Your Work Environment

CoffeemateCNA · Mar 29, 2011

It's all a trade-off. Sometimes the grass is greener, only because it's been artificially dyed that color.

I have worked at crappy places with insane (I'm talking INSANE) staffing ratios; they gave not-so-good care but I was not as stressed out. I could actually leave all of my feelings at WORK every evening and not worry about it at all. I was often excited to go to work every day. I got along with most of my coworkers and we were like a family. Sure, there were people I loathed, but looking back on it, they didn't treat me badly at all.

The place I work now gives excellent care and (sometimes) has good staffing ratios, but I just can't stop stressing about it. I'm afraid to leave every night in case I forgot some tiny little detail, for which I'll probably be written up. I get stressed out if the phone doesn't ring for 2 days because I'm "sure" I got fired and they're just waiting for me to come in to my next scheduled shift so they can sit me down in the front office and give me the axe. I don't mean stressed, I mean STRESSED. I constantly fear for my job and have considered going to the doctor for antianxiety meds. I have seen CNAs terminated for anything and everything, and with budgeting problems the terminations just seem to be more frequent. The employees are absolutely cutthroat with each other, so I either end up working by myself on an extremely difficult assignment or chance working with another person who will be lazy, gossip about me to anyone and everyone, give shoddy care, and then take 3 million smoke breaks in the course of 8 hours.

So I don't know if I'll ever find a place that both treats its employees right and has a reasonable level of care.

I have worked several places, and it seems like each time I started at a new one, I thought it would be the best, least stressful job ever. Once I would get over the stress of orientation, I would love the job, but then as time went on, the stress would increase and I would get fed-up and contemplate leaving every single day. Then I'd quit and go to a new job and repeat the cycle. I have no idea how some people have worked at these same facilities for 5-15 years. Maybe I just need tougher skin.

Poi Dog · Mar 29, 2011

This is a subject that I have been thinking about daily as well. I have contemplated not being a CNA because of bad personal experiences as well. I can deal with the heavy patient load. I don't mind it. What I do mind is the toxic work environment and the lack of teamwork. I mind the gossiping and the unprofessionalism in the form of yelling, the berating someone loudly in front of staff, being ignored when asking for help, seeing the eye rolling, being given the silent treatment...sheesh, I will stop here.

Do what you feel is right by you. I know that my bs limit had been reached a long time ago. A pipe dream of mine would be to go to school, get a degree in business management, and run a dream facility. A facility that only employed workers who are patient oriented. Workers who churned up drama and did not perform at 100% would be terminated immediately. Hey, a girl can dream, yes?

From your posts, I can tell that you are a conscientious worker with a big heart. Good luck with whichever way you decide to go.

yousoldtheworld · Mar 29, 2011

I have worked such a wide range of places.

My first CNA job, the level of care was ATROCIOUS. Residents were left in their soaked briefs from the time they got up until they went to bed, and there wasn't much you could do about it because with the other crap they gave you to do on evening shift, it was impossible to lay them all down and change them without getting written up for missing the other stuff - and by other stuff, I mean cleaning closets and other nonessential tasks. They seemed to value these other tasks MORE than they valued the care we directly provided to the residents.

I have also worked a place that was much like Coffeemate's facility - staffing was pretty good and the residents were very well cared for...but if every little thing wasn't PERFECT you were disciplined. The hospital was much like this for me, too.

My current facility is a little better, in my opinion. While we have pretty bad staffing a lot of the time (the pay is low so they have a hard time keeping aides), they do try to be reasonable with their demands. If they see that you are making a good effort to take good care of your residents, you generally won't be disciplined for small errors/things missed. If we are short staffed, you might get in trouble if you don't bother to try to do any of your showers...but if you can't get every one of them done (when we are short we often have 7 or 8 apiece to give), not much is said.

I do complain on here some about the staffing (and about a few coworkers who are truly lazy and hateful), but for the most part I am very happy at my facility and it does not cause me excessive unnecessary stress, apart from the stress that I put on myself, wanting to provide my best care even when we're short.

