I am glad to have found this board :) I would like to hear your ideas/suggestions.
If any of you nurses have senior aides, how has it been working out?
This has recently been proposed at my faciltity. (By the CNA's) I can see where it would be a help to them (the hard-working CNA's who do most of the work while some others just seem to barely drag themselves and their attitudes to work),...sounds rude, but it is reality. Believe me, I hear these complaints almost daily. As busy as I am, I try to take the time to always listen to their concerns. I was once in their shoes, so darn right, I listen.
The majority of the CNA's I work with are excellant..there are just those few
I have never had a problem with dealing with the CNA's, but I would welcome the reprieve of babysitting the few that seem to trickle in and cause alot of strife, not to mention the substandard care they give. Having a senior aide would alert us to potential problems and we could take care of it BEFORE it becomes a bigger problem.....(this is the main purpose of starting this to begin with)
I repeat, the nurses would still be responsible for taking the necessary actions. It would simply save a step, and every step saved is welcomed by the nurses....after all, our feet are tired too. :)
I have asked the opinion of the CNA's I respect and admire, they are all for it, yet I worry about the tension it could cause between them. Mainly, who gets to be senior aide, etc..
The decision to have senior aides must be OK'd with the nurses, so I am asking any of you who have senior aides to share your experiences. Thank you
I worked in a facility that did this. It was a long time ago so the specifics are a little vague. It seemed to me that some of the senoir aids turned into bullies while others were overstressed due to the added resonsibility.
NA's have a lot of responsibilities already, They don't deserve to have more pushed onto them.
This idea does seem good in theory but most ideas do seem good in theory. Just my opinion.
We also have the problem of some CNAs not doing their work properly or as their job decscription indicates. That being said, there are some nurses that also do not do their work properly or as their job description indicates.
I think that if you are going to impliment a program like this, the "senior" CNA should be someone who has taken training in leadership or possibly a nursing student who will eventually take on that type of role. Management is not a popularity contest but a position of responsibility.
We have a few CNAs that have been at our facility for "20 years and no one is going to tell me how to do things" or "I've been here for 20 years and need help with....." almost every detail of any task given. So I can see where conflict/jealousy might arise.
I guess what I'm saying is that two parties must think this through thoroughly before making a position like this. I myself would not take a position like this (I am a CNA and graduate from nursing school in May) because 1. I don't have the time and 2. I'd prefer to report things to the charge nurse and let them handle it.
If you take this position I wish you all the luck and hope that you remember where your roots started.
essarge, there was no position to take...the CNA's requested we talk about going this route, not the nurses, there was never a position, but thank you for your input about this
Since this was proposed by the CNA's to begin with, the nurses and the CNA's have been discussing it when we have the time and they (the CNA's) have decided they don't want to go this route after all
The more we discussed it, I began to think to myself, "this is not going to work out ". they did alot of thinking too, I see. we also discussed the why we should try it and the why-nots and there were more reasons why we shouldn't.
They also thanked the nurses for at least considering their idea, and not poo hooing it away.
so all is well and we're back where we were, but the CNA's do feel a bit more appreciated that we cared and they told us so :)
Specializes in Alzheimer's, Geriatrics, Chem. Dep..
Originally posted by essarge
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Totally off topic but can you tell me where I can see a larger version of the pic you got your avatar from? Maybe you could send me a private message. It's BEAUTIFUL!
Agnus, That was one of the nicest most heartfelt and honest apologies I have seen one one of these BB. Kudos to you for acknowledging the misunderstanding.
The unfortunate thing about being a CNA is that there is really no growth in the position, nowhere to be promoted to. I know I was an aid myself. This is one of the reasons that CNA's make the suggestion for a senior CNA position; it stratifies the position and gives recognition to those who are more talented, dedicated or has longevity. And gives an opportunity for an increase in compensation.
There are not to many places in an organization for a CNA to go with out additional training. Again I know because I returned to school and became an RN. Organizations need to look at assisting their Aids with additional training to improve their skills.
I also feel another reason that some facilities like the senior CNA position is that too many licensed nurses do not want to get into the nasty business of disciplining staff, making assignments and supervising staff. So they look for a buffer between themselves and the Aids. . They do not want to confront Aids that are not doing their work and to have to deal with the paperwork and emotional fall out that results from having to discipline staff. All to often Nursing administration, when an attempt to discipline is made, does not back up licensed nurses.
Dealing with staff in not a natural talent for most nurses. We are not trained to do this. Dealing with staff is a very distinct skill set that has to be learned and additional training can be obtained should facilities choose to incest in their employees to gat them the training. Most facilities are too cheap and shortsighted to do this.
Sounds like you guys handled the situation very well, and got a positive outcome from it:).
I have worked in places where CNAs were given more responsibilites, training, and received more pay as they went along the ladder. Starting at CNA I, II and III. Something like I have seen places do with LP/VNs. This might be a way to give the CNAs more of an incentive perform their duties at a higher standard.
we have senior aides in my long term care facility. we call them cna preceptors. by and large, they suck. they make the new aides do the work they dont want to do, work with the residents they dont want to work with. this went on for two months for me until i got transferred to another part of building. we are supposed to rotate stations but it never happened. my preceptor told me things that were totally untrue when i first started even though she is supposed to know the correct answers or at least find them out. i asked her where this womans privy parts was (i had been doing peri-care-- bedbath) and could not find it or anything that resembled it and i wanted to know if something horrible had happened and she told me there are tribes in ireland who do clitorectomies. then i asked my mom later who is RN and she said everything just sometimes shrinks way up inside the body, making it difficult to even get a foley in. my preceptor when i asked for help with alzheimer pt who took his oxygen out she came into the room and closed the door and started rubbing on his chest. he said to stop it and she said she would stop it when he opened his eyes and looked at her and after sometime with this he finally looked at her and then he let her put the oxygen on. but i was very scared after i had a chance to think about it because it was a boundary violation and a threat and did not know if i should report. (i told my supervisor). i really resent being put in a position where my first source for help is basically incompetent! it got to the point where i was crying at work everyday and at least twice per shift she would do something really inappropriate. finally i got transfered. i could go on and on but my point is just that the system does not work. any questions anyone has about my experience though i will answer.
As a CNA, this seems to be a conundrum. At our facility, we have both good and bad aides. The management is slow to crack down on the bad aides to give bad care and call in all the time. Finally, everyone else starts to get sick of it, and starts to complain more and more. This makes management start to discipline the bad aides, which makes the bad ones mad, so they start having people quit left and right. Now they are way short of aides, so people realize this and start calling off and goofing around again, knowing nothing will happen to them, at least until enough new ones gets hired. In 6 months as a CNA, Ive seen this cycle go through at least twice, like every couple months. I can see managements standpoint. They dont want to make people mad and have people quitting, then you dont even have enough aides to man the floor. But at the same time, you can't just have people doing whatever they want. I dont know what the solution could be.
Noney
564 Posts
I worked in a facility that did this. It was a long time ago so the specifics are a little vague. It seemed to me that some of the senoir aids turned into bullies while others were overstressed due to the added resonsibility.
NA's have a lot of responsibilities already, They don't deserve to have more pushed onto them.
This idea does seem good in theory but most ideas do seem good in theory. Just my opinion.
Noney