since it seems that in my state

BabyGirlx3 · Aug 25, 2010

lol Well good for you!

Well, my typical day is.. Getting up, Calling my patient, seeing what time he//she is going to be home, and what time would it be best I drop by.. Go their, pick up some, take vital signs, Help them with bathing if needed, talk to them some, and leave. It's mostly like an hour to an hour and half. Depending on who, and what I need to get done. I get paid $25 per patient. I only "worked" in a nursing home when I did my clinicals. I'm not goin to say I enjoyed it, but I wont say I hated it either. The worst is, you wont always get someone who is going to like you. lol I had someone who completely cussed me out when I came in and said I was going to give her a partial bath. She calmed down and let me, but yeah.

There are going to be messes you have to clean up, Their "diapers", poopy ones too. It's not fun, but you are there to help them. I remember I was told to go give this one patient peri care, and do her vitals and change her bedding. Well, when I got in there she wasn't served dinner yet, and she yelled at me about it. lol So I went to go find out what was going on, and she told me to not come back without her food.. Obviously I don't do that, so my teacher told me to just wait till after she ate.. So I waited, finally went back, and she yelled at me for not bringing her food on time. lol Like it was all my fault. aha I let it slid, and told her what I was there to do, and shes like "okay but hurry now! go go go go go!." lol Now, remind you, this is my clinicals so I was STILL learning. So I started doing what I had to do, and I guess I was going too slow, and she kept telling me to hurry up. It was a nightmare.. Finally I had to take her vitals and the thermometer wasn't working right, and she yelled at me about that. lol You have your good and bad days, but again, you are there to help them. :) You'll do fine. :)

yousoldtheworld · Aug 25, 2010

Lots of butts to clean, but yes, lots and lots of cute/funny comments.

You should definitely read this thread for cute comments: Funny things your patients have said - Nursing for Nurses

And here are some tricks they didn't teach you in CNA class: Things they didn't teach you in CNA class. - Nursing for Nurses

Here's a thread full of rants about the downsides of the job: FED UP CNAS!!!! - Nursing for Nurses

Those are great, useful threads that will give you a feel for what it is like.

My typical day on 2nd shift is something like:

Come in, check each room, get out nightclothes and turn down the beds (unless state's there. Then, don't get out anything early!)

Give my showers. I usually have 3-5 showers to give a day.

Make sure everyone's up for dinner if they've been lying down.

Feed dinner.

After dinner, aides take our dinner breaks.

Then, clean residents up, put on their nightclothes, and put them to bed.

After that, a last bedcheck (to make sure everyone is dry for the next shift) and then doing my charting/books.

The toughest part is getting all 12-15 residents washed up and in bed between the hours of 7 and 9 so that I actually have time to DO a bedcheck at 9. Of course, all of my residents are total care. Depending on where you work, you may have some fairly independent residents that need less help, and that can really speed up your pace. :)

fuzzywuzzy, CNA · Aug 26, 2010

^Great thread suggestions. You'll have a LOT of stuff to read through! "What you really want to say" is a good thread too. And there's also another one called "tips and tricks for new CNAs" or something like that. I'll have to try and find those URLs.

Giving a rundown of my day would take forever, but let's just say you stay busy. I work 7-3 and I'm on the total care hall most of the time. You have to be REALLY organized and fast to be able to keep up with everyone's basic needs in a timely manner. If you can get as many people washed and dressed as possible before breakfast, the rest of your morning will be a little less stressful. A lot of the residents say and do cute things but I never post them on here because we all share those moments with each other at work and I don't want to violate my privacy online. There are also residents and family members that are totally aggravating!