It's all about finding a happy medium. The places where residents get stellar care keep the care that way by being very rigid when it comes to standards. Those facilities are going to be much more stressful for employees (but you also feel good at the end of the day, knowing you provided quality care). The crappiest places are also stressful just because of the general lack of care, lack of resources, and lack of morale.

The in-between places seem to suit me best. Management isn't perfect and we do have some crappy employees, but you can tell that MOST of the aides and nurses truly are there for the residents...and so the care is done to the best of our abilities, without the rigid and barely attainable standards that some of the high-end facilities require.

Don't give up yet...I bet you can find a place that suits you. Don't worry, it took me almost 5 years to find one. :)

KimberlyRN89, BSN, RN · Mar 29, 2011

I've worked at four facilities in the 2 years I have been a CNA/GNA.

One of those places was great! But, the pay was terrible..so there are good LTC facilities out there, they are just few & far between.

With your experience fuzzy, have you considered working in a hospital? Perhaps you would enjoy that environment better?

fuzzywuzzy, CNA · Mar 30, 2011

Thank you for your thoughtful responses :)

The place I work now gives excellent care and (sometimes) has good staffing ratios, but I just can't stop stressing about it. ...I have considered going to the doctor for antianxiety meds... The employees are absolutely cutthroat with each other, so I either end up working by myself on an extremely difficult assignment or chance working with another person who will be lazy, gossip about me to anyone and everyone, give shoddy care, and then take 3 million smoke breaks in the course of 8 hours.

That's exactly how I feel! I think I would rather have a heavier workload than be made to feel worthless all the time, like someone (the DON or admin) is waiting for me to screw up. There are always fliers in the break room making it seem like the sun rises and sets over my facility and that the staff is incredibly lucky to work there (subtext: you better not complain!) when in reality I don't think it's that much better than other facilities. Trying to provide good care when you're short staffed is stressful, but it's not the same kind of stress you get from being crapped on by admin. I am neurotic about the care that I give but at the same time I know I can't control everything. As long as I do my best and keep improving as things change, I feel good. To me, the stress you put on yourself is so much better than the stress the facility puts on you.

There are a handful of people that I love working with- we all work hard, cooperate with one another, have common sense and can laugh all day. That's the only thing that's stopped me from leaving. But there's another facility with a bad reputation very close to where I live, and they pay more, and they have a union. I might apply and see what happens.

CoffeemateCNA · Mar 30, 2011

That's exactly how I feel! I think I would rather have a heavier workload than be made to feel worthless all the time, like someone (the DON or admin) is waiting for me to screw up. There are always fliers in the break room making it seem like the sun rises and sets over my facility and that the staff is incredibly lucky to work there (subtext: you better not complain!) when in reality I don't think it's that much better than other facilities. Trying to provide good care when you're short staffed is stressful, but it's not the same kind of stress you get from being crapped on by admin. I am neurotic about the care that I give but at the same time I know I can't control everything. As long as I do my best and keep improving as things change, I feel good. To me, the stress you put on yourself is so much better than the stress the facility puts on you.
There are a handful of people that I love working with- we all work hard, cooperate with one another, have common sense and can laugh all day. That's the only thing that's stopped me from leaving. But there's another facility with a bad reputation very close to where I live, and they pay more, and they have a union. I might apply and see what happens.

To make things worse, a lot of the "bad" CNAs I now work worth are VERY buddy-buddy with some higher-ups. They all go out together and the CNAs give them a report on all of us. And these are the people that give the very worst care, yet somehow they have managed to work there forever and practically get away with murder.

