solDanz

I work in a SNF, usually on the LTC side of things. Recently, I have noticed that certain coworkers have been acting differently towards me. Today I received a call from the head of my department expressing 'concerns' that had been brought to her. Apparently, there have been people coming to her and saying bad things about me, all of which are untrue, with dashes of honesty thrown in. Apparently, I am "bringing in excessive baggage in order to steal resident items" and am "looking at Mediaographic material on facility computers". Both are lies, of course, but the way that it was phrased by my department head was exactly the same way only one other person has said it before. One of my direct supervisors. IMO, this nurse has been dismissive & exclusionatory towards me since my first day. I occasionally bring in some of my own supplies, as the facility fails to do so, even after MULTIPLE EMPLOYEE COMPLAINTS that they lacked the necessary items to do their jobs. How, for example, are you supposed to change a soiled brief when you have no wipes, or even washcloths, to do so? Or when you lack clean briefs to put on them? Despite complaints to the facility administration, and company administration, as well as the state's department of health, NOTHING has been done. The only time ny tablet gets turned on is when I'm on my break (in the break room, BTW), and all I do is check my e-mail, Facebook, and Twitter. If I step away, I make sure that it is password locked (as I explained to my department supervisor), so for anyone to even see what I was looking at would be impossible. I made it a habit after an ex decided they were going to break into my home and go on a rampage before stealing, amongst other things, my phone, which they then used to make threatening calls and send nasty text messages in my name. But, of course, I am the bad guy here, right? I MUST be doing these things because a supervisory nurse made the claim. And the fact that this call happens the night after I work with her seems to reaffirm my suspicions. It makes me worried because I was actually due for an annual evaluation and possibly a raise before this, and certain things have come to light through the rumor mill lately. The facility is in serious financial trouble. They do not have adequate staff (4 CNAs & 3 nurses for over 100 patients/residents during 11P-7A) as the vast majority of staff are quitting based on how they are treated), they owe so much money to the company approved plumber ($30K) that they had to hire one under the table to do work for them, and that they even switched companies to put down carpet in the facility hallways after the company that did the therapy area is still waiting on their $50K from over 5 years ago. Should I even bother with this place anymore? I have been applying at other places, but so far with no luck. But this raises some serious concerns as to my future in the field. Am I going to get fired on the word of someone who doesn't like me? Am I going to end up unemployed when the bank comes in and hangs a forclosure notice on the front door? Pretty much at a loss as to if I should just cut my losses and go, or just what I should do. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thank you all for your input. Most of the 'class descriptions' provided carried little to no information on just what was being taught. Most of it was telling the reader about the friendliness of the instructors, or how 'cool' they were for having afternoon instead of morning classes, etc. But with the information provided, sounds like ACLS isn't for me, nor for anyone at my facility, really. Thank you again for the time and consideration.

Just wondering if anyone here might know. I'm planning on doing BLS for Healthcare ASAP, but was wondering something. Is it possible to do the ACLS certification even if you aren't a medical 'professional' (LPN/LVN, RN, MD, etc). My facility has such a small staff that, when a code is called on third/night shift, I think it would be nice to be able to assist in any way possible, even if that is just applying chest compressions, or acting as relief should a nurse tire out.. The aides don't have access to the SBAR info, nor the ability to put the transfer into the computer system, etc, so there is little that they can do. Beyond that, there is a potential that I may be in a situation soon where I may be the only staffer with a patient/resident on a 1:1 basis when getting them to appointments. It would be a good thing, in my opinion, to get as much training as I can fit in there. Buuutttt... I've been having some trouble reaching the AHA folks, and can't find an answer as to who (whom) can take just what. Does anyone have any ideas? Thank you in advance.

Please consult your candidate handbook for the proper answer. (Many states have them available online.) It may be different in each state, as some may not let your retake it if you miss a certain number or amount. The states of North Carolina and South Carolina DO let you retake just the skills portion, but it requires you to re-register for just the skills portion of the test, and pay the skills portion fee again.

A few months ago, a long time resident died. His bed ended up being taken by a man that is black & white with anger. If it's certain nurses, he's the most lovey individual you could ever meet. I half expect to see his eyes turn into cartoon hearts with some of them. But for the vast majority of the nurses, and for all of the aides, he treats them as punching bags, sometimes literally. I've had several aides come out of his room with bruises after he swung on them for "disturbing him", even though it has been explained multiple times that it is their job to ensure his safety and welfare. This behavior has been passed along to and by the floor/charge nurses to the Unit Managers and the administration, but nothing has been done. The facilities Social Work head didn't even know there was a problem when I mentioned it to her in passing one morning. This has also been documented in the computer system. As things have progressed the way they have, I am not holding my breath on those in charge taking up the responsibility to fix this situation, and I am concerned that it is beginning to negatively affect his roommates care as well, as he is driving away aides that dare to turn on any lights or even open the door after sun down. Anyone have advice on how to approach this situation?

