"They give the meds, we do the care"

NeoNurseTX, RN · Apr 18, 2011

Being ICU, we don't have techs or CNAs so we do everything.

purse · Apr 18, 2011

I was just watching that! I thought that comment was nuts, apparently noone really knows what goes on. it would be nice to have my ceo or president be on that show, then they could see what REALLY goes on, but of course that wont happen because our LTC facility would probably get shut down for the stuff we do when we arent expecting the state inspectors to come in. like prepouring pills to save time, etc ,etc.

kool-aide, RN · Apr 18, 2011

I think this is common in nursing homes, but def not in hospitals!

meghan91 · Apr 18, 2011

i was also just watching this and was a little put off by that comment. i am only a nursing student but i still feel like that isnt true, yes i know CNAs do a lot of hard work an especially in nursing homes are providing most of the care but i still think everyone takes care of the care of the patient not just one single set of people, RNs do ALOT of the "care" of the patient also just depending on the setting you are in the "care" changes between the CNA and a RN

tokmom, BSN, RN · Apr 18, 2011

So much for watching that tonight. I think I'll go to bed instead, lol.

Did they pay for anyone to go to nursing school or anything like that? Then the CNA just has to pass meds......

linearthinker, DNP, RN · Apr 18, 2011

That comment wouldn't bother me. It may be true there for all I know, or the speaker may be ignorant about the role of the professional nurse.

purse · Apr 18, 2011

Yeah they paid for a few people to go to nursing school! :clown:

AZMOMO2 · Apr 18, 2011

I had a CNA come to the desk and say, " Oh you Nurses, we do all the work and you get all the pay. " I had just hung up the phone from a horrible call to a family member about yet another skin tear to their parent, don't get me started on the paperwork for that one, I had just completed phone calls to 3 doctors and the NP to report PT/INR results for 16 pts and had to rewrite orders for all 16, because company policy says they are only good for 3 days. Not to mention had all my Alert Charting to do which on that day I had 25 of my 30 sick with something.

I would have loved to have her do my med passes to all 30 of my people to her 12 to dress and toilet, how about all the treatments, charting & other bs checks we have to do. I saw her punch out right on time, and I had to stay after my shift nearly two hours, because not only do I have to do my job, we have to go behind them after every shift to make sure they did theirs.

So I told her to go to Nursing School. Either that or every new CNA should shadow a Nurse for a shift. Since I've been a CNA before, I can tell you I thought it was all pushing pills and I was soooo wrong.

Five&Two Will Do · Apr 18, 2011

Watching "Undercover Boss" and its the CEO of Brightstar, which i've never heard of. So, apparently one of the jobs of the company is providing agency staff to nursing homes, etc. The CEO asked a CNA what the difference between a CNA and the RN is. "They give the meds, we do the care".....
Although I know this is probably a common view of what a RN is, its still frustrating to hear it!

LOL another fine example of how movies and TV don't really know jack about what we do! :lol2:

ANH_RN · Apr 18, 2011

So apparently giving meds and monitoring the reactions of those meds and assessing the pts and how they are progressing and having the skill to know when the pt is not doing well is not considered 'care'??

mazy · Apr 18, 2011

That show comes on when I'm at work, usually at the time I'm running around like a lunatic because it is at the peak of my med pass and all the whacky patient stuff happens at that time so I'm trying to deal with that.

My feeling from the bits I catch is that the show likes to pick the workers who are at the very bottom of the totem pole and inflate the misery of their lives in particular for maximum drama. So I think that the comment made was just to reel in viewers and get the ratings.

For what it's worth I couldn't do my job if it weren't for the CNAs I work with, they do a fantastic job and are most definitely not just a bunch of poor put-upon slobs who don't get credit for the work they do. And since I was a CNA before I became a nurse I know what it takes for a CNA to keep a difficult unit running smoothly.

But I think each an every one of us could say that at times it feels like we're the only ones doing the hard work while the higher-ups take all the credit.

It's just that nurses complaining are not going to resonate with the viewers as much, because every one in TV land knows that the only thing nurses do is gossip and flirt with the doctors.