Why do so many nursing homes fire CNAs all the time?

asun21ta · Mar 6, 2009

I have found that most times when someone is fired, it's someone who's been on the radar already for a while. There was a CNA who worked at my LTB who's CNA Certification had been revoked for "abuse of a resident" several months prior from another facility. (Seems human resources didn't properly verify her information when they hired her). She worked there for 4 months before the LTC fired her for it. The only reason she was fired was because the state was coming for their annual inspection, so the administrators go through Employee files before the state gets there. When they checked their records, it was then they found out so they had to fire her right on the spot. They would have been in serious trouble if the state auditor found it first!

It's hard at some places to get fired, one facility I worked for had CNA's who would arrive 2-3 hours late on a regular basis! Some even refused to wear uniforms and arrived in regular clothes. They still were not fired!

I Have also worked at a facility where CNA's where about at dispensable as a can of soda. This place also trained CNA's so there were always trainees to replace the CNA's they frequently fired. CNA's would be fired for anything and everything you could imagine. Something as silly as someone's call light being on to long! I know of a Nurse at this place who arrive's to work drunk and she never gets fired for it! :down:

Atheos · Mar 6, 2009

In my opinion they don't fire people enough. Nothing irks me more than when they refuse to get rid of sorry aides.

It gets even worse because while the new age nurse leaders want to 're-mediate' people and 'educate' them they get more brazen because they know they get away with it.

As far as I'm concerned, if they fired MORE sorry employees there would be room for more good ones and the marginal ones might get their act together.

Confused C.N.A · Mar 6, 2009

I have been a cna for 13 years and i enjoy it

I have worked in nursing home and its all the same you are treated

like your bum and your no good

your expected to do it all

baths,changing,dressing,feeding,naps,

and the whole time some people are sitting down making

sure they are looking busey haha

and then when cna ask for help its noted they are keeping up with the

job duties. i have worked in many nursing homes and its like the patients are swing beef

and there not they are human just like we are

they are the people who made the world for us

and there is no reason for them to be treated the way they are I would get so mad

so i had to give up working in nursing homes because of that reason

i have been working in a open heart icu setting for 4 years and its great

cna's here do ekg,vs,op,cpr,help in the O.R if someone goes back, blood sugar test, I have also helped out in the burn room. we are all one big family and we treat eachother with respect

its not always peaches and cream but at the end of the night its good to hear good job and thank you for your help

I dont care what letters come after your name respect is the main key

and they all need to keep in mind C(cna) comes befor Dr,RN,LPN,PA:nmbrn:and with a little respect we could be their right arm

even our boss is great she jokes around with us and understand if you have a sick kid at home or if you just needed a day off

and tell me how many of you have a Dr send a card to your house because your sister just lost her son and he just wanted to say he was sorry to hear the news and was thinking of all of us

I must say i was shocked but it was a great feeling to know he cared

so to all of you there are better jobs out there you just need to find it

:redpinkhe:redbeathe:heartbeat

Miwila · Mar 14, 2009

I've worked at a few nursing homes and they all had a history of firing the CNAs routinely, there were very few aides who had been there for a very long time. I remember the first time I got hired at LTC, an employee who had been there for 9 months warned me about how the place fired CNAs almost in droves, and that I probably won't be around much longer.
She was right.
This is one of the reasons why I have strayed away from nursing homes and tried Homehealth. The only downside is that you may not always get consistent hourly work, but as long as you always show up to duty, you can stay employed a lot longer than at a nursing home.

As some who is considering relocating to several different places I would love to know which city you live in where the nursing homes have a habit of firing aides easily. I guess in a big metro area where there are more applicants aides are considered to be more dispensable than they might be in smaller places.

Butterfliesnroses · Mar 14, 2009

Where I work you have to do quite a bit to get fired. I think it mainly has to do with being short on aides. However right now there is an influx of applicants so my boss seems to be as worried about losing aides and nurses alike.

Miwila · Mar 14, 2009

In my opinion they don't fire people enough. Nothing irks me more than when they refuse to get rid of sorry aides.
It gets even worse because while the new age nurse leaders want to 're-mediate' people and 'educate' them they get more brazen because they know they get away with it.
As far as I'm concerned, if they fired MORE sorry employees there would be room for more good ones and the marginal ones might get their act together.

I agree there are many aides who don't take their jobs seriously. I recently had a co-worker react with outrage because I politely suggested that - since her car was unreliable - she put $20 a week aside as cab fare for those days when her car broke down so she wouldn't have to call out. Her attitude was "Why should I have pay to get to work if my car won't start? How can they expect me to come to work if I'm having car trouble?" Meanwhile I've worked with people who leave their houses two hours early to get to work on time because they have to catch a bus. Usually it takes more than one bus and they are still never late...but maybe thats more of a cultural/class issue than a nurses aide issue.

On the other hand, the way many LTC facilities are run its no surprise that there are aides who want to do better but can't because there isn't enough time/help/resources. There is a difference between aides who can't do their tasks because too much is expected of them and aides who are constant late/absentees and/or have bad attitudes. Its bad for morale to keep staff afraid for their jobs because they might get fired the next time they can't get to a call light on time. There is no way I would work in a place like that.

Atheos · Mar 14, 2009

On the other hand, the way many LTC facilities are run its no surprise that there are aides who want to do better but can't because there isn't enough time/help/resources. There is a difference between aides who can't do their tasks because too much is expected of them and aides who are constant late/absentees and/or have bad attitudes. Its bad for morale to keep staff afraid for their jobs because they might get fired the next time they can't get to a call light on time. There is no way I would work in a place like that.

Indeed. I think one of the biggest morale killers is heaping all of the work on the good workers while allowing the bad workers to get away with slacking. Usually ends up in the good worker leaving, or adjusting their behavior to that of the slacker.

As to the CNA you spoke of, I had the saem difficulty. This girl always comes late and blames traffic. I politely suggested maybe she should work somewhere closer to her home as 'traffic' isn't an acceptable excuse. She also tried to get indignant.

Miwila · Mar 14, 2009

Yes, I've caught the bus when I had too and have also worked with many punctual people who use public transit so it gets on my nerves whenever people who have cars make excuses about why they can't get to work on time. I mean if she knows traffic is bad then why doesn't she leave earlier...DUH. And if it was anywhere like my facility then by coming to work late she is holding up another co-worker who can't leave until she arrives. Now thats the kind of co-worker I wouldn't shed tears for if she were documented or even fired because if you take a job you agree to be there by a certain time and if you can't make a reasonable effort to be on time then you obviously don't care that much about the job.