WHY ARE NURSES SO RUDE to CNA's?

Nurses General Nursing

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It seems like i haven't met a nice nurse yet... They always seem to act stuck up,mad that they have to work, and take it out on there patients/residents or co-workers. I'm 18 and work as a CNA i am completing my pre-req courses for my RN. I've been promising myself i will never act like that once i get my RN! I feel that working as a CNA and seeing the other side to nursing is teaching me a life long lesson! Its like when im at work the Rn's/LPNs they act like there s$$$ don't stink!

:banghead: And treat me like im some uneducated scum of the earth! Not only me but when i see them assisting the residents at the nursing home, its with an attitude. I do understand LPNs in long term facilities have lots of work to do. But dont take it out on the patients! If they ring there light 6 times in a shift i do understand it can be frustrating. explain to them why they shouldn't do it if they don't need assistants. But when your dealing with Alzheimer's patients etc you MUST BE PATIENT! In my opinion if your not a truly caring,patient,nice person you shouldn't be in this field! I understand nurses have bad days, but dont take it out on everyone else it effects everyone else's day. Just my :twocents:

Having been a CNA for nine years and now an RN. I do know where you are coming from. Working in both roles I have come across rude nurses and even ruder (is that a word? it is now!) CNAs. I have a couple CNAs at work who fly off the handle when you nicely tell them that a resident needs to be cleaned up before they leave the building. They will throw their fit and not understand that I can't stop in the middle of my med pass. "The other nurses do it!" I am SO sick of hearing that! Yes, sometimes we aren't running behind and ARE able to do. It really irks me, especially because I try my best to help them out when I can. But, my meds are my priority during med pass unless someone is on the floor or at death's door. I have stopped my charting and updating family/mds to help with ADLs and transferrs, thus putting myself into overtime and getting myself yelled at from management for going into overtime! Its a never-ending cycle and it sucks!

My saying is "kill 'em with kindness!" It works, the very aide I was referring to was all chummy at the end of work. Granted she did go and rant-and-rave to everyone that would listen, but she got over it in time.

We ALL just need to remember that when overworked and understaffed we ALL get a little testy. CNAs don't always want to hear that there is more work to be done, and niether to nurses. If we can all be patient with eachother, our work will be a lot easier. Just remember we are all there to take care of people and if we don't want do it, then we need to look for new jobs!

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Specializes in Nursing Ed, Ob/GYN, AD, LTC, Rehab.

Its important to remember we all work as a team and none of us can do our job without the other. I find CNA Nurse and Docs all forget this at times, some places are worse then others.

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I was a CNA for several years, and the nurses were almost always wonderful to me.

Only other CNAs were nasty to me.

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Specializes in LTC, Med/Surg, Peds, ICU, Tele.

Often, when we are having the same problem with multiple people, our own actions/behavior/demeanor play a part. I'm not trying to blame the victim here, but is there perhaps something lacking in your work that is frustrating all these nurses?

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Specializes in Ortho, Neuro, Detox, Tele.

I learned a LONG time ago. You cannot control how other people treat you, only the way that you react to it. It is frustrating...and sometimes, I want to scream. After being a CNA, there are times when I can't do x, y, and z for the aides because I have 303 things on my list.

I wish I could, but I work with a awesome bunch of cnas, who know that we do what we can, but they get their work done the best they can.

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Specializes in LTC.

I worked as a CNA and yes there were times that I wanted to slap my charge nurse. But I soon realized that in LTC, I made the job eaiser for the nurses. I was always taught you have to give respect in order to get it. I would tell my nurses...look. if it wasnt for me most of the things we have to do for pt care wouldnt get done. And I understand that You may have alot to do but that does not give you the right to treat me like that. And when that didnt work, I went to the DON and it got straightnen out. Now that im a nurse I know how they feel. Its not the fact that we dont appreacite what you as CNAs do, its just we now understand the importance of something so simple as turning the pt q 2 hrs, or keeping the HOB elevated. We have a lot more at stake now and you work under my hard earned license. But that dosent give me the right to treat my girls like crap, and I dont. If it wasnt for them I wouldnt get my job done

THANKS TO ALL CNAS FOR YOUR HARD WORK!:redbeathe:yeah:

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I get treated with nothing but respect by the nurses i work with on a regular basis .. sorry they are treating you that way.

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Specializes in Med/Surg.

I have been on both sides of the coin, and can tell you honestly it depends on the person. If they were a rude, stuck up person before becoming a nurse, then it won't change anything. I have been rude to CNA's before, mostly because they were downright insubordinate and rude to me. I can't tell you CNAs enough how valuable you are to my practice.

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I don't treat the CNAs rudely because I was once a CNA and I was treated poorly by many nurses. There were a few nice ones but for the most part they treated me like I was a low-life moron.

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.

I have also witnessed both sides of the spectrum. You have to work a bit, get some experience under your belt in different places to see that not everyone is stereotyped into one lump. I am not defending their behavior however, especially abuse to the patient. I have seen wonderful, caring and proactive nurses while I was a CNA, and have also seen nurses who are natural beasts to both, their patients as well as co-workers.

In addition, I have also seen rude, abusive and inconsiderate CNAs. Many think that it is the nurse's responsibility alone to care for the patient, and are highly offended when we tell them that a patient needs to be toileted, changed, etc... the same as I have seen caring, thorough and compassionate CNAs that are true team members that are valued by the patients as well as the nurses. This needs to be a collaborated effort for all team members, and also understand that each team member has different roles, tasks, skills and responsibility.

You are seeing early what sort of nurse you need to be, and that is a good thing. In addition, the nurses will see that you are a caring person and if they don't appreciate your services, it will be their loss. The CNA is the eyes, ears, nose and mouth for the patient; they see them most often and more intimately in most cases than we do. Don't let their behavior let you down...show them that you are articulate, caring and professional.

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I was a nurse tech and did a lot of CNA work, so I know how rude the nurses can be. Its horrible that there isnt one or two that are nice. I'm in the NICU, so we dont have CNAs, but when I'm floated to our pedi floor, I still find it awkward that I have a CNA.

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Specializes in NICU Level III.

I've never seen this on my unit.

When I was a tech, the RNs would sit around and complain about the techs.. and I was stuck in the middle about to graduate from nursing school ..

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