I have taken a job as an "RN" at a LTC home. When I interviewed, I threw out there that I was willing to work as a CNA to cover in case of emergencies. They took it as I would fill every hole in their CNA schedule. What's the point of having your RN if you don't get to use it, right? Well, last night was my first night of CNA "orientation," and it was awful. They have the care home diveded into two sides, and side two (which I was on) has about 60 residents and there were three of us. Two really, because I was just supposed to follow the guy orienting me. There is a 300 lb lady that has to go to the bathroom every 15 min on the dot, and it takes a long time to get her from her wheelchair to the bathroom and back. There were two male roommates, one mostly demented, and the demented one tried to beat up the non-demented one because he was yelling at him to shut up and stop babbling. Two residents were in the middle stages of Alzheimer's (the point where they get agitated and wander but still as you the same questions every five seconds). And there were several residents who put on their call light every five seconds for picky little things "Are my legs completely covered? Move my arm 1/4 inch to the left." There were three people that required a full lift and four people who required a sit-to-stand lift.
Now, they said 2-10 shift was horrible, but I've noticed every 2-10 shift is a little horrible because there is never enough people when everyone goes to bed at the same time. However, last night was seriously understaffed. There should be at least 4-5 people on that side on a regular basis. Last night there was only 4 CNAs in the entire long-term care home. And despite what they tried to tell me when I interviewed, I am seeing there is only 2 CNAs on this side on a regular basis. So, what I did may have been cowardly, but I pulled some punches. I told the ADON I did not want to work as a CNA except in absolute emergencies, and questioned whether me having a job there rested on me working as a CNA when I was an RN. She claimed she just wanted to have me work as a CNA on both sides once to get to know the residents and see "just how bad things really are."
Now, the CNA-to-patient ratio (I think) is dangerous. But, I talked with the scheduler and I will be charge nurse on each shift after only one day of orientation for each. I can understand doing that for night shift, but days??? I just graduated in December, and I have no real-life nursing experience. All these people's lives are going to be in my very inexperienced hands. Is this normal for LTC? I have only worked at a couple of nursing homes (as a CNA) for a couple of months each.
