unlicensed assistive personel- ideas to improve performance, attendance, and outlook

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Feb 16, 2004

Half of the time in my experience the biggest problem was a mutual respect. How many jobs i've worked at where i was actually called a certified ***wiper i've lost count of. Treating all employees like they are valuable, licensed or unlicensed, is a big issue with me. There are plenty of people that feel that way.

Attendence problems, bad attitudes, and lack of work ethic need addessed big time. What i worry about is the ones that ARE abiding by the rules getting treated like crap (which happens all the time) because of others' behavior.

A solution? Instructing everyone that every job position is valuable, and respect needs to go around for the ultimate goal of what's best for the pt., and also this includes show UP to work. And if this is not agreeable with someone, then they need to find another job.

Alnamvet · Feb 16, 2004

Inspite of treating all like they are "equal", there is an undercurrent of resentment that I have seen in the last 25 years regarding UAP's....whether it's not getting along with male sup's, or not getting along with members of the opp sex, or resentful towards those who make more money, or "...I'm in nursing school so I'm beyond this crapola..." attitudes, or it's a racial issue, or it's 'cause I'm gay issue, or because the work is too much, or 'cause the manager says I don't have to, or what freeking ever, the overwhelming majority of UAP's don't belong in health care!!! These new times only demonstrate that today's workers, health care or otherwise, don't want to take ownership of their crappy upbringing, poor work ethic, sh***y attitude, lack of basic reading and writting skills, self entitlement solely based on race, ethnicity, or time doing nothing at the work place....Chri**t Almighty...the complaints by licensed health care pro's regarding UAPs has to number in the billions...get rid of them all, and the problem is over. Speking as an RN, once they are gone, your work load does not increase, 'you just do without the aforementioned issues...the job gets done better, efficiently, and more importantly, safer; no longer do you need to wonder where the miscreants are.

Havin' A Party!, ASN, RN · Feb 16, 2004

... in my experience the biggest problem was a mutual respect... A solution? Instructing everyone that every job position is valuable, and respect needs to go around for the ultimate goal of what's best for the pt.

Agree with the above. Lots of insight there.

1OldDinosaurRN · Feb 17, 2004

:angryfire now that's a good solution, just get rid of all of them.:angryfire

as a mother of a male cna, and a master's prepared rn with 23 years experience in everything from babies to geriatrics, i find that attitude offensive. by the same thought processes, since the docs have complained so much about np's, let's just solve the problem by getting rid of all of them. then, everything will be more efficient because the docs of course know so much more and they never, ever do anything wrong or inefficiently :rolleyes: .

there are those in every line of work who have poor work ethics and all of the other things that were mentioned. the key is good managerial skills. i know where my cna's are, i know what assignments i have given them and if they have been completed. that is my job to oversee them, and they know from the start what my expectations are from them. likewise, if their job performance, attendance, etc. is not up to par, then administration needs to back up their personnel policies and initiate corrective measures up to and including termination. ever think about volunteering to help those people who have minimal reading and writing skills to become more proficient? hmmm, let's see, should we try and help others to be all they can be, improve their self-esteem. no, let's just write them off and do it ourselves :uhoh3: .

i've worked with many cna's over the years, some better than others (same goes for np's, docs, rn's, lpn's, emt's, paramedics, administrators, medical records techs, etc. etc. etc.). i personally regret the day they took away our lpn's in med-surg. i think everyone contributed something in our team approach. not to say that primary (total) care isn't just as good, just different. i went to a specialty area right out of school (cardiac). want to guess how many disimpactions and enemas i got to do on a cardiac unit?? when i went to med-surg, who do you think helped me the most?? right. the cna's.

i agree that mutual respect is one of the answers to the problem. i respect my cna's for the care they give, the things they pick up on (simply because they've had much more time to spend at the bedside than i get to dream about), and the support that they give me. yes, there will always be some rotten apples in any barrel. that's no reason to bash the entire group. let's show some support and respect and maybe we'll get some in return.

i value all of the medical personnel with whom i work because they all provide aspects of their specialties to improve the care of the patients. our emt's and paramedics are so great, there's a lot of people still alive in our community because of them. i love my np i go to, she's always there to listen and provide support. i love how the docs (okay, some of them anyway!:) ) listen to what i have to say about their patients, and act on it when needed.

okay, i've digressed....

make the pct's feel like they are a valuable member of the team. find out what their real complaints are--and i mean really listen to what they have to say. give them the monetary reward that should be given for the back breaking labor they do for us. make sure they have meetings with management also, not just the licensed staff. show that their input is desired, offer educational classes, review policies and procedures, and last but not least, weed out those who are simply not cut out for the job and hire someone else. make sure management at all levels is doing its job. poor management is a frequent problem when staff are not in control. then, again, there are those persons who, despite what we do for them, are not suited to the profession and we should not keep them on in a job into which they cannot put their heart.

