Would you work a shift as an aide?

Nurses General Nursing

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So I work pool at a hospital. I worked 8 hrs in the SICU and was floated to a stepdown unit and as I entered the floor the charge nurse told me that she assigned me as a tech. I told her that would not be acceptable. I was hired as a nurse and that is the role I would work.

She looked at me as if I had three heads. I again told her if she wanted to use me as a nurse I would be more than happy to help her out but I would never work as a nurse tech.

Eventually they found a staff nurse to fille the role and I took her assignment.

Has anyone ever refused to work as a tech? Any thoughts?

Specializes in ER I/CCU Cath lab LTC.

I've done it. When in working in the float pool, I occasionally filled in when they were short CNA's. Although I was an NA (we were called Nurses Aides in the olden days) before I went to nursing school, I was a helluva lot younger! Very hard work. I did have a few nurses who wanted me to do this or that " when you get a chance", like start IV's, hang blood, admissions. Uh, not gonna happen...busy here!

Frankly, you were out of line IMO. You were sent to a unit to help. Instead, you made both the charge nurse and the staff nurse's jobs harder. The charge nurse had to shuffle her staff to appease you, and the staff nurse got bumped off the assignment she had all day so you could take her pts. You had to take a new assignment anyway, so now two people have had to shuffle work instead of one. Plus it harmed the continuity of care for those pts. And most of the techs are probably thinking "She thinks she's too good to do my job. *****."

:paw:

I'm sorry, but I have to agree. I work in long term care and occasionally we get CRAZY- no one will take shifts. So once in a while, an LPN or a nurse will take a care aid shift. If your employer needs you so desperately, I don't understand what the problem is with you helping out? Sometimes other staff get sick or call in or don't show up, and someone has to pick up the slack- it's the responsible and respectful thing to do, not to mention incredibly helpful to your coworkers. If I was an employer and a nurse refused to help out because it was "below her" (I realize that's not what you're saying but that's absolutely how it comes across), I would be pretty unimpressed and a little annoyed.

Sometimes we have to do extra things, or slightly different jobs. If it's in your scope of practice, sometimes it's important to suck it up in order to help out your coworkers or the patients. Everyone's different, of course, and so are their comfort zones, but I would have chosen to assist in their time of need!

Specializes in Medical Surgical Orthopedic.

I'm not sure how I would feel. On one hand, it would be less stressful mentally ...but on the other hand, more stressful physically. I'm also not sure that I'd have the ability to hammer out a routine so quickly for a job that I don't normally do. It would probably be more diplomatic to ask for a volunteer ....or at least offer a choice to accept or decline the assignment (and go home when the census is low?).

I once lost over half of my patients and was asked to help our CNAs cover the floor. That was fine with me, and I would have helped even if I hadn't been asked.....but showing up for work and being told that I'm assigned to a different role would make me feel ambivalent, at best.

Specializes in Hospice, LTC, Rehab, Home Health.

The problem with working as a tech (CNA) is this: Mrs. Smith who is assigned to the LPN Nancy is starting to decline and begins to have symptoms that you assess as being the beginnings of exacerbation of CHF. You report this to LPN Nancy; the only problem is Nancy doesn't agree with your assessment so she never calls the MD and you are so busy with your "tech" duties that you don't realize that Nancy has not followed up with the MD. Mrs. Smith crashes and burns and winds up on a ventilator, never is able to be weaned and dies. Now, Mr. Smith who happens to be a nurse was in the room when you assessed Mrs. Smith and knows that you felt she was having problems; knows that they were never addressed (or at least not in a timely manner) and sues.

Are you liable as a tech? NO! You failed to act as any prudent RN with similar training and experience would have in a similar situation (Pt going into CHF).

You: "But Mr. Lawyer, I was not a nurse that day I was the tech"

Lawyer: "Oh, really? When did you surrender your nursing license and get a CNA certificate? You didn't? Well then YOU were a nurse!"

And that is why I won't work as a "tech" !

Specializes in Med/Surg, LTC/Geriatric.

Yes, I have in the past. When my scheduling office calls to book me for a shift, if it's a care-aid (CNA) shift they have to tell me and I can either accept or decline.

Once in a while, when I'm already at work, I might get pulled to do care-aid work as they are short a care-aid and the RN can do my duties. Doesn't happen often, thank goodness. Not that I'm above care-aid work. Not at all. I say thank goodness because it's HARD, HARD work!! I have tremendous respect for good and caring care-aids because I leave the shift EXHAUSTED!!

Specializes in LTC, Psych, Hospice.

Occasionally it's a nice break mentally! CNA's DO have a hard job physically and I was exhausted at the end of the shift, but I had a chance to do a really good head to toe skin assessment. I also had a chance to see how well the pt ate brkft instead of just seeing 50% written down. Plus I got paid my regualr wage. Just rememeber you will be held to your license.

