speckRN

I have found over the past few years, the longer an aide has been on our unit the less they will accept that the RN is supposed to deligate tasks to them. We give a report to the aides normally around the beginning of our shift, and then the aide is supposed to carry out these tasks, if they are unable to for any reason they should come to the RN and let them know, however, this rarely happens. Most of the time it is just left undone, and then the following nurse needs to pick up the slack or if you are a 12 hour nurse and the aide has left it is your responsibility to see that it gets completed. Most of the time, you get flack from the oncoming PCA that does not feel they should do a task that was deligated to another aide. I am constantly reminding them that it is a 24 hour job and remember it is the patient who suffers the most:scrying: , not them. Also, I have found that most of the PCA's (Patient care assisstants), feel that the nurses are lazy and that they sit around doing nothing:deadhorse . What they don't realize is that alot of your time is spent discussing medical issues with the Doctors, other health care professionals (i.e. case managers, social work, diagnositic departments, etc.), also with family members, and the patient themselves. Also, the RN has much more documentation that needs to be completed, and make sure all of these things are done in a timely, safe, efficient manner. Our license is at risk, not theirs. How can I get them to understand this without them thinking that I am looking down on them for not having a degree. They all know that I believe that their job is very strenuous, but they still don't get it. I am truely tired of having to explain myself to staff, who have been on the job long enough to know.

I believe that yes BSN's for the most part should be at a higher rate of pay, mostly because of the amount of schooling and costs incurred. However, I do not think that simply because someone has a bachelor's over an associate degree should give preferential in hiring. I am an ADN and currently am working on my BSN. I work on a unit that has several BSN nurses, and not one but all of them come to me for help in situations that they should be able to handle. Just recently they found out that I was currently working on my BSN and told me they thought I had already had my BSN. I also find that we have a few LPN's on our unit that way out qualify many of our other staff and can run circles around them. Many of our ADN staff get more clinical during school than our BSN and have a better grasp for hands on.