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:

...

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

92 years old, dies in her sleep. Family member: "What HAPPENED?"

Uhm, she wore out.

Tell 'em she has TMBD Syndrome-

(Too Many Birthdays Syndrome)

Ringing your light every five minutes isn't going to get the NURSE to materialize faster. And from the same resident, it just makes it less likely that I'm ever going to hurry to your light when you call me down to cover your toes with the blanket (this is an independent resident, who walks for crying out loud!) You can totally do that by yourself! Same as pouring the water from the pitcher to the glass on your table that is IN FRONT OF YOU! Your hand worked fine on that bell, which you never put down.

Ok so last night was a LOOOONG night and I'm still a little angry and not funny this morning. But really, don't wonder why I sound a little short when you've called 20 times in an hour for nothing in particular!

I have told pts outright "We are here to do for you what you can't do for yourself- not what you don't feel like doing for yourself. If we did everything for you, you'd soon not be able to do anything for yourself and you wouldn't be able to go home. "

It usually has at least some effect.

Specializes in Telemetry.
to my teamwork challenged co-workers----just how hard is it to help out with a 2-person transfer? i'm tired of going without lunch because i took that much time trying to get you to help!! and you still didn't help.

sooo true, i feel ya on this one!! why is it that in ltc you on a solo act the whole time? i have no problem helping someone else and think the whole shift would run more smoothly if there was a little more teamwork involved. you and i should work together, we'd be a dynamic duo :lol2:

Specializes in GYN/GON/Med-Surg/Oncology/Tele.

I think I'm more tired of the nurses vs the pt's requests. A nurse walked out of a pt's room carrying a tray, saw me walking in her direction and asked me if I could take it to the nourishment room. I said why can't you, you already have it in your hand!

After doing a round of vitals, my last pt asked me for something to drink. When I returned with the drink, she asked for some pudding, when I returned with the pudding, she asked for some ice cream. After that I asked her is there ANYTHING else you want me to get for you!

Nurse asked me to check the blood sugar of a pt who wasn't even a part of my assignment because her NA was busy. Me thinking the nurse was busy, went ahead and did it. As I'm checking the blood sugar I hear the nurse just chatting away at the nurse's station while awaiting the results.

Nurse asked me to recheck a pt's output later. After finishing my round of vitals, nurse tracks me down to ask if I rechecked the pt's output. I told the nurse I'm on my way now...she followed me to the pt's room and watched me empty the pt's foley.

A nurse coming out of a pt's room to ask the unit secretary to page the pt's NA to put the pt on the bedpan

A nurse who doesn't know how to check a blood pressure manually or in which direction the bedpan is supposed to be placed under a pt.

I am so going to be an advocate for NA's when I become a nurse in 2 years!

There's a difference between delegating and treating someone as if they're your slave and should do anything and every thing for the pt other than administering meds and turning off beeping IV pumps!

What I'd really like to say is...I've never had the "pleasure" of working with the world's most laziest nurses!

Sooo true, I feel ya on this one!! Why is it that in LTC you on a solo act the whole time? I have no problem helping someone else and think the whole shift would run more smoothly if there was a little more teamwork involved. You and I should work together, we'd be a dynamic duo :lol2:

Come to my area, we'd be a rockin' force of nature in the halls. The nursing home in my town is having a hard time finding help, and the state is on their backsides. In this economy. I heard tell there was only 30 jobs open, and somehow I think that a lot of them are about that nursing home. I did say something about this about 4 posts above yours.

Specializes in Telemetry.

If CNAs made what they were worth in LTC there would not be so many facilities short staffed all the time... JMO. I've worked on the administrative side of LTC too and I believe the funds are there, but end up going somewhere else...:nono:

nurses that know i can hear them: I told the girl to clean up in that room. Aids are so lazy.

um. i have a name. and guess what, it's not "the girl". nope, nope its not sweety or hun either. see...that's why those clever hospital administrators insist on those little white plastic thingys we fancy people call "name tags". oh, and no. i'm not lazy. i have 15 pts. none are continent. and it looks to me as though your butt is too big to get up and help me. oh and you also just asked me to do 10 other things. remember?

nurses to a pt while i'm in the room: oh don't ask her, she's just an aid. she wouldn't know. haha.

well maybe if you were a competent nurse your patients wouldn't be desperately asking anyone they can find for answers.

nurse helping me clean her (not on my run) pt: you're the expert. you know how to do this i thought. you tell me what to do. i'll help you but you have to do most of it because i don't really do this.

um. don't BS me lady. I'm in nursing school. i know they teach you everything a CNA is taught. i know the first semester of nursing school is largely CNA duties so don't tell me you don't know how to wipe butts and give baths. tell me you don't want to. at least that would be the truth.

