group)

You'll probably have to start off working every weekend, then once they know you and know that you're trained, talk about accommodation for your class schedule. As for volunteering... do it at the place that you want to get hired at so you can make connections and get your foot in the door. Getting hired at a hospital is mostly about who you know.

Great! Good luck, and good job for following your dreams :) I'm 35 and finally going back to school to become an RN!

You've received some good advice. The only thing I can add is to READ THE CARE PLANS. Also, ask the nurse about residents whenever you get switched to a new hall. A lot of times the aides will switch halls, but the nurses rarely do.

CMA doesn't need any additional training. Once you begin working, you might want to get more training, but imo it would be a waste. Are you still going to become an RN? If so, do you intend to work at a hospital? If so, get a job at the hospital as a cma so you'll have your foot in the door once you're a nurse. If you can't get hired at the hospital without work experience, get on with any other place (search indeed.com for jobs), and keep applying ay the hospital. Volunteer at the hospital in your spare time to get a foot in the door.

As for the lifting - I recently had a miscarriage and am leary, and I don't recommend lifting anything at all when pregnant, BUT if you're using proper body mechanics, you should be fine. Once one the job, get assistance with the lifting, and/ or use the mechanical lifts (whatever the care plan calls for)

Don't tell anyone until you're past 12 weeks. I hope that you carry your baby to term... but 20%of pregnancies are lost before 12 weeks, and it would double suck to lose out on the job too.

I don't think you can. CNA is a certification, not a license... we work under a nurse's licence.

Depends on the facility.

My advice, though, would be to work part time, ever if it's just 1 day a month! Once you have 6 months of "experience", start applying ay hospitals. If you can get your foot in the door, it'll help you get a job there as a nurse.

Most nursing homes aren't too picky.

Can your facility offer a sit in aide, someone who'll just hang out with him? Perhaps a volunteer, or a pastor, social worker, intern? I can only imagine the pain of losing your spouse... I'm sure it's crushing. I imagine he's in a place where he doesn't want to be alone and doesn't want company at the very same time. They say that most spouses die within 6 months of each other, I think it's because the grief is too heavy.

Can he have a candy bar instead of cigarettes? I know that neither are healthy, but some patient's will accept the substitute...

I finally learned to ask him yes and no questions, and carry on the conversation that way. If you need to repeat a question for him, ALWAYS use the sane phrasing you previously used (I learned that when working with dementia patients). A lot of people will change the phrasing... they'll say "Are you hungry? " and the patient will say "what?" So they ask "Do you want something to eat?" Etc. Always keep the phrasing the SAME, because they patient's brain is processing that phrase, and changing it thwarts the process.

My grandpa was like that... could barely speak, and would often say the opposite of what he meant (yes when he meant no, vice versa). He could say Pretty day, I'll be damned (his way of acknowledging what you had said), yes (which usually meant no), No, "kay" (which usually meant yes) and "Kay kay kay" which meant oh hell no.

During my first 2 years as a CNA, I bought a lot of nice, expensive scrubs... then I decided I was DONE with that line of work. I gave ALL of those beautiful scrubs to someone online who'd just graduated after leaving her abusive meth-head husband and putting herself through college while working full time to support her little boy... she had posted online looking for a couple of sets of cheap scrubs to last a couple of months until she could afford nicer ones. She was REALLY surprised when she got those boxes in the mail! LoL I went back into healthcare within 6 months of that, haha, and while I occasionally wonder about myself for giving them all away, I don't regret it!