RNs working as aides/techs

[jrbenny]

Hey y'all.

im working on a project for work. I am trying to find some scholarly articles about why Nurses can't be scheduled as aides/techs. I am currently working at a hospital where I spend half my shifts as a scheduled CNA. I don't pass meds, do assessments, or any thing with my license. Instead I am taking patients to the bathroom, giving baths, and constantly saying "let me get your nurse."

I am trying to make the change where Nurses work as nurses. And if we're short CNA/techs. We just provide primary care for those patients.

Any articles or legislative documentation to support this would be great!

thank you in advanaced.

[Sour Lemon]

Hey y'all.

im working on a project for work. I am trying to find some scholarly articles about why Nurses can't be scheduled as aides/techs. I am currently working at a hospital where I spend half my shifts as a scheduled CNA. I don't pass meds, do assessments, or any thing with my license. Instead I am taking patients to the bathroom, giving baths, and constantly saying "let me get your nurse."

I am trying to make the change where Nurses work as nurses. And if we're short CNA/techs. We just provide primary care for those patients.

Any articles or legislative documentation to support this would be great!

thank you in advanaced.

I don't think you're going to find what you're looking for.

[caliotter3]

When nurses provide patient care they are working as nurses. Aide/tech/nursing assistant typical tasks all fall under the realm of patient care, which is nursing care, and in the job description of nurses. Having ancillary personnel around to do those tasks does not remove them from the responsibility of the assigned nurse. So, yes, you won't find what you are looking for.

[JKL33]

We have very recently hashed out a similar question to its death.

Laws prohibiting this or solid evidence against it didn't come up in the discussion as far as I recall.

Some of us don't get what the big deal is, although having it be a regular occurrence would probably change some minds.

Has the idea of providing primary nursing care been rejected, or what? If so, for what reasons? Personally I haven't found primary nursing to be an even-up solution for not having a tech, even if the RN assignments are (ever-so) smaller. I'd rather have someone assigned to the tech role, even if it's me. I just personally find it more intolerable/more anxiety-producing to be doing something time-consuming that doesn't require an RN when I am responsible for the medical/nursing needs of patients. If that makes sense.

[verene, MSN]

As another poster said we recently had a thread on this very topic that hashed the issue to death. Assuming you are still being paid RN wages for days scheduled as a CNA, there is no standing to argue against working as an aid (except perhaps point out to your employer how much money they are wasting if this is done on a regular basis) as all aid duties are within RN scope of practice.