The field of Nursing is wicked to CENAs..the ugly side no one talks about

Nurses General Nursing

Published

I have been a Nurse's Assistant for about 8 months. I am currently studying to be an RN. I am 23 year old female

In the beginning, the occupation as a Cena appeared to be a wonderful job to me and being that there are SO many opportunities to move up inside of the health care field itself, getting trained and finding a position in a hospital or Nursing home was a smart idea. RNs are in large demand right now.

I have worked at 2 nursing homes so far, and from my experience working as a CNA is one of the most risky jobs you can ever have. While I think the job itself can be relatively easy--especially if you work the midnight shift-- and it can be very challenging--the hectic day shift--it is a wonderful and rewarding job and I enjoy it when you are amongst ppl who are FAIR.

Unfortunately, from my recent experiences I think being a CNA is not a reliable job, and often you work at the mercy to some of the most wicked, scheming, prejudice, discrimanatory ppl in the industry. In this field it is VERY easy to get lied on, and get fired, there is absolutely nothing to protect us from the malicious ways that go on. We are pretty much disposable. It is very hard to keep a job in this field

I am working at a Nursing home with a LPN, who has an infamous reputation for firing Nurse's Assistants like its a sport. She is very manipulative--she has poured water in residents diapers in efforts to besmirch an employees reputation so they can get terminated. She will pick a target, and harass this person until they get fired or they quit.

I am her "target" I have been working there for almost 3 months. I have not yet reached my 90 days, and it's obvious she does not want me to. She has turned up the heat on her treacherous ways because I am getting close to my last days of probation.

Lately, this wicked LPN has been watching me--another employee confirmed this--I feel her eyes on me when I am working. Everytime I pass by I feel her eyes follow wherever I go. I am a very hardworker, I come to work everyday on time, never called off. I am somewhat of a fast worker--I simply cannot help this though once i get going it's like an andrenaline rush.

Since I work the midnight shift anywhere from 3-5 residents have to be up and in the dining room from 5-7am in the morning. I have found a routine that works for me to where I get most of them dressed and ready in the 5 hr bracket. Depending on the residents that I have for that night I get some dressed a bit early because they are my hardest patients. If you start them later then you will end up staying over your shift which will result in write ups. Many employees practice this as well.

The wicket LPN never had a problem with this until the past few weeks. She has noticed that I always have my residents up and dressed promptly and on time in the morning. I am about my business. She has confronted me about this and told me that I get them dressed too early and I explained to her why I have to with certain residents. She wants to make a Cenas job miserable and difficult by being against this.

Last night, the wicked LPN instigated a conflict. While, I was doing my rounds, she pops into the room and tells me that another resident needs to go to the bathroom while I am in the midst of changing someone's brief. (Lately, she has been making a habit of interrupting me in the middle of one thing, to tell me to do something else that really doesn't need to be done in any kind of urgency. This is her scheme to try to throw me off and cause work conflict. She wants me to fall behind) The resident that she "claimed" needed to go to the bathroom is continent and usually pulls her call light when she has to go...I am at this woman's mercy so after I finished changing the resident's brief I do what she says and go to the residents room to take her to the bathroom--only to find that this woman is in a deep sleep and is snoring--obviously she has been sleep for hours and does not need to go go the bathroom. She is continent and in her right mind--she let's you know when she has to go. Still, I tap the woman on the shoulder and wake her up, I ask her if she has to go. She replies that she doesn't. I make sure by asking her several times, she assures me that she doesn't have to pee. I try to encourage her to get up, but she refuses. The residents do have rights. Therefore, I tell her I will come back later and try again just in case.

I leave and assist another resident..the wicked LPN comes in after me as I am changing a brief..and asked me if I took the other resident to the bathroom..when I tried to explain to her what happened when I went in there--she cuts me off, and presumes that I "refused to take orders" and will write me up. I remained calm as I tried to defend myself then later realized its best to stay quiet. The wicked LPN was purposely being very quarrelsome and unprofessional. She left the room and said she will write me up.

Moments later she drags another Nurse from a different station brings her into the residents room while I am still working, points her fingers and says, "you see this GIRL, she will not do what i say. I told her to take a resident to the bathroom but she did not do it." She went on and I felt humilated and embarassed, felt like I was being bullied. The other Nurse had nothing to do with what was going on, and what she did was childish.

When the two left the room, I could hear the wicked LPN loudly saying in a nasty and harsh tone, "that girl i told her to take that resident to the room but she didn't want to do it..." and some other things. I felt belittled that a person in her position would stoop so low.

Now, I get a call today that I was taken off the schedule to work, and that I have to attend a meeting with the administrator and Charge Nurse Monday. I honestly feel like I do not stand a chance to keep my job and will be fired. I really liked my job but it was the wicked LPN who made things worse. This type of stuff has happened to me in the past where you get Nurse's who like to habitually LIE on Cenas because they think low of us.

I don't know what to do

Specializes in med-surg 5 years geriatrics 12 years.

I'm sorry you've had to go thru thar scene. Does that LPN know you are in nursing school ?? I worked as a CNA in a nursing home and was happy until I told my DON I ould only work weekends since I was in nursing school; once my charge nurse found out she was HORRIBLE to me. I quit. She must have felt threatened....maybe that's the problem with Nurse Ratchett.

This woman is a hateful witch. She probably dislikes the OP for whatever reason. Too young, too pretty, too smart, too fat, too thin, smiles too much, works to hard, wrong hair colour. You know something sensible!! She is a nasty foul person. Be firm and stick by your account. Does admin. not wonder why NA's only last a few months? Maybe they don't care because they don't pay VAC and sick time if you are canned before the probationary period. Threaten them w/ a lawyer if they give a bad reference. You are not in the wrong. They are.

