What is a typical shift like for a CNA?

fuzzywuzzy, CNA · Feb 22, 2009

I work 3-11 in LTC. You do rounds every 2 hours, have one meal, 1-2 showers, and do HS care on your assigned people and get them all into bed. This is a typical night for me:

3-5: get report from first shift, pass out linens, and start first rounds, which involve getting everyone out of bed and toileted. You also take people for walks, do vital signs and daily weights, take down or strip/remake beds, fill and pass out water pitchers. If there are 4 people you team up in pairs and each pair takes one side of the hallway. If there are only 3 aides then 2 do all the 2-assists together and one does all the singles.

At 5:30 supper trays come up. We wheel all our feeds into the lounge and pass trays. The rest eat in their rooms. You either feed or walk around and supervise. Pick up trays and record I&O. As people finish eating they all want to go to the bathroom (that pretty much takes care of 6 o'clock rounds). A lot of people want to go to bed as soon as you take their tray.

6:00 the CNAs start their supper breaks, and if there are 4 people, one usually gets pulled to another wing. The ones left on the floor are in a mad rush to toilet, toilet, toilet! This is also when you start doing HS care on your assigned residents. Call lights go off like crazy. People want to go to bed RIGHT NOW, so you have to rush. You're always getting pulled to help someone else with a 2-assist too. You fly through HS care for a couple hours. When everyone's back from supper breaks you can start taking turns bringing people to the shower.

7:30 someone loads up a cart with ice cream and drinks and offers a snack to everyone.

8:30-930 things usually start to calm down, and you have only a couple residents left on your assignment. You do a round on those who are already in bed to make sure they're dry and positioned correctly.

930 you start doing 10 o'clock rounds. These are easy because 90% are in bed and you just have to turn them again and make sure they're dry. We spend the next half hour doing paperwork, then we move on to chores. After 10:30 we stand around and get entertained by the night owl residents and answer call lights.

Nelle84 · Feb 22, 2009

very interesting

Chaoticdreams33, MSN, RN · Feb 22, 2009

I did mostly 12 hour day shifts at a hospital. The morning started with getting report. Then taking vitals on everyone, blood sugars too, and filling water pitchers. Then washing everyone up and changing their linens, assisting with breakfast, hanging new tube feeds. Depending on how many patients I had, and how many were total care and on precautions, this could take until lunch time or longer. All the while answering call lights, cleaning up incontinent patients whenever they go, repositioning imobile patients, walking mobile patients to the bathroom, etc. So then there is lunch break, covering for whoever is at lunch, more blood sugars, assisting with lunch trays, answering call lights, more bathroom stuff, and helping any of the other aides with repositioning and changing and stuff. Then more of the same for the dinner round. Sometimes it calms down a bit at the end of the shift, sometimes not. So run, run run, give report, and get out!

The intermediate side was pretty much the same except vitals every 4 hours and lots of cleaning poop and repositioning. Days and nights on intermediate were pretty much the same, baths and linen changes were am and pm, except less other staff getting in the way:)

Nights on the regular side were more relaxed. More patients, but without all of the meals and bed baths, but still all the cleaning up as needed. More cleaning and tidying. But of course whenever I worked nights, I was put on the intermediate side:) No relaxing for me!

melj0505 · Feb 23, 2009

I usually work 3-11. I 'float' in my hospital..so depending on which floor I am assigned to the shift may be different..the telemetry floor from the neuro floor, ER differs TCU..etc etc. from It also depends how staffing is..I've been put on a 25-bed telemetry unit as the only aide on two occasions :crying2: Usually on a decent day..my patient load is anywhere from 7-15.

3-4pm First set of vitals on all pts.. Again, depending on the # of patients, I may get this done before 4 pm.

4-430 Answer call lights and make sure everyone has fresh water. Take any lab samples (urine, stool, etc) down to lab.

430-5 Find out from nurses which pts. need accuchecks (blood sugar checks) done. Do accuchecks on those patients.

5-6 Dinner. Make sure everyone got their tray who is supposed to. Set up those who need assistance (cutting their meat, opening their carton of millk, etc.). Feed the pts. who need complete assistance. And usually I have to run down to the cafeteria at least once or twice during this time bc dietary likes to bring the wrong trays to the pts. or bring food that a pt. didn't even order

6-7 Answer call lights. Check incont. pts and clean them up as needed. Reposition, turn, and pull up pts. in bed. Assist pts. to bathroom for toileting as needed. Restock linen cart.

7 Usually when I take my break :)

730/745-830/845 Take second set of vitals on all pts.

845-9 Do accuchecks on pts. again

9-11 Empty foleys. Check incont. pts. and clean them as needed. Turn and pullup pts. in bed. Get pts. who are OOB in chair back into bed for the night. Assist ambulatory pts. to bathroom as needed for toileting and PM care. Restock linen cart. Make sure everyone has blankets. Take any lab specimens down to lab. Empty linen hampers. See if nurses needed me to do anything else

That's just a general run-down. Things always come up..so the timing is never set in stone!