Long Term Care Columnist / Guide · Feb 17, 2004

Excellent post.

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Feb 17, 2004

Wish everyone saw things that way, Cathy. :)

gwenith, BSN, RN · Feb 17, 2004

Sometimes it is the simple things - we have "wardsmen" big burly boys whose job it is to help turn and position patients - if there are "goodies" in the tearoom I always offer them some - amazing how that helps the old interdepartmental relationships.

angel337, MSN, RN · Feb 17, 2004

unfortunately the problem with unlicensed personnel is that most feel that they do more work than nurses and get paid a lot less. i was a tech in the E.D. for 3 years before i graduated nursing school, so i can empathize with techs but at the same time most techs are unaware of the responsibility that nurses have and from their view, nurses just push meds all day and sit around. techs where i work have to stock, do ekg's, blood draws, ortho splints and an abundance of other technical stuff so they are busy all the time. when i was a tech i was supportive of the nurses because for one i was in nursing school and i understood their responsibilty and two it was my job. i agree that when you get hired for a job, especially in health care you won't get far with a nasty attitude and low work ethic. when techs are hired it is important that they get a realistic view of what is expected from them and i think it will decrease the chances of hiring people that probably shouldn't be working with patients.

RNKITTY04 · Feb 17, 2004

I am one of the under-educated, disrespectful, lazy, good for nothing pieces of crap that some of you spoke of earlier. Last night I arrived at work in CCU to find 16 total care/vent patient's, 10 nurses and of course 1 of me. (I'm not really needed so that is why they only have 1 PCT per shift)

By the end of my shift I performed 9 bedbath's, 7 of them also needing daily weight's, so out comes the hoyer lift. Vital's 2q, at least 4 accuchecks q1, let us not forget the unruly patient's I helped calm down, the crying spouse's, the bedpan shuffle, the NUMEROUS trips to the lab, the mouthcare, the incontient patient wipes, etc etc, I could truely go on but don't want to bore anyone.

I like most of the nurse's I work with, but the exact same could be said of the nurse population. I have worked with some sorry butt nurses, that absolutly make me cringe with their rude uncaring unprofessionalism, I have also worked with the absolute best and never hesitate to tell them so, If they asked me to do cartwheel's down the hall backward, I would with no questions asked, that's how much respect I have for them.

Anyway my point being I am sorry several of you have had bad experiences with PCT's but believe me we don't all sux, and all nurse's aren't Florence Nightengale either. oh and by the way I forgot to add I perform all the above mentioned duties for the sum of 11.00 an hour, after I pay my insurance deductable I take home @ 150.00 per week.

Thanks for letting me vent but the original post really felt like a smack in the face.

1OldDinosaurRN · Feb 17, 2004

:uhoh3: rnkitty04 wasn't really needed on that shift. yeah, right:uhoh3: :rolleyes:

excuse me? what were the 10 other people doing? i hope you at least got some help doing this, or at least if they were swamped, they offered!

i am one of the under-educated, disrespectful, lazy, good for nothing pieces of crap that some of you spoke of earlier. last night i arrived at work in ccu to find 16 total care/vent patient's, 10 nurses and of course 1 of me. (i'm not really needed so that is why they only have 1 pct per shift)
by the end of my shift i performed 9 bedbath's, 7 of them also needing daily weight's, so out comes the hoyer lift. vital's 2q, at least 4 accuchecks q1, let us not forget the unruly patient's i helped calm down, the crying spouse's, the bedpan shuffle, the numerous trips to the lab, the mouthcare, the incontient patient wipes, etc etc, i could truely go on but don't want to bore anyone.
i like most of the nurse's i work with, but the exact same could be said of the nurse population. i have worked with some sorry butt nurses, that absolutly make me cringe with their rude uncaring unprofessionalism, i have also worked with the absolute best and never hesitate to tell them so, if they asked me to do cartwheel's down the hall backward, i would with no questions asked, that's how much respect i have for them.
anyway my point being i am sorry several of you have had bad experiences with pct's but believe me we don't all sux, and all nurse's aren't florence nightengale either. oh and by the way i forgot to add i perform all the above mentioned duties for the sum of 11.00 an hour, after i pay my insurance deductable i take home @ 150.00 per week.
thanks for letting me vent but the original post really felt like a smack in the face.