I was shocked that aides would actually admit to doing this.
The CNA's at my job, told me last night, as some of them also do some work in home health, that when they go into a person's home that the resident will encourage the aide to "sit down, put your feet up, take a nap, honey!"
And they say they do it!! They say that they do whatever the resident wants them to do and if the resident wants them to sit down and take a nap, then they're doing what the resident wants.
I told them I didn't think that was what the Home Health agency is expecting.
I said I think you're supposed to be helping that resident with some of those household chores or hygiene needs, not sitting down and taking a nap while you're getting paid.
They said, "Well you can get their sweeping, mopping, making a bed done in 30 minutes and then sit down and take a nap for the rest of the 4 hours you are there. If that's what they want you to do, is sit down and take a nap then you're doing what they told you to do."
I was just floored. I couldn't believe that they would actually go into a person's home, someone they don't know, and sit down and take a nap on the job.
Management may not be there but they are only a phone call away. If one of my aides was told by a pt. to "go to sleep" and did not want to, they certainly wouldn't have to!
Home health aides are not required to do something that makes them uncomfortable just because a pt./family says so!
They aren't but if we're going to penalize people for napping, sleeping, etc. home health and private duty may as well shut down because it happens all the time and it happens all over. Unless the supervisors want to come sit and watch the sitters it is going to happen. That's life in home care. No one is going to start a revolution and change everything so if it bugs a person that bad then home care is probably not what they need to be doing.
While it seems like I am taking up for all the slobs I have reported nurses for doing neglectful and dangerous things. One was the nurse who was filling out time sheets for being on the job when she wasn't, and the poor patient was sitting at home with no one. Another time I came into a house on the day shift and she was asleep on the couch while her patient, a very frail old lady, was up trying to do laundry while holding onto her walker. I waited to see if she would wake up but she was in a deep sleep. She didn't even wake up when her cell phone (which she had laying next to to her head) went off. I helped the patient and just decided to wait and see how long she slept. SHe did not even stir for about 45 minutes. Then, she happened to look up and see me. This was a very large woman who was obviously a partyer so I wasn't going to cause a scene but I asked if she knew the patient was up without assistance...oh yea, yea, I wouldn't let her get up by herself.
I went and reported her and you know what happened? Nothing. The agency has a hard enough time finding people to cover shifts, they aren't going to throw a warm body out for anything.
Jo Dirt
3,270 Posts
They aren't but if we're going to penalize people for napping, sleeping, etc. home health and private duty may as well shut down because it happens all the time and it happens all over. Unless the supervisors want to come sit and watch the sitters it is going to happen. That's life in home care. No one is going to start a revolution and change everything so if it bugs a person that bad then home care is probably not what they need to be doing.
While it seems like I am taking up for all the slobs I have reported nurses for doing neglectful and dangerous things. One was the nurse who was filling out time sheets for being on the job when she wasn't, and the poor patient was sitting at home with no one. Another time I came into a house on the day shift and she was asleep on the couch while her patient, a very frail old lady, was up trying to do laundry while holding onto her walker. I waited to see if she would wake up but she was in a deep sleep. She didn't even wake up when her cell phone (which she had laying next to to her head) went off. I helped the patient and just decided to wait and see how long she slept. SHe did not even stir for about 45 minutes. Then, she happened to look up and see me. This was a very large woman who was obviously a partyer so I wasn't going to cause a scene but I asked if she knew the patient was up without assistance...oh yea, yea, I wouldn't let her get up by herself.
I went and reported her and you know what happened? Nothing. The agency has a hard enough time finding people to cover shifts, they aren't going to throw a warm body out for anything.