What you'd REALLY like to say....

Nursing Students CNA/MA

Published

Ok, so I know I can't be the only one who dreams about just for ONCE saying what's really going through her mind! I love my job, and I do it for the love of my residents, and I always give 100% to make sure they are safe, happy, and cared for. However, I am also extremely sarcastic by nature - and sometimes, well lots of times, I think one thing - but of course say and act completely polite and professional!

Let's see what we all are really thinking in those times of complete stress and chaos we all know too well! I'll start....

To the A&Ax3 perfectly coherent pt who is mean and obnoxious and thinks that he is at the Ritz not a nursing home, and thinks every CNA is his personal assistant / slave::angryfire

DO NOT under any circumstances hit your call light for me to come and pick up your breakfast/lunch/dinner tray - the NANOsecond you finish eating!!!! REALLY! You KNOW that at some point during the 20 other times you call me in there, that I will pick it up on my way out!!!! This drives me absolutely up the wall. Same goes for your urinal (with all 5 cc's of output)!

Stop calling the poor confused residents filthy names. Just because you choose to sit in the hallway all day long doesn't make you the hall monitor! Just because they aimlessly walk or wheel around doesn't mean they are stupid. They are confused. Telling them to get the hell away from you and go back to where "they belong" is nasty and uncalled for. I sometimes secretly hope you will become exactly like them. Soon.

When you ask for an appointment at the barbershop at 8:50 am and they don't open until 9 am, don't hit your call button at 8:55 and ask if I got you a 9 am appointment! I know this may come as a shock to you - but you are not the center of the universe!! You will probably get scheduled sometime later that day, or - GASP - maybe even the next day!

To those wonderful family members we all love so much:

Just because you have an internet connection and access to WebMD, doesn't make you a medical professional. Why the Docs and DON's entertain your completely idiotic and unfounded requests - I will never know. Do you know how hard it is to keep residents properly hydrated? Yet you insist your loved one is over hydrated, and insist he only have one glass of water at every meal. AND you come in during meals and pull a bottle of sea salt out of your purse and dump handfuls onto his food. Hmmmm. OK! :banghead:

You haven't been to visit grandma in over a year. Grandma is completely contracted, hoyer lift, check and change, with aphasia. When you come and tell me that she told you she has to go to the bathroom and you want me to "take her to the restroom", I am not sure whether I want to giggle or slap you. :uhoh3:

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Keep em coming! Just some healthy venting! Thanks a ton!

to the young rn who avoided residents and barked orders all night with attitude "bite me"

To the family member with constant concerns about family care, go see the rn mentioned in my last post, I'm a cna.

Specializes in LTC, Memory loss, PDN.

To the DON who comes to report and states, "We're getting a new admission today. Her family is very important in the community, so I want her to get excellent care", I'd like to say, "So we're starting a new thing here?"

Specializes in LTC, Memory loss, PDN.

The first time ever you're five minutes late and the supervisor goes, "The shift started at 06:30". I'd like to say, "And all this time I thought I was way early."

To the family member who visits all the time and says "you're busy today" nice to know you were in a coma all the other days you visited.

I have a bad habit of saying "I'm just an Aid" but god most days I feel lucky not to have to take control.I know I will be there someday but for now I can sit back and wath them work with famlies!

Specializes in LTC, Hospital, SNF, Home Health, Agency.

When I assist residents to stand and they slap me away saying they can do it themselves...Well why do you think you're here? Because you NEED the assistance!

Also, to the aides: replace the liner in the trash can when you take the trash out!

To any resident not on the bell with a real concern, ie help to the bathroom, health issue "GO TO SLEEP FOR CRYING OUT LOUD"

To the what time is it for the tenth time that hour resident "time for you to get a watch!" that or have it announced over the loud speaker like a town crier, "the time is now x,y,z, the beauty shop is closed, the kitchen is closed, all your family members are asleep, please follow their example Good night"

I really hate graveyard, can't wait to get off it soon.

Specializes in LTC.

To a coworker: "Forget this! Ask me for my help again when you're actually ready."

Oh wait I did say that... and it felt good!

Specializes in Emergency Nursing.

I work in a hospital so its a bit different then LTC but I think a lot of the complaints are essentially the same.

"Do you work here?"

No, the badge and scrubs are just a freakin' fashion statement. I wearing this stuff and wiping butt is how I get my jollies off.

"I paged my nurse for pain medication but he/she isn't here yet. I've been waiting like an hour."

