Teamwork vs doing someones job

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Feb 21, 2006

Adj. 1. contemptuous - expressing extreme contempt
disdainful, scornful, insulting
disrespectful - exhibiting lack of respect; rude and discourteous; "remarks disrespectful of the law"; "disrespectful in the presence of his parents"; "disrespectful toward his teacher"
I do not think that what I said was any of the above.
I think you are misinterpreting what I have said.
I was merely trying to express that anyone who is working on the unit surely can see that MOST nurses are very busy.
I will give you the benefit of the doubt that you did not intend to say that I was any in the above definition.

You raised valid questions and facts, and i definitely agree that a "shawdowing" thing would be a good idea. How many nurses had to go though the "basics" of pt. physical care on orientation, even though an aide is usually doing these things? Why not have aides shadow a day or two and see what a nurse is really doing?

RN34TX · Feb 21, 2006

It is a constant complaint from our clerks and techs that we (nurses) don't give enough baths, we don't answer enough calls bell or take off enough orders, etc. It is not that I (hopefully I am speaking for the rest of the nurses) feel beneath doing this, it is that we are busy too. I actually had one tech tell me I did not help her out enough, that I was capable of giving baths and getting patients ready for ot/pt......I know I am capable of doing their job, but they are not capable of doing mine. Do they realize that the nurses are accountable for many aspects of the patient care. Including their job!

Been there.

It can appear to CNA's that nurses are just sitting around because there is a lot more to patient care than what they are responsible for and they may or may not realize it.

I once worked at a place where the permanent day charge nurse was regarded as "the best nurse and the only good nurse" and the rest of us were considerd to be "worthless" in the words of the CNA staff.

This charge nurse would tell the new CNA's this herself from day one and they all ate it up like candy.

Every day she helped the CNA's with toileting, baths, transfers, bedmaking, feeding, you name it. They loved her and could never understand why the rest of us "lazy" nurses couldn't be more like her.

The CNA's had no idea that she was helping them so that she could hide out in rooms and escape her real job. The unit clerk was often left alone at the desk most of the day (provided we even had one) and could only do so much.

My orders weren't getting taken off and therefore put me behind constantly, MD's were constantly asking me for things/forms/consult and order sheets or help with procedures, family members at the desk with questions/concerns, telephone ringing nonstop, LVN's needing an RN for hanging blood or IV push meds, vent alarms going off, etc.

It was awful for us nurses every day she worked.

But it was a great day for the CNA's every day she worked.

The CNA's at this particular job somehow could never see beyond toileting, feeding, and bathing and therefore, she was super nurse in their eyes.

lovingtheunloved, ASN, RN · Feb 21, 2006

Rest assured, there are many of us CNAs that do see beyone toileting, feeding and bathing. To the OP, the techs you work with really do need a reality check. That's what their JOB IS. To toilet and turn and feed and bathe and all of those basic things, so that the nurse can do the meds and documentation and treatments and planning and advocating and educating and tons of other things that I don't really know about since I'm not a nurse.

A little P.S.-I work with a CNA (in a SNF) who also works per diem at a hospital. She said that she's never seen a nurse work so hard until she went to the hospital. And that if she didn't love her residents so much she'd go full time there, because the CNAs job was much easier.

And before I get flamed, I'm not making generalizations, just speaking about my particular NH and hospital.

