What do the night CNA's do?

[jcasti02]

I'm planning on becoming a PCT at nights while going to school in the mornings. I would like to know what do the CNA/PCT do at nights at the hospitals? I saw some of the job descriptions and most of them has to be done while the patient is awake(at least I think). Also is there a difference if they work in med/surg or icu?

[casi, ASN, RN]

People don't sleep in hospitals.

I work on a 26 bed unit as the only CNA. I answer call-lights, walk people to the bathroom, change incontience pads, do q2h turns, pass waters, assist the nurses where needed, and so on.

[Okami_CCRN, BSN, RN]

I worked nights for 6 months while a fellow CNA was on disability leave and it goes a little like this: at 11pm you receive report from the cna/rn and then do you vitals/midnight sugars if any. then you do preliminary care if need be. then depending on facility might do a little paper work like daily order summaries and records. from 2am-5am answer lights and stuff like that. at 5am do you morning blood draws and finally AM care and at 7am you leave.

[love_being_an_aide]

In my facility we have to be to work by 11:15, and we leave at 7:15. We get report from the evening shift, spend awhile cleaning up what they didn't do (our evening shift doesn't work well together, unfortunately) then we do vitals, our ADL's and assessments on mobility, diets/labs, q2 turns, chemstrips, q4 vitals, I&O's, change garbages and fill gloves, take care of linen, toiliting, water pitchers, and help the nurses when we can. Casi hit the nail on the head when she said people don't sleep in hospitals. That's the truth.

[jb2u, ASN, RN]

CNAs work hard day or night shift. Day shift cna's have to deal with passing food and feeding people while night shift may be assigned blood draws and ecg's. Night shift is also expected to do their share of baths and you have to deal with waking pt's up in order to do vital signs on them. Some are understanding, but some get upset with you. Call lights go off all night. It's great when the night shift fills up all the water pitchers, so that, when the nurse comes around with morning meds the water will already be there. The night shift cna's are also responsible for getting daily weights at my hospital.

[Hausfrau]

All I have to add is that as a CNA I've worked all shifts. Each shift can be just as difficult. There is always stuff to do!

[ILClaire]

I work in the CCU, ICU and Trauma sections of our hospital, and honestly, with Critical Care and such...it doesn't matter what time of day it is. Most of my patients sleep off and on all day and night...so they need about the same type of care 24 hours a day. We do alot of turning, monitoring, and assisting with EVERYTHING since when they are sick enough to be in my wing...they're sick enough to need constant care. Almost all our patients are immobile, so pad changes, spongebaths, constant monitoring, cleaning wounds etc needs to be done quite frequently. The morning shifts are busier only because that's when alot of xrays, doctors, and things like that are going on...but all around I think it's about as busy day and night.

Nights we get ALOT of admits....car accidents come out of surgery in the early morning hours alot of times etc. So...it all would probably depend on the dept. you were working.

[love_being_an_aide]

I agree with IlClaire. Each shift has their own unique set of issues they deal with. Days are responsible for baths, getting the patients up and ready for PT/OT, X-ray, transport or whatever is scheduled. Nights deals with a lot of admits, at least where I work. So each shift is busy in its own special way. You'll find your niche. Some people don't like nights and prefer days or evenings.

[casi, ASN, RN]

I also like to claim that everyone codes on night shift.

A couple of weeks ago I warned the aides to stay away from a certian room when doing daily weights, since the patient was deceased and the family was with her. Most of the day aides who had been there longer than me gave me this look, "I've never had someone die on my shift..." This was number 4 for me.

[Natingale, EdD, RN]

I think thats just coincidence -- people code all the time day or night

i work nights at a E.R. unit secretary ..I will hold my OPINION of my night shift CNAs to myself (there are a few that actually do more than sleep)

Theyre responsible for vitals, ekgs, labs, sometimes patient transport, stock..in my opinion there is no supervision on nights, no suits, so theyre really slack on nights. I think I DO more than the cnas sometimes. Which is disappointing since I already have so much on my plate.

[love_being_an_aide]

I'm sorry this happens at your facility, but the aides do work on nights. You're just working with a bad bunch.