What an Aid Hates

Tweety, BSN, RN · Jun 11, 2004

Sounds like you have issues. :) Try not to to be so angry and sensitive with what you preceive as arrogance. Most of us don't mean to be rude, we just have a lot on our mind.

I was walking down a hall once after being chewed out by a patient, and I was stewing. An aide yelled at me "what's your problem, just because you have RN behind your name and I'm a CNA doesn't mean you have to look at me like I'm a peace of trash". I was mortified. True story.

For the rude superior ones, just ignore them.

I'm not sure what you were saying towards the end, but I'm a bit tired. I gather you're waiting for your NCLEX results. Good luck!

Berta · Jun 11, 2004

Unfortunately, it rarely has to do with the persons profession. It usually is just a lack of manners. Yes, I agree with Tweety, that sometimes our mind is at other places. However, there is no reason for rudeness unless it is a true emergency.

Now for my little rant...I too am an RN student. I have heard lots and lots of complaints about how inept the "lower" staff is. Well, I just came off of a solid week training for a CNA position for the summer. I can now quote the HIPPA laws inside out.I spent two days learning their computer system. But quess what they didn't teach?? Patient care!!! :angryfire Can you beleive it? Some people in class didn't even know how to take vitals. Granted, they showed us the Dinamap, but never showed how to use it. Or for that matter, what needed to be reported to a nurse asap. We were told, "just put the readings on the flow sheet".

Thank God that I am a RN student and know how to assist with the ADL's, take vitals, etc. How sad. :crying2: Its no wonder why the "lower" staff are "idiots". TEACH us. We want to do our job well.

J Lynn · Jun 11, 2004

I hope you can make a difference and start a trend on your unit by treating the aids like GOLD. Every nurse knows, they counldn't do their work without them.

wonderbee, BSN, RN · Jun 11, 2004

i hope you can make a difference and start a trend on your unit by treating the aids like gold. every nurse knows, they counldn't do their work without them.

this is exactly the attitude that is needed. i'm a student rn and work as a tech on a busy community hospital med/surg floor. i've been talked about in my presence like i wasn't even there and had spent my whole life sweeping floors for a living. one nurse had the audacity to report to the charge, in my presence, how she had to keep after "them" (the techs) all the time. one of the pcts failed to chart vs on several patients and i got the brunt of her anger even after i told her they weren't my patients. she continued to rant trying to lump me into a group that just didn't apply. do you think the charge defended me??? no way. i'm always offering assistance to this nurse, and to all of them in fact. i know that the rn is ultimately responsible for the actions of the nursing team, but that's no excuse for rudeness. those of us on the lower end of the totem pole have the lion's share of patient care. the work is hard, the pay is non-existent. a little appreciation please.

oceanblue · Jun 11, 2004

I have ALWAYS believed that nurse's aides do not get the pay or the respect that they deserve.

Where would we nurses be without them? They are our eyes & ears, they are "hands on" with the patients day in & day out.

I personally have always treated my C.N.A.'s with nothing but respect, and they have always treated me with the same.

Long Term Care Columnist / Guide · Jun 11, 2004

This is why I think all nurses should be required to not only have CNA training, but have actually worked as a CNA, before starting nursing school. It's been my experience that most RNs who have been CNAs are better nurses and supervisors than those who came into nursing at the 'top'.......of course, there are exceptions, like this one nurse where I work who was a CNA at the same time I was, and she acts like her feet don't stink. Me, I remember what it was like to be pulled all over the floor by three or four RNs wanting VS, patients taken to the bathroom, I&O's done, fingersticks done etc. all at the same time.......I know how hard most CNAs work, and I work with some of the best. Sometimes, they have even saved my butt---preventing me from making a med error, or reminding me that Mrs. So-and-So down the hall asked for pain meds half an hour ago, or prodding me gently to check on a situation that worries them.

CNAs are our eyes and ears.........I know I couldn't do my job without them!

ktwlpn, LPN · Jun 11, 2004

As an aid on a busy step-down floor, I am appalled at the lack of manners of many nurses and doctors. I hate the way they walk by you--in your way--and it's their fault, and you say "excuse me," and they just walk by without commenting, as if they have a divine right to exist and aids and below are just dirt that need not even be acknowledged or treated like humans with dignity.
MDs are the worst for this, but I give them a pass because I figure they're so spiritually handicapped that they can't help being that way. I don't expect much from them. I think of them as I would any psych patient. But nurses? I expect more from nurses. They should be the experts at compassion. They should be spiritually evolved enough to at least have manners.
I'm sick of being made to feel like a piece of dirt at work, because I am not. Aids, houskeepers and cooks are super, super important to patients! They are not dirt. I'll be an RN any day now (when I get my NCLEX results), so I have to overcome this now. I can't just solve this problem by escaping up into the status of an RN (see what I mean! I said escape "up." I freakin programmed!). I have to get some new software downloaded into my mind and spirit before my results come. Thank God the Post Office isn't delivering today (because I was expecting my results today). If I get my results before figuring this out, I won't think about it. I won't solve it. The problem will disappear.
HELP!!
Acosmic

