BethCNA

Also please remember residents' comfort levels. I have years of experience as a CNA, but there's no way my elderly family members would accept toileting or brief change help from me. Their generation was raised to maintain dignity and privacy, which for some means not allowing family to help this way.

So...if 50% of coworkers are vaccinated, then infection rates level off...that means freeloading off coworkers is OK?

My ADN program requires completion of a CNA course before applying. I find that it has been very helpful to have that level of background in my other classes.

I left a home health agency in January for another job. I normally worked alone, at one of 4 clients' homes. I received a letter from the agency today that one of those 4 clients is alleging a felony-level theft of items from his/her home. The agency is cooperating with local police, and is asking us to do the same. Apparently they are also reviewing video from the client's home and from local pawn shops. I know I did not do it, and I never observed behavior like this from a coworker. What should I be doing right now?

This is my current experience. We have a 24/7 private pay client who isn't satisfied with anything his caregivers do. And all of us got an email today saying that our agency director will be "reviewing the tapes" on cameras we didn't know existed to determine who is "letting the client down," per his non-specific complaints of "not being satisfied." This is a director who is of the opinion that the client is a customer, and the customer is always right. I'm not concerned because I've only subbed at his home, maybe a total of 5 times, and I am confident that I gave him my best every time. But this thread gave me the encouragement I needed to say I'd rather look for a new job. A director who won't back her staff isn't anyone I want to work for.

Would you ask to fill out an incident report?

On my last shift, I worked with an elderly homebound client, mentally competent but two-assist for transfers. There is a family member also in the home who is independent. As I and my coworker were providing bedtime care, the family member fell, and was injured to the point that we arranged transport to the ER. (Family member returned home the same night.) Our on-call LPN asked us not to chart about the incident in any way, because the family member is not our client, and therefore, none of this was really the agency's concern. Failing to document sending anyone to an ER on my shift seems counter everything I'm learning in nursing school. What would you do?

My home health agency mandates that all employees work all holidays due to low staffing. It's ridiculous, and it's pushing good staff out the door. As for me, my regular schedule had me off at 7a on Thanksgiving and not working until Friday at 11p. Same thing on Christmas Eve and Day. So although technically I'm working the holiday, it's not intolerable. The posts here definitely inspire me to know that a more fair arrangement is available and to seek out a new employer after January 1.

My home health agency offers 8-12 hour shifts. We get paid above the local average, but have access to only a limited 401K, and no other benefits. The director is doing everything in her power to not hire any more people than necessary, to avoid ACA requirements, and she'll tell us that openly. One thing I wish I'd fully realized before coming to work here is that on home health, your departure times are even less guaranteed than in a facility. I serve several 24/7 clients. I cannot leave until my relief shows up, and that has meant being late for subsequent classes or appointments more often than I care to recount. Something to think about if you have kids counting on Mom to be there at a specific time. Good luck!

I'm a nursing student, working for a home health agency during school. Curious to know how your agencies handle holidays and time off requests. Ours had no stated policy, until everyone asked for the holiday off. (Really? You didn't think this would happen?) So the new policy is that no one gets any holidays off. Everyone must work either Thanksgiving or the day after, AND Christmas Eve or Day, AND New Year's Eve or Day. As you can imagine, this created great disgruntlement among staff. My regular hours have me working acceptable and manageable shifts on those days, so I am trying to lay low on this one. My phone blew up on Thanksgiving with requests begging and pleading me to come in, when others didn't. I had just worked the overnight, so I declined on that ground. I am sure Christmas will be worse. FWIW, we're under-staffed anyway. What do your agencies do, and how does it work?

One of the community colleges now requires completion of a CNA course before being admitted to the LPN/RN program. At first, I did not see the logic. Now, I do. I feel equipped to do patient care now, in a way I know that I wouldn't have in another program.