What??? No CNA's???

[Kiren]

i am entering my final semester of nursing school (rn) and i have decided to start looking for a job. since i have never been one to back down from a challenge i decided to apply to the local trauma center. when i interviewed for the position i was informed that there are no cna's on nights and only two during the day on a 40 bed unit (post-op, telemetry and trauma icu stepdown). nursing staff includes 5 rn's and 2 lpn's. there is no mandation but, nurses can be pulled to or from similar "sister units" if staffing is short. the patient load seems a bit high to me especially since i won't have a dedicated cna to work with. the salary is average for my area but the benefits are great. i would get paid 40 hours for 3 12hr. shifts.

is this normal, or should i look elsewhere?

[celery]

I personally would look elsewhere. 5-6 patients with less than usual help from cna's is too much for me.

Also, are you sure it pays 40 for 36? That seems unusual. Usually, they consider 36 full time for benifits, but they only pay you for what you work. Also, benefits are usually great in most hospitals.

[widi96]

I work nights on a regular tele floor with CNA's and our patient load is usually starting with 4-5 pts and one admit during the night. But this is regular tele, not ICU step down, plus the LPN's will need your assistance. Seems pretty overly demanding to me, especially for a new grad. There are situations to step up to a challenge and situations where you are setting yourself up for something bad. You've got to weight the difference. Good Luck and CONGRATS on graduating!

[MikeyJ, RN]

I work at a county hospital on a pretty busy pediatrics floor (nurses typically start off with 4 patients by end up with 6, or sometimes 7 after admits... or sometimes they start their shift with 6). Anyway, this particular floor gets 2 CNA's to cover the floor during the day but they only put a CNA on 3 graveyards during the week. Otherwise they are CNA-less.

I've never understood management's rationale. Children still need q4 vitals at night, the babies still need feedings, the babies still need diaper changes... so why no CNA's?

[RNperdiem, RN]

I would look at 3-4 patients per nurse if this is a stepdown unit. If there are enough CNAs, a secretary, and maybe an IV team, then maybe 5 patients.

Do not commit to any job yet. Compare how other units/floors in your area staff before making a final commitment.

[pinksugar]

I will never again consider a bedside nursing job that doesn't have CNAs.

If I were you I wouldn't consider that position.

[lucky1RN]

Yahoo! Congrats on reaching your last semester of nursing school!

One of the best things I did during school was an "externship" at my local hospital. Over a 6 week period, I worked in 5 different units shadowing an RN. The pay wasn't much but it was exactly what I needed to decide where I wanted to work. Is this an option for you?

Good luck!

[all4schwa]

you need alot of extra hands with stepdown trauma pts, turns and baths and transfers...these people are broken to pieces and cant help you....i couldnt do it without my kick butt pct's (we carry 4-5 each).

[Kiren]

I personally would look elsewhere. 5-6 patients with less than usual help from cna's is too much for me.

Also, are you sure it pays 40 for 36? That seems unusual. Usually, they consider 36 full time for benifits, but they only pay you for what you work. Also, benefits are usually great in most hospitals.

Yes, they do infact pay 40hrs for 36. The salary at this particular hospital is $1 to $2 less per hour than most other facilities in the area so they pay you for 40hrs as a "perk". However, this is the only place where they do not have CNA's on all shifts.

[Kiren]

Yahoo! Congrats on reaching your last semester of nursing school!

One of the best things I did during school was an "externship" at my local hospital. Over a 6 week period, I worked in 5 different units shadowing an RN. The pay wasn't much but it was exactly what I needed to decide where I wanted to work. Is this an option for you?

Good luck!

This hospital does have something similar to an "externship". It is a per diem position available to students where they allow you to pick the unit you want to work on whenever you want. You get to do more than the aides, but not quite as much as the nurses. I am considering taking the job just to get a feel for the hospital.

[Kiren]

I work nights on a regular tele floor with CNA's and our patient load is usually starting with 4-5 pts and one admit during the night. But this is regular tele, not ICU step down, plus the LPN's will need your assistance. Seems pretty overly demanding to me, especially for a new grad. There are situations to step up to a challenge and situations where you are setting yourself up for something bad. You've got to weight the difference. Good Luck and CONGRATS on graduating!

You're absolutely right. The only real reason I'm even considering this hospital is because I know this is the place where you get to see everything. However, I do not want to set myself up for a fall. I may try a per diem student position they have available but, I am begining to have some serious doubts about this facility.

[CHATSDALE]

i have worked a snif unit most nights w/o a cna..some of these were total care and some could get up w.assistance..the condition of the patients usually didnot have any relavance to the way they were assigned to a nurse so you might get 3 or 4 high need patients and the other nurse would have all 'good' patients..most of the nurses could be counted on to give a hand but some would shrug and say they had taken care of their patients

one good thing about total care is that you know when a patient has been cared for..i have made rounds and told a cna that a patient needed cleaning only to go back in an hour and find nothing done..if you can have 3/4 patients you can do this but for 7 it will be a stretch for an experienced nurse..for a new nurse you want to learn and develop good work habits

good luck and congratulations