Toileting Residents

[penny186, ADN, BSN, CNA, RN]

At my facility there are some people who do their job and others who just do not care at all. Me and some of my coworkers work 7 to 3 while others work 6 to 2. After lunch my coworkers and I pretty much bust our butts and toilet all of our residents up until about three oclock. However, those that work 6 to 2 take their break and toilet none of their people, maybe only one or two and leave their documentation for us to finish. The second shift is complaining that everyone is wet when they come on and that dayshift does not do their job. I understand that we are responsible for all of the residents, but at the end of the day we are each responsible for our own assignment and will toilet them first before we toilet those of others assignments. Why should we do their work when we can barely finish out own lists? This is not saying thay we will not care for someone because they are not on our list, but it is impossible for two people to toilet every resident on the floor for the last hour before the nest shift comes in. One of the aides on the second shift is constantly complaining about everything to make herself look good in front of the nurses. She twists words around and no one wants to even talk to her. She heard another aide say to another aide that one of the residents (who was not her own) was most likely not toileted all day. She then began a tirade saying that no one does their jobs (while she does not even toilet toilet her people until after dinner). Most of these residents need to be checked for incontinence and can easily urinate soon after they were changed. The aide who made the comment about the resident feels bad because she said that shes the reason she started her tirade. However this resident is usually never toileted unless her daughter is there. The aide was only stating fact. We are very tired of being accused of not doing our jobs when even our nurses can attest that we toilet nonstop.

[mstearns09]

People are going to talk trash no matter what you do. When I was a shower aide, I was constantly accused of not cleaning finger nails or doing nail care even though I had documentation in three different places and the residents' clean nails to prove otherwise. If your nurses know you've toileted your residents, you've documented it and your people are dry, ignore the aide making accusations. The burden of proof is on her. If she insists they haven't been toileted, do room-to-room checks with her on your people to show her that they are dry.

[Compassion_x]

I can relate to this. As a previous 2nd shift CNA, I'm sure they're aware of exactly who does and who doesn't toilet their residents, and can understand that you wouldn't be able to toilet everyone on the wing yourself.

However, do not document for other people, ever. If YOU do it, document it. If they didn't do it, they didn't do it. If they're going to be lazy then let them get into trouble for it. And if they didn't do something and YOU charted they did (or vice versa) you're gonna get into trouble for someone else for no reason.

[i_love_patient_care]

I've worked all the shifts and can totally relate. Day shift would blame night shift if they got the patient out of bed and the diaper had leaked, even if we did do last rounds an hour before they got there. Sorry, they pee and we can't predict if it's going to go beyond the brief's absorbency. PM shift would blame day shift if the room was not tidy enough or what ever else they could find to nitpick. Night shift would get mad if not everyone was in bed.

For some reason instead of working as a team, there are some who like to be dramatic and childish and don't see that we can all just help each other out. This wasn't all places I worked, but it was common and not on every shift.

[randill8084]

There will always be drama. People like to talk and gossip, but just try to keep yourself above it, and as long as you know you are doing your job correctly thats all that matters

[mstearns09]

You can also write the time you changed the brief or pull up on the brief or pull up so the person coming on shift can check it and know for sure. I've had to do this when people accused me of not changing people.