Specializes in MPCU.

It still seems to make more sense to assign the RN as an RN. The decreased patient load for each RN would allow more time for basic (NA/Tech) nursing care.

The problem with working as a tech (CNA) is this: Mrs. Smith who is assigned to the LPN Nancy is starting to decline and begins to have symptoms that you assess as being the beginnings of exacerbation of CHF. You report this to LPN Nancy; the only problem is Nancy doesn't agree with your assessment so she never calls the MD and you are so busy with your "tech" duties that you don't realize that Nancy has not followed up with the MD. Mrs. Smith crashes and burns and winds up on a ventilator, never is able to be weaned and dies. Now, Mr. Smith who happens to be a nurse was in the room when you assessed Mrs. Smith and knows that you felt she was having problems; knows that they were never addressed (or at least not in a timely manner) and sues.

Are you liable as a tech? NO! You failed to act as any prudent RN with similar training and experience would have in a similar situation (Pt going into CHF).

You: "But Mr. Lawyer, I was not a nurse that day I was the tech"

Lawyer: "Oh, really? When did you surrender your nursing license and get a CNA certificate? You didn't? Well then YOU were a nurse!"

And that is why I won't work as a "tech" !

I've heard this argument before as a reason to not work as a tech with a nursing license but I still don't understand it. As a floor nurse, I am not responsible for every patient on the floor. I am responsible for my assisgnment. If I assist Nurse Nancy with one of her patients and say I think her pt is going into CHF and she disagrees and decides not to follow up, I don't go behind her and call the doctor anyway. I may point it out to the charge nurse if we have one or bring it to the attention of the nursing supervisor but I don't know the history of the patient or their meds or everything else that may be going on with them to explain the current situation. Frankly, if another nurse on my unit took it upon themselves to start calling doctors because they didn't agree with my assessment I'd be pretty ticked. I gladly grab someone to help out when a patient is going bad on me and value the input of my coworkers and I hope they do the same for me but I'm looking for input on my patient not someone else to make the decisions.

If a patient is in obvious distress but a nurse is ignoring it, I would certainly go up the chain of command. That doesn't mean I would personally take on the patient's care, just that I would notify the appropriate person of the patient's situation and then let them talk with the primary nurse about what should be done. Of course, I did the same even before I had my RN license because that's the reasonable thing for anyone to do regardless of their position.

so while i do not think that tech/cna duties are below an rn/lpn, i do think that it is very odd that a nurse manager would assign a nurse as a "tech". i work in a state that does not allow you to be a “tech” once you are a nurse, but it does not mean you can’t do the work. if you were going to be paid at a “tech” rate you are absolutely right in refusing. like one other poster said, she should have asked you to help with tech duties and take new admissions as the came in, that would have been more helpful to the other nurses, and you would not have been working in the "tech" role.

when i worked in ltc as a cna i will never forget one of my managers telling me that she always helped out her cnas when she could because a nurse can function as a cna, but a cna could not function as a nurse. we need each other to get through tough shifts.

Specializes in Gerontological Nursing, Acute Rehab.

I'm still not seeing why working as a tech is a big deal, despite all the examples given above. I have worked as a tech/CNA before, but that didn't stop me from functioning as an RN if a problem arose. If it was a non-emergency type of request, I got the nurse. All tech responsibilities fall under the RN scope of practice, and if the tech assigned to you doesn't complete their duties, then who do you think would be responsible to do them? The RN....so what's the difference?

I actually enjoyed working as a tech/CNA....so much less pressure, and it's good to get a chance to actually do patient care. I agree that the OP was out of line by stating she wouldn't work as a tech. Not a good way to promote a feeling of teamwork in your building. As a former supervisor, I can now tell you that you've probably been labeled as a spoiled brat. Staffing a building is very, very difficult, and when someone throws a fit about their assignment, it makes it even harder AND compromises patient care. Sorry to be so harsh, but it's the truth.

Specializes in Plastics. General Surgery. ITU. Oncology.

I did it recently too. I was assigned to float between two of the teams on my ward as we were short-staffed.

I enjoyed being a HCA for a day. No paperwork, no drug round just basic patient care and doing the meals and tea rounds. I'd take the job if I could keep my own pay as an RN! ;)

Specializes in Acute Care, CM, School Nursing.

I would work as a CNA, if I was ever asked. As long as I am being paid at my RN rate, of course. As other posters have pointed out, the RN is essentially responsible for everything anyway. So, I think it would be a nice change of pace. It would certainly be nice to say, "I'll let your nurse know..." I will say, CNA work is he** on your body. Very tough work.

Naturally, if an emergency situation occurred, I'd step in as needed. But I'd do that anyway, whether it was another nurse's patient or my own. If the assigned nurse didn't agree with my emergency assessment, I'd notify the nursing supervisor. Chances are that the supervisor would err on the side of caution, in order to "cya".

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