Like your nurse told you the last time they were here. You get pain medication every four hours, you just had your pain medication half an hour ago so its going to be a while. Besides that, your nurse has six patients all requesting pain medication at the same time, your not the only person on this floor they will be in as soon as they can.

"My nurse said that I wasn't allowed to have anything to eat or drink but what about ___________?"

I know the words "nothing to eat or drink" are a foreign concept to you but in English that means NOTHING TO EAT OR DRINK! So please do us both a favor and stop trying to steal your roommate's dinner tray and trying to bribe me to get you food from the kitchen.

"Your the nurse's aide? I thought only women did that job."

Look it's not the 50's, women are allowed to leave the house and have careers and yes men can be nurses or nurses aides. Wake up and live in the real world @$$hole.

"Why do you want to be a nurse? Your a really smart guy, you should be a doctor!"

Thank you for noticing I'm intelligent but don't you want intelligent nurses as well as intelligent physicians? Besides I HATE medical students and would never want to be one. Ever...

"My IV pump keeps making this beeping noise and it won't stop. I'm going to scream if this stupid beeping won't stop!"

Look I'm a CNA and not a nurse, I can't hang medications and I can't stop the IV pump unless the nurse says I can. The only think I can do is straighten out the line, press the silence button (which only lasts for two minutes) and let the nurse know but that's it. So stop yelling at me like there is something I can do about it.

"What was that medication the nurse just gave me? What's it for?"

Here's a novel idea, try asking the nurse that gave it to you and not the person that takes you to the bathroom or wipes your butt.

Patient's family member: "My mother/father/wife/husband needs a tissue/facecloth/drink of water etc. can you come here right now because they need it."

Look I know that you feel the need to come find me every five seconds because your relative needs something but I have 10 other patients and I will get there as soon as I can. I can tell that you feel guilty because you barely come to visit this person and you need to feel like your in charge but if this is such an urgent need then you can grab the tissue or glass of water yourself or else give me a minute and I will get it for you.

Patient talking to their family: "Dr. __________ is so great! He/she has made sure I get my meds. on time and when I had a reaction to this med. and told the nurse Dr. __________ fixed it right away. Dr. __________ has really good staff here, he/she makes sure that I get taken care of."

Just a little FYI, Dr. __________ comes to visit you for about 15 minutes a day (which is fine because they have a lot of patients) and the rest of us don't work for him/her just to let you know, we work for the hospital. As far as you getting your meds. on time that's because your nurse is doing his/her job and when you had a reaction to that med. it was your nurse who called the doctor and asked them to change the med. so I'm really glad your thrilled with Dr. __________ but he/she doesn't do it all by themselves. By the way, Dr. __________ called you a whiny pain-in-the-@$$ when he/she left the room and told the nurse not to bother them with your problems unless you started going down the tubes.

BTW, I'm not a physician basher but I've been in a hospital long enough to hear how some of them really are when there not in front of their patients. But then again I've seen a few of the nurses do the same thing.

!Chris :specs:

I work in a hospital so its a bit different then LTC but I think a lot of the complaints are essentially the same.

"Why do you want to be a nurse? Your a really smart guy, you should be a doctor!"

Thank you for noticing I'm intelligent but don't you want intelligent nurses as well as intelligent physicians? Besides I HATE medical students and would never want to be one. Ever...

BTW, I'm not a physician basher but I've been in a hospital long enough to hear how some of them really are when there not in front of their patients. But then again I've seen a few of the nurses do the same thing.

!Chris :specs:

What's wrong with med students? Why do you hate them? Do they work on your floor or something? Just curious.

Specializes in Emergency Nursing.
What's wrong with med students? Why do you hate them? Do they work on your floor or something? Just curious.

To be honest I hate them in general (I'm sure as individuals they are fine people) but as a whole I dislike med. students. Yes they work on my floor and whenever I am working the 11 PM - 7 AM shift I see them all coming up to my floor. Besides the fact that they are really annoying when they act like little high school kids in their little clicks and stuff they also act like they own the place which is even worse. My favorite thing is if they have to take a blood pressure (its not often but sometimes they will have to do it) they will scramble to find the automatic blood pressure cuff. I make it a point to remind them that its being used so they can just take a manual and I will offer over my stethoscope. Its fun to watch them try to think of excuses to not take it themselves simply because they don't know how, they spend so much time trying to learn new techniques for this and that and they can't take a simple blood pressure. I know I sound like a jerk but it seems like a physician should know how to take a blood pressure and what happens if a nurse isn't available to do it for them? So that's why I can't stand med. students because its like dealing with high school kids all over again. No thanks!

!Chris :specs:

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