RN"s and LPN's mandated to work as CNA's

Nurses General Nursing

Published

I am a nursing assistant and at the nursing home where I work nurses are being mandated to work as cna's for RN pay. This has caused all heck to break loose. Many nurses are leaving because "I did not go to school to do aid work" This whole mess started after are building decided to go agency free. What are your thoughts on this;what are some answers. Why do nurses take offense to working as aids. Some nurses have been great about it and others are repulsed by the idea. WHY?

------------------

Nursing assistant

Chili,

There are good and bad CNAs. There are good and bad RNs. I've worked with RNs who said they didn't go to school to wipe butt. I've worked with CNAs who take 6 smoke breaks, four phone calls, plus lunch for every 30 second bathroom break the nurse gets and complain when the nurse asks them to take a pt to the BR.

There are good and bad of all kinds, and a lot of misunderstanding between nurses and aides. Stipulated.

But what I don't get is why you think it's the staff Rn's duty to mentor and encourage CNAs towards more education. As a professional and as the leader of the bedside team, I say please and thank you and try to work together. But your salary, your evaluation, your career goals, your development as a person are not my responsibility.

That may sound harsh, but beyond the bedside, what anyone makes of their life is up to them. I am the teamleader and coworker for my CNAs. I appreciate and respect their hard work. But I am not their mommy or guidance counselor.

If they want to pursue education, I am all for it. But my job is bedside care, not career advice.

I am someone who beleives in mentoring. That is just my personality. I worked at a job for eight years. I watched my co-workers struggle to make ends meet. I realize that it is not your responsibility to encourage your aids to do better. I also realize that not every cna is down and out, I wasn't. To give you an idea, I am someone who works with felons. So, you know how hopeless I am. I am kind of glad that I have a passion to help others.

------------------

Nursing assistant

I don't think that RN's and LVN's should be mandated to do As you say "CNA work" but I think if they are short staff it would not hurt for a RN or LVN to do Aid work every now and then. Cuz the last time I checked being a RN and a LVN means doing patient care, and some people that have become RN's have forgotten that. I work for the Government and we do not have enough CNA's so many times LVN's have to do "CNA work" or wait patient care and they do not mind cuz that is what nursing means, doing patient care, plus it is a change from being a pill pusher or sitting at the desks at the computer. just my two cents.

Could this be fixed with a quick call to your state's overseeing agency to anonymously complain about unsafe staffing levels? Track a day with bad winter weather, burned out mandatory overtime (when staff gets the flu?), and when a patient has something that needs to be reported and report it. I wouldn't get into a battle of wills with the administrator by doing this publicly though.

I know it's different in every state, but here one facility I temp at (I work for an agency as a CNA) is getting investigated because an independent resident fell and got a spiral fracture of her femur on a day last week when the roads were closed due to blizzard (the counties even pulled off the snowplows and tow trucks because too many of them were getting stuck, there were huge drifts, whiteout conditions, and persistent wind chills of -30F - -50F.). The staffing levels mandated for a 24-hour period were covered, but they weren't adequately staffed for most of 2nd shift. This facility is honestly the best in the area as far as both resident care and employee relations and on typically doesn't have staffing problems but even they are going to get a "corrective plan of action." A few fees and threats from the state may clear your issue right up.

Specializes in Neuro/ MS.

There are times that RNs come in to do cna/pca/tech work because when the hospital calls because they are short-for the aide there is absolutely NO incentive for us to come in. Many aides on our floor work overtime all of the time and are burntout. If they call a nurse they offer incentive pay(ot plus incentive). Or call us and offer us nothing.

Specializes in trauma, critical care.

Just wanted to mention a couple of things. First, I have never been ashamed or demeaned by doing "aide" work. It is all a part of nursing. An RN who refuses to wipe butt is not a well rounded nurse; its part of our job.

However, let me just point out that an RN or LPN cannot legally work as a CNA while they hold a valid nursing license. Licensed clinicians (RNs and LPNs) are held to the responsibilities of their highest licensure. No hospital or facility can relieve them of this responsibility. This is a legal truth. If some untoward event were to occur, a nurse acting as a CNA must respond as any other prudent nurse would respond. Similarly, imagine an MD (I know this is far fetched) agreed to work as an RN for a day. That doctor is responsible to their highest level of licensure, and they can be held libel if they do not act as any other prudent physician, not nurse, would. Be very careful of this tricky legal situation!

If I was making almost $30 an hour to do aide duties, I'd be happy as a clam LOL RN pay with no chance of having the drs, families, charge nurses, and whoever else blaming you (the RN) for everything that goes wrong?? Sign me up for that I wish my hospital did that. One day I worked as the unit clerk (all RNs are required to do it for a day) and I was actually thinking I wish I could pick up overtime in other positions other than RN. Furthermore, aide's work really hard and have a pretty dirty job so i don't necessarily think it's a bad idea to have people switch out.

Specializes in ICU/ER.

I'm an ICU RN and I have no problem working where I am needed. And I was a CNA, then a LPN, then a RN. I worked equally hard in each job, and I did pull CNA shifts as an LPN, and got paid twice as much as the CNA's to do the same job. So I have nothing but respect for the good CNA's out there, who make LTC as pleasant as possible. There are bad apples in every profession, CNA LPN RN MD. I care about my job and my patients, and would be willing to help out where needed.

Specializes in Operating Room Nursing.

I too would be happy doing CNA work for RN pay.

Specializes in Home Health.

I have been mandated or pulled many times as an RN to work as a GNA in the LTC facility I work at. I did not like it, but sometimes you have to do what you have to do to keep your job.

Lpns at our hospital sometime work as ward clerks and cnas. As an rn I have worked as a cna. It is hard work but the same kind of work I did in school to be an rn. If I am working in another job description I am still held to the standards of an rn I just do not have to do the charting etc that the person assigned as the professional does. I may not have to listen to lung sounds with a stethescope but if I hear something or see edema I would make sure the person acting in the professional status addressed this correctly. I don't think a professional should work as a nonprofessional all the time but I think as an employee of an insitution, if I am asked to do so I should not see it as beneath me.

This post is exactly what got me so upset in the other thread. Now it's a mandate! Sheesh

It is one thing to volunteer or do it as part of team effort. But to mandate it?

+ Add a Comment