? about reporting CNAs to charge nurse or DON

caliotter3 · Nov 24, 2010

Give it a few days before you start reporting your coworkers.

EmCNA · Nov 24, 2010

my question was not whether to report anyone. my question was what sort of things am i OBLIGATED to report. to protect my patients.

ctmed · Nov 24, 2010

Maybe, instead of running to management, you should talk to your co-workers face to face?

Reality is that some folks, regardless of profession, are going to do more on their job than others. Some are gung-ho and are moving constantly doing everything. Others do not care as long as no one is caught with old, dirty/wet diapers and no one is found laying on the floor.

Worry about your own work and let other CNAs manage their own section. If you get the reputation as the facility snitch, you not only tee off your co-workers where they may not want to help you, the management will get tired of having to put out fires and institute harsh policies which no one will be happy with. It may even back fire and make you look like you can not "get along" with people. In worst cases, it may start other CNAs walking up in YOUR rooms digging for anything they can find wrong to write you up. Do you want to work in an environment like that? I do not.

That said, there are some things that NEED to be reported. Any physical abuse like hitting or outright harsh verbal insults are examples. Other than that, let the nurse handle it. The nurse is the boss, and you have enough to do.

Hate to be harsh.. but I hate fellow CNAs that are worried about what I do, but not what they have to do!!!

ctmed · Nov 24, 2010

A clarification after my rant...

When I speak of "abuse" and reporting it, I am talking actual abuse. Not what folks with Hotel Restaurant/ Hospitality masters degrees sitting in offices that never touch patients call abuse. I am talking actual hitting and talking to residents/patients like a dog.

I have heard of some crazy things from some of these out of touch folks in offices on what they call abuse. Stuff like they got grape jelly when they hate grape jelly and forgetting to get them strawberry! (yes, one inservice runner said this was serious abuse!)

Handling someone a bit rough could be mentioned to that CNA in private. Some of these patients do get heavy and stiff and you have to use some strength. It is easy if you have 3 to 6 folks to get up in 45 minutes time to be rough and not even realize it. I think every CNA could have technically been accused of this at least once - particularly with violent or confused folks. When I first started, I had this problem. I did not even realize what I was doing! After all, I am a pretty big and tall guy! Fortunately, someone pulled me off to the side and showed me better ways to get folks up. Most mature folks would say "thanks" and be more mindful if approached as a concerned co-worker. I was thankful.

interceptinglight, CNA · Nov 25, 2010

I've only been working as a CNA for a few months on the evening shift at the LTC facility I work. There's a particular CNA who has been there for a year and is very 'tight' with the DON. She spends many an hour in her office complaining about her co-workers and occasionally the charge nurses. Some of her complaints are legitimate and some of them aren't but she makes sure that if anything ticks her off, she's going to make a huge fuss about it. She's also lost the respect of a lot of her co-workers because of her two-faced attitude.

I've decided that I'm not going to make any complaints or reports unless I see something obviously negligent or abusive being done to the residents. I'm very good at positioning people for comfort and I love to give that little extra touch that makes them feel good -- some of my fellow CNA's just get people into bed and pull the covers over....never mind smoothing out the linens, fluffing the pillows, and making sure their body is cradled comfortably, offering them a sip of water, etc. To me, it's wrong to be insensitive and in such a hurry that you don't care as much about the residents comfort as you do about getting things done fast -- but it's not something I'm going to make a complaint about, because no matter where you work there will be CNA's like that.

One of the new CNA's here tends to be very rough on the residents. If one of them gets the slightest bit combative for any reason he grabs them by the wrists and restrains them to the point of leaving bruises. He's also very rough on some these delicate little ladies who've complained about him. He's been reported for this -- that's the kind of thing I would not hesitate to report if it happened in my presence.

Cinquefoil · Nov 25, 2010

One of the new CNA's here tends to be very rough on the residents. If one of them gets the slightest bit combative for any reason he grabs them by the wrists and restrains them to the point of leaving bruises. He's also very rough on some these delicate little ladies who've complained about him. He's been reported for this -- that's the kind of thing I would not hesitate to report if it happened in my presence.

That's exactly the kind of thing I'd report too.

As for the not doing rounds......

How is the workload at this place? Have you worked on the floor yourself and found perfect, consent-respecting rounding do-able? Or is it essentially impossible? I say this because the CNA who's teaching you may have developed their behaviors because they're overloaded with work and have no sympathy about this from management. If that's the case they could use your support in going to management (or above, to the state) rather than your reporting them. Plus if management doesn't give a **** you could look bad for "tattling" AND it will serve no purpose. Does management support employees who report neglect or do they pretty much brush it off????

If the workplace is bad enough you may want to leave it if you have other options to protect your sanity and/or your license, cause bad facilities can and will throw good employees under the bus.

Of course there's all kinds of shades of grey here. Like it could be doable to round well and behave gently sometimes but not others, yet your fellow employee is rough all the time. So they could change their behavior if they wanted, but it wouldn't always serve them to.

Did this coworker take long breaks, or just the bare minimum? Were they always rough, or just when they were in a hurry? Not to say it's OK to be rough AT ALL. Just there are a lot of causes for behaviors, so the best way to get the behavior changed may vary.

RevolutioN2013 · Nov 26, 2010

Although I have not yet worked in healthcare I am 40 years old and have been in the working world for 20 years. My experience is that organizations do not change as a result of some great epiphany experienced by management as a result being suddenly enlightened about the inadequacies of their organization by the employees. It is naive to believe that they are not already aware on some level of what is going on. One of two things - either they are okay with it OR they are too weak as managers to make a significant change. Either way you hurt yourself by complaining to them because then you become the problem. All they have to do is let you go and they go back to their less complicated life. My experience is that organizations change because of external pressure in the form of legal and monetary censures. I have no doubt that when I finish my class in March and find a job that I will come across many of the things that have been discussed on this website. When I do I will be reporting them to the ombudsman and not the management of the facility. The whistle-blower always gets screwed - it's just the way of the world. So protect yourself and your patients by making a confidential report to the ombudsman and let them do what they are there for - to protect the patients. Good luck!