Rant: Lazy Coworkers!

sonomala · Jan 16, 2009

Sadly, thats common esp on graveyard. The thing is its hard to find cnas willing to work a full time graveyard shift so I think unless something is a direct safety or privacy issue, it can be overlooked in favor of having a person there just in case. You might try doing what I do, consider it great motivation to continue your education. On day you'll be in another pos while the lazy one will still be there. Hang in there!

fuzzywuzzy, CNA · Jan 17, 2009

Well I work 3-11, so you're REALLY busy up until about 930 or 10, and then after that it's answering call lights and doing chores. If everyone helped out and actually worked that whole time, then we could all finish at the same time. I don't mind working until the end of the shift... I'm just really annoyed by their flat-out refusal to help out. It's really rude.

allnurses Guide · Jan 17, 2009

I have a coworker like this. He never does any more than the minimum required. He whines about being called in.. when he's on call! He ducks out early most days. He doesn't go near the patients if he's not carrying the pager, just sits in his damn office. It's highly annoying.

Karma's a you-know-what, though - none of us will ever stay back to help him out if he's busy!

MichaelCNA · Jan 17, 2009

My shift in LTC is 2-10pm, and honestly, the only "slow period" of my entire day is between 230-400 (after water and snacks are passed). Within that hour and a half, I begin charting (thank God for Caretracker), strip beds for those who are scheduled to take a shower, answer call-lights, get weights, and begin taking orders for those who eat dinner in their rooms. Dinner is scheduled for 5pm, so once 6pm hits, there are 10+ Residents asking to go to bed. In my facility, there is no time to sit, and I am fortunate that the majority of my co-workers are always focused on the job. While some do have a tendency of ducking in the shower room to play with their cell-phones for a few moments, nobody outright sits around and blatantly does nothing.

Does your facility pass out line-up sheets? I would make it clear to whomever is in charge that the line-up should be adhered to in the instance of charting only, unless of course the other CNA finishes their work around the same time period. If one of you is putting 10 people to bed, and the other only 3-4, that is a problem.

I believe that CNAs should be responsible for other CNAs. All of us in the workplace have a common goal, the comfort and health of the Resident. If you are unhappy with the quality of work your co-worker is demonstrating, approach them professionally, give them the opportunity to change before going to management. It's your license after all, right? :)

Mike

rancelumsden · Jan 17, 2009

This is one of the biggest issues with this business, IMHO.

In other professions, you often have your 'own' work to do and are often only minimally impacted by the failure of other people to do their work.

But CNA's need cooperation and reciprocity on every shift to accomplish their tasks. There is ALWAYS something that slows you down at your busiest. Someone gets sick, they mess the bed right after it was just made, have to be toileted right after they were put in bed, need one-on-one feeding, etc.

I used to be angry about the shower thing. The first shift would miss showers. I wasn't angry about that because we would miss showers too on 'bad' days. But, we would often (on 2nd shift) have time to do them and yup, no one could be bothered ("hey, it's the problem of first shift" --- never mind the resident).

No answers for you.........

One Flew Over · Jan 17, 2009

If one assignment has say 10 frequent callers and the lazy CNA's assignment has only 1, than it sounds like a reassignment is in order. If they finish that quickly and you take so long, the assignment needs to be adjusted so that it is fair.

On another note.. if all they are doing is sitting around, who is doing rounds on their patients?

rolland542 · Jan 17, 2009

It drives me nuts that there are some people who will finish their work and then sit down the rest of the shift! They do whoever is on their assignment (probably half-assed), and then they park themselves in a chair the rest of the night and ignore the call lights. It's bad enough that they don't do any of our secondary tasks, like passing snacks, doing vitals or chores, but it really peeves me when I'm the only one running around for the last 2 hours of a shift doing all that, and then I have to answer lights on top of it while the lazy person just sits there and has the nerve to complain about the job or roll her eyes when you need help with someone heavy! And then when she sits there and oh-so-helpfully informs you that so-and-so is ringing, I just want to smack her! Go and answer it yourself- I'm busy doing everything else!
If I finish my assignment before other people, I keep working! I ask the others if they need any help or I look for something that didn't get done earlier. Once in a while if you're having a bad day then fine, who cares? But this is night after night. These people do this right in front of the supervisors, and nothing is said. I was talking about it with another coworker and she said she went to the DON about the same thing a while ago, and the DON had a meeting (so as not to single anyone out), and nothing has changed.

Track the problem in writing - WHO WHAT WHERE and WHEN

Then go to your DON.....if it is one particular person and not a generalized problem, they will have to face the batter and pitch. If it is a generalized problem, they will have to keep a very close eye on the issue and learn to pick out the offenders. Just make sure that you CYA - cover your a** - and track your activities while on shift. You don't want to get caught with your pants down and not be able to defend yourself if someone comes and accuses you of the same thing.

fuzzywuzzy, CNA · Jan 17, 2009

If one assignment has say 10 frequent callers and the lazy CNA's assignment has only 1, than it sounds like a reassignment is in order. If they finish that quickly and you take so long, the assignment needs to be adjusted so that it is fair.
On another note.. if all they are doing is sitting around, who is doing rounds on their patients?

Well, our assignments are based on room numbers, and we get a lot of short term rehab patients, so the "intensity" of each assignment changes every few weeks, but generally we should all finish at the same time. The only reason this person finishes early is because she does things half-assed. I'm not sure about the rounds... we all do our own last rounds, but I doubt she makes it a point to go and check on people before that.