The behavior you note is not restricted to the healthcare field-haven't you been to a busy mall lately? Or walked down a crowded street or even through a busy grocery store? People in the health care field have a LOT on their minds (as you shall soon find out) and when super stressed it is easy for a certain type of person to be brusque,business-like or even rude-it all depends on your perception.Don't give anyone that kind of power over you...Remember-some people treat EVERYONE like crap-it is not really about you personally....Just remember that you don't want to be that kind of person and act accordingly---people will notice (it's karma,baby)

kathy_79 · Jun 11, 2004

i got similar experience as you, berta. i just start to work as pct/nurse student for one hospital at IL. i have just finished my orientation and i am very upset. no unit orientation for new employee, others pct/student nurses knowledge about pct job or taking VS was really bad. they go to become nurses some day and they do not know how to do it, it just isn't right. i am not mad because everybody has right to be wrong but VS are main task for nurse and PCTs to do. besides, just like you says, most of pct/ student nurses have no idea what are pct duties. for most of them it is first time to work like that. i think how they go over these limits. i know how hard it was for my co-student nurses when we had first clinical orientation at school. you could count how many of us worked before as pcts. i try to help how i can, but i think your work place should give more time for orientation for new employee, especially, at the units were they are going to work.

kathy_79 · Jun 11, 2004

i have experienced disrespect from RNs and it was really put at me or my co-workers. i am not telling all nurses do that and we are human beings who have bad days, but some of RNs are really bad to their PCTs. i work for Jesus orienty facility, free from any disrespect to anyone and respectfull for all no matter who you are, where you are from, what race, color, religion you are. they are good people and try to help each other, but still i see that some of RNs do not want to talk to PCTs. they work with us but just there is no communication. they just wait if they can reach your floew sheet and get what they need from you. God bless you all health care workers. Remember, we are team workers who need to support each other and treat oneselves with respect and dignity also.

leslie :-D · Jun 11, 2004

i've worked with and encountered all sorts of disrespect in my life, from all types of people. i'm not talking about the ones that don't acknowledge you if they're preoccupied but the ones that do acknowledge you and talk to you like garbage. i will never stoop to their levels, never. i also never take it personally, even if i find out they dislike me for it is still their problem, not mine.

leslie

AcosmicRN · Jun 12, 2004

Sounds like you have issues. :) Try not to to be so angry and sensitive with what you preceive as arrogance. Most of us don't mean to be rude, we just have a lot on our mind.
I was walking down a hall once after being chewed out by a patient, and I was stewing. An aide yelled at me "what's your problem, just because you have RN behind your name and I'm a CNA doesn't mean you have to look at me like I'm a peace of trash". I was mortified. True story.
For the rude superior ones, just ignore them.
I'm not sure what you were saying towards the end, but I'm a bit tired. I gather you're waiting for your NCLEX results. Good luck!

I actually heard the same thing from an aid the other day directed towards nurses in general. That's the other side of the coin: Aids need to keep their freakin low self-esteem to themselves sometimes. But I do have issues, especially with this topic. I need to find a way to not be like the rude superior ones. I need to think about what it is that makes them that way and not duplicate it.

This happened today, and it was kind of funny, because I just wrote this original post before work: A doctor acted the very way I described in the OP. Then I happened to be standing in front of the enterance to the dictation room and he walked up to get in. I didn't see him coming, so I was kind of in his way. He meekly avoided eye contact with me, and was obviously shorter than I. I heard him mumble something like "excuse me I have to dictate something" but it was so muffled I barely heard him. I moved out of his way, but for a moment it was as if he was intimidated by me. Like I was blocking his way and sneering, "Where you goin boy." It dawned on me he probably got beat up a lot as a kid. I felt sorry for him. I don't want people to feel threatened by me. My point is, maybe he was never rude and arrogant. Maybe he just doesn't have great social skills. Or maybe he's on top of the professions game but still stuggling with issues (as you'd have it).

I really think when people can't reach out to others with a caring and compassionate attitude, that it's a weakness. I want to be caring and compassionate even when others aren't that way to me. I want that strength.

Acosmic