Now I know that there are probably hundreds of similar questions floating around this site, but I'm hoping this one is a little different. I am currently a CNA in a mixed rehab/LTC facility, and I am certainly not happy. It's not changing briefs, or feeding, or any of those things that give me problems. It's the possibility for advancement. For some reason I currently have no idea of, the only local uni that provides CNA level training dropped their Medication Technician, Advanced Skills Nursing Aide, EKG/ECG, and Phlebotomy courses. So now you're either stuck as a CNA, go 'behind the scenes' (RadTech, CT Tech, Surgical Tech, etc.), Patient Care Tech (the national exam type, not the other CNA title), spend another semester in and go for LPN, Or go for ADN. My dream is a job as an RN in direct wound care types of jobs. It doesn't have to be solely wound care, it's just that my skills are more in that area, more so than pharmacology, etc. and I have little to no problem with the aspects of it people find rather - undesirable, like debridement, ostomies, and the like. But as things stand now, I'm not making all that much. Every advisor I've had has told me that it's not a good idea to work while in the nursing program, even going so far as to put a suggestion to that effect in the schools materials. So I have to work. So the question is, what path would you advise me to take? I keep hearing the messages of "It's sooo worth it!", but often these were women that had either still been living at home with their parents, or with their significant others/spouses through the educational process. I don't want to mess things up by flunking out by not being able to handle the course load, and I don't want to let myself get disheartened to the point that I give up. Should I stick to trying to get in the ADN program, go for LPN and worry about advancement later, or is there some field I'm not even aware of that would be a far better fit. And before you start being too concerned, I'm not going to make my choices solely on what all of you have to say. But with so little useful information and chances here, it only seems right to reach out. Thanks for your time.

While I was still working on my certification, I joined quite a few online job groups and boards to help with placement afterwords. I never saw fit to leave them as I've had jobs in the past that have closed up shop with a months notice or less, so I wanted to kep y ear to the ground. Well, over the past two days nearly every single one has had the same kind of vague, all text notice "URGENT JOB POST:Cardio Revelation are looking at employing CNAs, Health Care Assistants, Managers, Customer Service and Personal/Office Assistants to fill up vacancies with our client companies and stores. These positions require amazing organizational skills and experience in _______ and ____ areas Pay: $11.50 - $22.00 p/h based on experience & qualifications Employment type: Part Time & Full-time Must be at least 18 Years Old Send your resume to [email protected] or PM/Inbox me your and questions with position you are applying for and a Job description details will be sent to you based on what you are apply for. P.S Please update your resumes with your cell numbers else we may be unable to reach you back, Thanks" It seemed kind of weird that they would use a gmail address for an official company recruiting task, and would add the bit about cell numbers at the end, so I searched online. And kept searching, and searching, and searching. Literally nothing came up for it. Got some posts about heart health, spin classes, etc. for the cardio part, and results about religion for revelation, but nothing for the combination. Is my Google-fu just that rusty, or does this seem kind of like a scam to anyone else? TYIA

To start, a little background. While I have been surrounded by the medical field my entire life, I've only lately become a CNA. The facility that has hired me is not among the higher paying ones in the area, so many staffers jump ship as soon as they can get in other places. As such, we are often short staffed.Recently there was a notice posted for internal candidates that may be interested in a Unit Secretary position.One was for a rehab unit, and the other for a LTC unit, both in the same facility. While I am trying to catch the HR person for an official job description to possibly consider it, thought I'd ask a few questions here. I work 2300 to 0700 as a CNA, total patient care. But often things are messy, missing, not available, out, etc. And when appointments are made by family members, doctors, nurses, the lab staff, etc, it is sometimes not communicated all the way through to the appropriate staffers to allow enough time to properly prepare the patients & residents for them. These issues not only affect the ability of my coworkers & myself to do our jobs, it grates on me personally, as those types of issues are some of my few major pet peeves. So if you don't mind, I'm just going to list my questions out to keep things short and sweet. 1) Based off of your knowledge & understanding of the position and those you may know who work or have worked in it, do you believe that the Unit Secretary position could be done in conjunction with working as a CNA? 2) In your opinions, even if it is not possible to do both jobs together, do you think that it would be possible to at least convince the facility to split the job? As I am on the overnight shift, I can understand if they did not want to be paying me for working double shifts, even if it's just two to four days a week. So if working both jobs at once are not an option at all, do you believe that a/my facility would be willing to split the job, at the very least reducing the amount of work that the nursing staff would have to do in order to complete the rest of the responsibilities of the job? 3) Will this experience be of use in any potential nursing school coursework? Thank you for your time.

In the school I have just finished my CNA course in, I stopped in to talk to someone in the Nursing department about future career options. Turns out it was the department head! The way she presented it was that, if accepted to the ADN program (which has a waiting list and other things that keep you from jumping right in) the minimum amount of time in program that she would recommend to a student was 18 months. This was pretty much taking an extra course or two every semester to cut down on the time. Then, after passing the NCLEX, a four year college that is connected to our technical school has set it up to where interested individuals can actually finish their BSN online. She said that while there has yet to be anyone that has taken advantage of it, she believes that, with work, it would only take another 6 months to a year. ADNs make pretty good money here, so I guess no one has seen fit to make the effort yet. But I do wonder why there are things like history and elective prerequisites before you can start the actual nursing courses. Just seems like it would go a lot quicker without.