Transitioning

[shix]

Hello everybody. Now am not sure if there's a familiar situation to mine or not but any help sure would be appreciated and welcome!! Am currently a Nurse Aide in Washington State and have been for the last half year. This was/is my first job as well. Now, thing is, I got employed by an agency and I've basically being doing one-on-one private care. One of 'my' clients :) is wheelchair bound from a car accident but, prob is, I don't get to do much of the things I learnt in my CNA class. I don't take his vitals, he won't let me give him showers, & despite having a Nurse delegation certificate, I don't do his sugars either. His wife does the showers, sugars, and medicine management. All I do is make sure he has breakfast in the morning, lunch, takes his meds and is comfortable. Normally after breakfast around 7:30am and general 'housekeeping', which is like at 9am, we just lay back and watch tv till I leave at around 3pm. (I hope my agency isn't on allnurses.com lol). In between I help in bathroom use but that's just about it. My 2nd client is a post cancer treatment senior lady whom I do a little bit more like bed mobilization, changing her diapers, cleaning her tush and looking out for bedsores, dressing, breakfast and meds. She has a nurse that comes over every other day so again, I don't get to do anything serious. So anyway, moral of my story..am moving to Massachusetts in three days. After filling in my reciprocity form I got back some kind of certification that labels me a 'Long Term Care Facility Nurse Aide'. Am thinking judging by the name am just qualified to work in LTC's. Now am freaking out. I can barely remember things I learnt in class in January 2010 lol and have no idea where to start working in an LTC facility. Any suggestions that will help me transition well without feeling overly frustrated?? Thanks.

[THELIVINGWORST, ASN, RN]

Calm down. I am in the same situation except I was a PCA or personal care attendant after taking the course and I got certified by the state as a CNA just a month ago. Now I am starting work as a CNA in a LTC but trust me....you WILL remember everything once they orient you at the facility. Its like riding a bike. You never forget. I waited a whole YEAR to take my skills test but I passed with flying colors. You will do fine.

[Sally Lou]

You can do private homecare with that lisence. I have it and just started with an agency right after Thanksgiving. If your moving to central mass (near worcester) i'd be happy to give you the name and #, they are a fairly new agency and are looking for people. They hired me and started me the same day.