I truly MISS the days when I was at other facilities and management didn't care what I had to do to get my people taken care of. If that meant taking loads of briefs and peri cleanser and brushes and basins out of Central Supply and dumping them haphazardly into the cubby on my hall for future use, so be it. If it meant shoving handfuls of swabs and a bottle of mouthwash into my pockets to do quick oral care on everybody (and not worrying about charging people), so be it. If it meant doing Hoyers alone, so be it (and people, for goodness sake, don't turn this into a thread about the ethics of doing Hoyers alone). If it meant teaming up and putting EVERYONE in the facility into their beds and worrying about changing briefs after everyone was down, so be it. But here, of course we can't do anything. We have to leave supplies in the supply room because they look terribly "cluttered." I can't stick ANYTHING in my pockets, because then the facility can't charge the residents for them. We of course can't do Hoyers by ourselves -- even rumors of it will earn you a trip to the front office. We can't put everyone in bed and change their briefs after everyone's down -- "that's abuse" (even though people are still getting changed). It's not that I don't want to do perfect care for my residents, it's that I CAN'T when there are 354524705961 rules that are arbitrarily imposed upon me every second of the work day. My care is not perfect, the facility is not perfect, the residents are not perfect, and I'm not perfect. Management needs to get that through to their "perfect" selves.

blessedinscrubs · Mar 30, 2011

In the last two years that I've worked there, my facility has gone through several different sets of DON's, ADON's, supervisors, etc.... Seems to me like when we have level headed, reasonable people in those positions, it makes all the difference. You can be tough and yell at the CNAs and tell them that YES THEY WILL do their nine showers a piece (when a couple people have called in sick) and that there are NO EXCUSES, and then write up the CNAs that don't get them done. That still doesn't help Miss Smith and Mr. Murray, though, that didn't get their showers. What might help is for the supervisor/DON/etc to take ten minutes of their precious time to take out the list of PRN aides, call them, and get more help into the building so that there is a mathematical possibility of everyone getting their shower. Just sayin.'

canigraduate · Mar 31, 2011

Hi, fuzzywuzzy!

I'm so sorry your work doesn't value you the way they should. I used to work for a facility like that and it SUCKED big time. I only lasted 8 months before I transferred over to the affiliated hospital.

From the rumors I heard, my facility was one of the better ones. This leads me to think that all LTC facilities are crap, and maybe you should try assisted living, home health, or hospital jobs.

I am treated much better at the hospital. My managers actually manage instead of nitpick, they listen and act on what I tell them, and they know my name. I think it makes a big difference when your management doesn't have to look at your name badge to know who you are!

The nurses are a lot less bitter, too. I guess the whole environment is better.

I don't dread going to work. I no longer dream of my residents lying on the floor in their own waste while I am doing stupid things like fluffing pillows and restocking toilet paper. I can take the time to bring the teeny tiny LOLs warm blankets when they are cold. I can shave a man's entire beard, instead of just from the chin up. I can do oral care two and three times per patient in a shift, instead of having to rotate residents to make sure all of them get their teeth brushed at least twice a week.

I miss some of my residents, but I don't miss that terrible place AT ALL!

fuzzywuzzy, CNA · Feb 14, 2012

It's been a while since I posted this but I figured I would update. I got a per diem job at a "bad" facility.... and the grass is definitely greener! As soon as a full-time position opens up I'm kicking my old job to the curb. This so-called bad facility is a lot less stressful, and the workload and care are about the same. The staff isn't constantly being harassed and made to feel this big and the CNAs don't seem to feel the need to stab each other in the back all the time. I realize that because I'm per diem and not there much, I might just *think* it's so much more laid back, but it doesn't matter because the pay and the commute are still better!

LaterAlligator · Feb 16, 2012

Good for you! It really is about finding the right fit for you, isn't it? I still work one day a week at the dementia facility, and my coworkers at the hospital look at me like I'm nuts for doing that. But I enjoy it, especially since it's only one day a week. And I'm the one they always ask for help on how to approach the demented patients that we get on our floor at the hospital now.

CoffeemateCNA · Feb 16, 2012

I had totally forgotten this website existed until I got an email letting me know there were responses to this thread!

I have since left long-term care and now work in a non-patient care position in acute care. Much less stressful, no back issues, and significantly better pay. I do sometimes miss getting to develop a relationship with patients and their families (the good ones, not the bad ones) and I don't always feel like I make very much of a difference, but to me, the trade-off was well worth it.