an aid to me after seeing me order an abdominal compressor from central supply and request zinc ointment, not just plain lotion for a few sore butts: what are you doing? just play stupid. pass your waters. give your baths. clean your people. they will ask you to do too much if you go above and beyond. they will take advantage of you.

yeah, i know they will take advantage. but you know, if you always do your best, it'll probably be worth in the end. besides, don't you feel guilty sitting there acting dumb? make a difference. challenge yourself. why wouldn't you want to?

to a lot of pts and family memebers: please stop liking me because i'm a nice white girl with blonde curly hair. please stop saying things like "finally, good white help". please. just because i'm white does not mean i'm racist like a disturbing amount of you obviously are. please please don't use the N word in my presence. it makes me want to hurt you, not help you.

aaah. i feel better. =) good thread!

Specializes in Rehabilitation; LTC; Med-Surg.
If CNAs made what they were worth in LTC there would not be so many facilities short staffed all the time... JMO. I've worked on the administrative side of LTC too and I believe the funds are there, but end up going somewhere else...:nono:

How much should the CNA be paid, in your opinion?

$10/hr seems reasonable.

Specializes in Rehabilitation; LTC; Med-Surg.
nurses that know i can hear them: I told the girl to clean up in that room. Aids are so lazy.

um. i have a name. and guess what, it's not "the girl". nope, nope its not sweety or hun either. see...that's why those clever hospital administrators insist on those little white plastic thingys we fancy people call "name tags". oh, and no. i'm not lazy. i have 15 pts. none are continent. and it looks to me as though your butt is too big to get up and help me. oh and you also just asked me to do 10 other things. remember?

nurses to a pt while i'm in the room: oh don't ask her, she's just an aid. she wouldn't know. haha.

well maybe if you were a competent nurse your patients wouldn't be desperately asking anyone they can find for answers.

nurse helping me clean her (not on my run) pt: you're the expert. you know how to do this i thought. you tell me what to do. i'll help you but you have to do most of it because i don't really do this.

um. don't BS me lady. I'm in nursing school. i know they teach you everything a CNA is taught. i know the first semester of nursing school is largely CNA duties so don't tell me you don't know how to wipe butts and give baths. tell me you don't want to. at least that would be the truth.

an aid to me after seeing me order an abdominal compressor from central supply and request zinc ointment, not just plain lotion for a few sore butts: what are you doing? just play stupid. pass your waters. give your baths. clean your people. they will ask you to do too much if you go above and beyond. they will take advantage of you.

yeah, i know they will take advantage. but you know, if you always do your best, it'll probably be worth in the end. besides, don't you feel guilty sitting there acting dumb? make a difference. challenge yourself. why wouldn't you want to?

to a lot of pts and family memebers: please stop liking me because i'm a nice white girl with blonde curly hair. please stop saying things like "finally, good white help". please. just because i'm white does not mean i'm racist like a disturbing amount of you obviously are. please please don't use the N word in my presence. it makes me want to hurt you, not help you.

aaah. i feel better. =) good thread!

The other day I was in clinical rotation and a nurse had 10 patients with two CNAs on the unit - there are a total of 24 beds on that floor. Another nurse had 10 patients, and the charge nurse had four. I found it comical that the aides spent most of their time flirting with the food service guy, talking on the phone, and when they finally decided to do their simple round of vitals, accuchecks, I/O measurements, turning the patient, and ambulating if necessary, they - the aides - were "stuck" in front of the computer for four hours "charting" until their next rounds. You were lucky if you could even locate the aides in between rounds.

Just a glimpse from the "other side."

Specializes in PCT/CNA/HHA.
How much should the CNA be paid, in your opinion?

$10/hr seems reasonable.

$10/Hr is not reasonable at all. I know that based on where each CNA lives, and the cost of living in that area - $10 might be "ok" but definately not in New York! [For me]

I say @ the VERY least, $15/Hr base pay - regardless of the location, should be a CNA's wage. CNA's work very hard! This is not speaking from experience, but common sense, and based on the perspectives of CNA's I know.

Specializes in LTC.
How much should the CNA be paid, in your opinion?

$10/hr seems reasonable.

Do you work as a CNA? Do you have bills to pay? Where do you come from? Because where I come from, $10/hour is crap!

to the above poster- cna's around here make 7.50- 8.50 per hr unless they work for a staffing agency.:crying2:

Now for my rant: To the charge nurse..... PLEASE do not freak out that I worked 15 minutes overtime when 3 more baths were added to the list. I didn't volunteer for the extra work and wanted to leave when my shift was supposed to be over. Did you wanna help out?

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