whitepawn

I worked my ass off to get where I am, after a series of delays and personal losses. CNA. Huge delays on getting into prerequisites, then I finally made it at age 32, getting into 3 programs the first year I applied, all after about 15yrs as a CNA. Graduation. Boards. Then, no job interviews, in spite of having golden references. Then opportunity after 4 years of resume bombing. I had awesome nurses who gave me a shot and we all won. We still talk weekly. They didn't care about the employment gap, they went on who I was as a person and how I did as a nurse. We actually functioned as a 'work family' if that makes sense. Temporary assignment ended, and I went on to on-staff positions. Of note. When you're unemployed, many other RNs tend to look at you like you're guilty. Considering that I've searched every scrap of paper in my employment hx and only found raises and good reviews, I'm still not privvy to what I'm guilty of, apart from having my resume ignored by HR. Some nurses don't care, they go on the assessment data in front of their eyes. Others, not so much. I've had two types of things happen over the years of work following the post-graduation employment gap. 1. I'm older. So I should "know it" already. There's this sense of the 42yo should know already, so I'm not going to help her, or I'll make derisive remarks that she "doesn't know this either yet", but when the 24yo asks a similar question, there's a brightening of expression and a "Here, let me help you with that." or "Let me show you." No avoidance, no derisive remarks. It's a ****** gap between reactions, but it exists. I'm too damn old to play pretend here, more importantly, I'm not going to play pretend because it's not about me, it's about the patient. I just want to do my job, but given the vast variety of things that can occur in a day of nursing, I may have to ask questions sometimes. 2. The refusal. 20-something on the unit day 1 off orientation for me, upon finding out (from someone who wasn't me) I had to hang blood on a patient. "I'm not here to help her, she had time to ask her questions on orientation, I'm not doing it, nope, I'm not, it's not my problem. I'M NOT DOING IT." News flash. We're all busy. But if hanging blood never actually occurs during orientation and the nurse has never done it before in her life, she's going to need a stand-by, and since you have to co-sign anyway, what's the problem? Idk if this one's about age, but it's not ok. Makes for a ****** "team" atmosphere in a profession that really does rely on good teamwork. I don't withhold when asked to help someone who doesn't know, so I can only shake my head at this sort of thing. Brand new to nursing, not privvy to the array of ****** human behavior that you will invariably encounter over the span of a decade or two, I could see even these knocking a newbie down. The blood, for example, would a true newbie have the wherewithal to ask for assist the 2-3 times it took to make it happen in the face of the refusal? Patients, families, uncaring managers being awful can't be helped, but we the nurses directly control the culture of how we the floor team works. Or doesn't.

You can be all kinds of book smart and capable when it comes to school, but patient interaction is something you can learn first as a CNA. It also gives you perspective on what is happening with your patients on every level. It can also make you capable of smelling a bad CNA a mile off, so to speak. The interaction, the repor, the hands on of actually touching a patient for procedures or even just helping someone get dressed, these are invaluable pieces of being a nurse. Plus, if you ever become a nurse who feels compelled to search 15min for a CNA to empty a urinal in a room you just walked out of, well, your CNAs will likely endeavor to stay busy and hide from you. It will teach you not to be squeamish about direct patient care which will win respect and make your floor work easier. Spending 30s to empty a urinal vs 15min to search for someone else to do it is just better time management.

ACLS involves medication administration and the delivery of shocks to the heart, this is not CNA level stuff. BLS, basic life support CPR would be required. There are lots of different classes out there, you want something that reads "healthcare provider" and is endorsed by the American Heart Association. As a CNA you may be responsible for chest compressions in a code. Possibly fetch and carry. EKG if you're trained up for ED. But not ACLS. An up to date CNA license. And, if you're in Oregon, your CNA II for acute care. Granted, a lot of facilities will cover CNA II or CPR after hire, it's hard to say. Being good at getting a manual blood pressure is important. Being able to say "I can't hear anything." out loud to your nurse when you can't get that manual bp is even more important. What you need to know is you'll gather data for nurses and doctors. You'll measure urine output. You'll get stool samples. You'll also round on your patients, ideally, every 15min, essentially doing a breathing check. You will run, you will be busy, but heaving around 250lb adults in an assembly line/cattle herding atmosphere and wondering where the hell the effective regulations are on human care will be gone. Essentially, advocate for yourself. I worked agency as a "hospital only" CNA for 6 years and made $16-23.50/hr depending on shift, weekday, and location. When I did move to onstaff, I received $17.17/hr because they knew they needed to offer more to get me to cross over. When I started in a nursing home, it was $9.00. First hospital job: $10.50. 2 years later, jump to agency, then on staff again, then RN. When I was getting the $17 a co-worker stressed about money asked how much I made. I told her. Wages transparency is a good thing. Her jaw dropped. She was making $12.50. We compared experience, figuring I must have more. No. We had EQUAL experience. She went to the manager, had a closed door discussion, and received a raise. I'm not saying such a thing will work the same for everyone, I'm just saying don't be shy about researching.

RN here, though I worked as an agency CNA many years before earning my RN. An assignment at a VA facility had the CNAs doing straight caths on the almost entirely male population. This was around...2005ish. I'm female. I think straight cathing is an excellent example of "clinical touch" over other kinds of touch. The CNAs were also trained on wound care...they functioned more like non-trauma center ED Techs, and then some, now that I think about it for this post. Scope is a bit different in the VA. I had tunneled abscesses near the groin to pack on at least two patients (vet drug use fallout) as well as a fellow who was wheelchair bound, legless, and with a serious 2-person wound/dressing change on his bottom. Add to this the standard bum/coccyx decubes and us girls were working in private areas all the time. It's just clinical. If you don't know what "clinical" feels like, I really can't explain it beyond saying that the encounters couldn't be more "neutered". Never did my gender bother me, nor was it ever (to my knowledge) raised as an issue by they fellows in my care. If I had to do a cath on a male now I probably wouldn't blink twice just congratulate myself on "not missing". So I'm thinking this is more a personal caveat then one created by your employer. Since the feeling is foreign to me, I'm not the one to give advice on how to get over it.

I wouldn't say it's the meanest, but it is certainly the best. "Honey, you're a pimple on a good man's ass." :)