AuntieRN · Feb 22, 2006

First please do not jump all over me..I just want to tell what happened to me the other night. I am a tech at the hospital. I am also a nursing student. I worked on a floor that was half med/surg half OB-post partum. There were 4 nurses, 2 took 6 of the 12 pts we started with, one had not patients (she was the L&D nurse) and the 4th nurse was the charge nurse and she also had not patients. I was the only tech. Oh yeah and there was a 5th nurse in the nursery. I got 4 admissions that night. I had 16 patients to do Q4 hour VS on, toilet, turn, answer call lights and whatever else needed to be done. I was trying to settle my first admission when the nurse for the second one called me from the room of her admission and told me she needed me to come right now and weigh her patient. Our beds all have scales all she had to do was hit the button....I was late getting my VS done. I literally ran from 630pm until 1230 before I even got to pee or anything. The charge nurse and L&D nurse were in the breakroom watching television and doing crossword puzzles. I finally got to take a quick break and went downstairs to smoke..one of the nurses called me to inform me a pt had to pee...I am entitled to two 15 minute breaks and a half hour break that I do not get paid for....I did not even get one 15 minute break all night. Every time I tried to get a few minutes someone was calling for something. I finally made the comment that I have been taught all wrong in school. That nursing is not teamwork. It is making the tech/cna do it all. One of the other nurses sat in the break room for 2 1/2 hours and fell asleep. I know that nurses get busy and can not always help. I am not lazy or blind either. I do my job and do it well. In fact I always offer to help the nurses do things that are not even in my scope of practice but have been checked off on in school just to help them out.

Now I know not all nurses are like this...but there were 4 of them and only one of me. Seemed like they all needed something done at one time and so did the 16 pts that I had.

Sorry I just had to vent and add my two cents.

Town & Country · Feb 22, 2006

AND, I can tell YOU about the lazy, disrespectful CNAs I have had to work with, and that proves......what?

I guess we could dedicate a "Day to take your CNA to work with you" and have them make every step you do, then maybe they might see what a nurse has to do.
HOWever, any CNA who has eyeballs in her/his head should already be able to see these things that you are doing.

Agreed; the really GOOD CNAs know; because they behave, function, and are treated as part of the health care team. CNAs who regard themselves as pack mules don't deserve any respect and they ****** sure won't get it from me; because I've worked with some good CNAs.

I got educated the nights I floated to a different unit. Instead of the "woe is me" CNAs I was accustomed to working with; I was treated to professional looking (and acting) nurse aides who were a JOY and a DELIGHT to work with. They made my job so much easier. (not HARDER, like the usual crop of CNAs).

They know what the nurse's job is because:

* they get report from me as to what we need to monitor, etc.

* they come to you and inquire "when I do my next round, would you like to check Ms. X's skin?"

* they come to me and report an elevated BP - working together as a team, we keep the patient's BP under observation, resulting in safer care. After the first report of an elevated BP, they ask how often I would like it rechecked....instead of giving me attitude that their job is being added to with yet another task.....

I could go on and on....but WOW, when you finally are LUCKY enough to work with good CNAs, the difference in the quality of care you can deliver is amazing.

Kim O'Therapy, BSN, RN · Feb 22, 2006

Rest assured, there are many of us CNAs that do see beyone toileting, feeding and bathing. To the OP, the techs you work with really do need a reality check. That's what their JOB IS. To toilet and turn and feed and bathe and all of those basic things, so that the nurse can do the meds and documentation and treatments and planning and advocating and educating and tons of other things that I don't really know about since I'm not a nurse.
A little P.S.-I work with a CNA (in a SNF) who also works per diem at a hospital. She said that she's never seen a nurse work so hard until she went to the hospital. And that if she didn't love her residents so much she'd go full time there, because the CNAs job was much easier.
And before I get flamed, I'm not making generalizations, just speaking about my particular NH and hospital.

Hi. I've worked LTC and on a med/surg unit. I think they were both just as busy, just in different ways. I try not to take it personally, but it really breaks my heart when I see these threads. They put a bad name on all CNAs and that's too bad. I recently started a new job and the nurses actually told me that I'm "running circles" around their current aides. I've always been a hard worker, good student, and was raised with a great work ethic. I treat each patient as if they were a family member. I treat each nurse with respect and only "bother them" if I cannot get help from another aide. I have also been fortunate that I always was given respect in return and a warm "thank you" at the end of each shift.

TNT, RN · Aug 9, 2011

My response to this nurse it that she has a very valid point in that the others cannot do what she does but she needs to also remember without them she cannot do what she does. She actually ended up answering her own concern in that she said that we all have a job that is equally important and we need to work together to get it done. Open frank communication can make a difference in some cases especially if techs are feeling they are being "dumped on" and also in the way in which we go about communicating. In the same respect the nurse is getting paid to be a nurse not a tech. Supervisors need to get involved if communication doesnt work