Specializes in Med Surg, Hospice.

I have 2 nurses that ride my bum constantly... and take great delight in bossing me around. These 2 are the type that will rather hunt me down and make it known another patient needs care while I'm in the middle of a bath, bed change, etc. with another patient. Of course, they can't be bothered to help the patient themselves... almost like it's beneath them to change a brief or walk a patient to the bathroom.

I've bit my tongue and not said anything, and it is hard. Obviously they can see I'm busy (and not to mention that I'm up to my elbows in poo).

The one bright spot is that one of the two that are notorious for this isn't working there anymore. Not sure what happened but they are off of the schedule.

Specializes in Psych, M/S, Ortho, Float..

On of my summer jobs while in school was as a CNA. I would never do it again. Mostly the workload was unbelievable and the other CNAs were mean. I once put 18 ppl to bed on my own. I was agency and the other CNAs took the lifts so I wound up assisting people to bed on my own despite them being 2 person assists or mechanical lift only. They were too busy talking to help me. I was feeding 6 ppl at a time and had no room to sit down in the nursing station to do any of my charting. While I was walking home that night, I was looking at some guy's grass and thinking it would be a comfortable place to lie down for a while. I made it home and refused to go back to that place. There are bad places to work. There are bad people to work for.

But after that, I took on one to one patients and enjoyed the rest of my summer.

I'm now charge nurse in a LTC facility and I treasure the PCAs who work with me. They have one of the hardest jobs in the building. Our LPN's have no time to pick on them, nor are they inclined that way.

You need to find another place to work, maybe a different kind of setting too.

Good luck,

Jacquie

Specializes in Cardiac Telemetry, ED.

In my three years as a CNA, I worked in LTC, home health, and acute care, and was never treated like this! I believe it happens, though. You could either fight it, as per some of the great suggestions in this thread, or find another workplace where this kind of thing is not tolerated. Best of luck to you!

Specializes in ICU/ER.

I became a CNA 5 years ago the same year I began my pre-nursing school. I wanted to make sure before I jumped feet 1st into nursing school I did in fact want to be a nurse and I figured becoming a CNA was the best way to find out. I worked at a nursing home as well as a hospital and had encountered wonderful and wicked nurses. One of the "wicked" ones was actually a float nurse at the hospital. I was her target for about 3 months and as much as I tried to defend myself, she would continue to write me up for silly reasons, finally I came to the conclusion they were not going to fire her, but they may in fact fire me. Things had to change and that meant I had to change. So I smiled at her, asked her opinion on things, asked if she needed anything etc etc etc. I took the high road and it ended up working. Eventually she backed off of me. In fact we belive it or not became friends. I took my state boards two weeks ago and the last night I worked before the test she hugged me and wished me well. The day of my exam she sent me a txt message that it has been a long road and I have handled it well. The day I came back to work after passing my boards, she bought pizzas for every floor in the hosp to celebrate the new nurse. I have since spoke to her about how mean she was at times and she has acknowledged that she may have gone about things wrong. She had alot going on in her life at the time and apparently it made her feel better to make others feel bad.

So my two cents is, take the high road. Smile at her, compliment her, do what she asks with in reason, thank her for when she helps you.

FYI now that I am an RN I vow to be good to the CNAs. They have a a very hard job for very little pay. A good CNA is a valuable asset to any health care organization and they can make the nurses job much more bearable at times. CNA's deserve and have my respect.

Specializes in Nursing assistant.
Since nurses depend on CNAs and techs to help them and lighten their load, why would a nurse want to get a CNA (that was doing her job) fired? And you state that this nurse has done that repeatedly. Doesn't that just make more work for the nurse?

Good point, but it happens~

Why? I don't think it has anything to do with getting the job done, or providing great care. It is something inexplicable in the aggressor.

Some of these folks lurk in LTC for some reason. They are not always nurses. Whew. This takes me back... My more recent experience has been so different, and I don't allow myself to remember.

Unfortunately, at the time, I would internalize the conflicts, blame myself and get very depressed.

Get out of there.

You're a CNA (certified nursing assistant), and not a 'CENA.'

I couldn't help myself regarding that.

In the state of Michigan the two are used interchangably. Maybe in her state it's that way as well.

I feel you on this. There is a lot of back-stabbing and lying that takes place in this field. People try to get people fired simply out of dislike for the person, fear they may replace them, or jealousy. Honestly what do you expect when you work with a bunch of females? This is one of the reasons I am not making nursing my major. I work as a CNA now and plan to get my LPN and maybe RN, but my major Is Psychology. I'm doing nursing for a few reasons 1 I already have experience in the field so it's easy to get a job, 2 I can make good money while I pursue my Psych degree and once I get my LPN I can afford to cut my hours to part time and make the same money I make now working full time, 3 as horrible as the economy in Michigan is right now and how hard jobs are to find I will always be able to fall back on nursing and 4 despite the back-biting, lying, jelous females you come across in this field, I still enjoy doing it. Psych, is my passion though so I plan to work as an LPN maybe RN until I get my masters and can counsel people.

Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
In the state of Michigan the two are used interchangably. Maybe in her state it's that way as well.

Please educate me, if you kindly will. :)

What does the 'E' in "CENA" stand for?

Specializes in ER, PACU, Med-Surg, Hospice, LTC.
first and foremost:

it is CNA, CNA, CNA, CNA. Certified Nursing Assistant

leslie

And it is CENA..........;)

CENACompetency Evaluated Nurse Aides

CENACompetency Evaluated Nursing Assistant

Please educate me, if you kindly will. :)

What does the 'E' in "CENA" stand for?

see post #14.

i was too, educated. :)

leslie

+ Add a Comment