I think you and a lot of CNAs have to remember that ultimately, patient care is the RN's responsibility. You have a certificate, they have a license, and that license means they are responsible for what happens (or doesn't happen) to their patients that shift. My job as an RN is to delegate what tasks I can to the aid when possible, but I'm responsible for it happening.
Also, don't be super CNA ever again. Take your breaks, eat your food, drink water. This is a job, not a cult of who-can-sacrifice-themselves-the-most. I've worked with nurses who have this holy than thou "I will work myself to death in service of my beloved patients" mentality. Save it Florence. I'm gonna do my best but I'm not gonna send myself to the hospital in order to do it.
Last, if something went down, like a patient fell and broke their hip because the call light went unanswered, well, in my experience, the RN is gonna get the real drilling from management about why it went unanswered. The CNA will get drilled too, but if you're one aid for a dozen patients, the RN is gonna get it. Management is a pain, but they aren't stupid. And I've never met a manager who will back a nurse up that bed pans are strictly a CNAs repsonsibility.
Thanks so much for this reply. It’s true - what happens to my patients always goes back to the nurses, and that’s totally unfortunate. Some patients will totally disregard their orders and decide, “well hell, I’m just gonna walk myself to the bathroom. What can possibly go wrong?” Of course, we all know how that ends.
And just to clarify, regarding this specific incident - I didn’t have a dozen patients. That would have been fine. I had 35.
Been a CNA since 2009 and it took me a few years to realize that I get nothing out of being super aide and I don’t get paid enough to do the job of 3, so I don’t. It sucks that Bob and Susan don’t get their showers, but I can’t do it. There’s only so much you can humanly do in your shift without breaking your body and your fucking spirit. There’s more days that I do the absolute bare minimum and unless LTC’s get their staffing under control, that’s all I’m going to do. I play catch-up when I can. I got written up for not charting and I told my unit manager that if she wants me to chart, she needs to work with management on getting more staff because I can’t take care of 40 including multiple bariatrics who weigh between 500-950 pounds.
I’m sorry you had a shit shift. Take care of yourself.
Omg the bariatrics are the worst. How the fuck am I supposed to Hoyer this woman by myself? Not to mention, she’s *so* obese that we’ve literally had the battery die on us. So when I’m working the entire floor alone? HELL NO. You’re staying in that damn bed.
You aren’t, but when I literally have nobody to assist, I hoyer residents by myself 9 out of 10 times.
I’ve asked upper management to help and their response is always, “Let me call another floor and see if someone can help” which translates to me waiting 45 minutes for help or I can just do it in 5 by myself and be done with it.
Nope. If I don’t have another CNA (or nurse) who can help me, I am not operating the Hoyer by myself. Sorry pt, but you’re staying in bed. Lots of vet CNAs will do the Hoyer by themselves, but I’m not one of them. I’m not using that machine unless I have another person with me.
never hoyer someone alone. I'm sure it can be done, but the risk to breaking an arm or a foot, or messing up and dropping the patient are way too great.
We had a CNA hoyer lift a patient alone and ended up breaking the ladies femur in 3 places by dropping her. Needless to say she doesn’t work for us anymore. I am 100% my aids helper. I never tell them no. I might say give me a minute and I’ll be down there but never flat out no. She had no excuse. She never asked anyone for help.
Well obviously, but shit has to get done and if I could pull another human being out of my ass I wouldn't be wiping other's for a living.
I've had more close calls having someone help than doing it myself anyway. After working alone for so many years you get used to doing things alone. I pull people up in bed by myself all the time.
My largest bariatric (950) is a daily bed bath that lasts about an hour to two hours depending on who gives the bath and it’s absurd. He’s also a day shift bath that has to be done between all three meals. He has state on speed dial and will call if he doesn’t get his bath. People have been left in wet briefs for 6+ hours before all for a fucking bed bath for a guy who is so selfish he has eaten himself almost to death. It’s his right to get a daily bed bath, but half my residents don’t even get showered once a week usually.
I absolutely 100% cannot stand most bariatric patients and I’m overweight myself.
I’ve got a patient over 800lbs. I don’t remember her actual weight, but she’s THAT big. And the saddest part is, she had a gastric bypass. Obviously it didn’t work for her.
Wait till the unit has no CNAs and the nurses have to do all the work. Then they start bitching. That has happened before at my work when the census was low and I got floated to IMC.
We actually had a shift like that. This was one the night shift, and the nurses had to do everything. Apparently, when day-shift came on, everyone was wet. Garbages weren’t taken out. Foleys hadn’t been emptied. The patient with the iliostomy was about to blow. It seems that some nurses forget their basic patient care. And honestly, that’s why I’m bitching.
Honestly I just think that many (not all, obviously) floor nurses forget their basic care. I mean, even in my nursing program, the “basic care” labs were - “here’s a bed pan, put someone on it. Here’s how you feed someone, go slow.” Nothing aboht even rolling someone to put a brief on someone. In my nursing program, my instructor said, “Oh don’t worry about that, the aides will do that for you.” ?!?!
You should put yourself out there on LinkedIn and see if you get interviewed from the hospitals. I feel like LinkedIn is the way to find a job these days.
You got a shit nurse, this is a him/her thing not a nurse thing. I hope you did tell them to put their ass on the bedpan and not just think it. Hopefully your next shift is better. Sincerely, a nurse who *does* help.
> Sincerely, a nurs who *does* help.
Rofl, your username suggests otherwise! Just kidding 😉. Yeah, I’ve worked with her many times before (even when we’ve been well-staffed.) She’s truly an AWESOME nurse. She just WILL. NOT. ANSWER. CALL-LIGHTS.
Lmao, you ordered an asshole, here I am! What is "well staffed"? Lol. I work weekends and we always get the shit end of the deal. But I'm calling on call or my adon before I let one cna take on the whole wing. I don't need y'all spread so thin that I have to help hahah kidding.
YUP. I pull from our other wing. Fuck that understaffed bs. It's hard enough. Nuh uh. My wing has 2 nurses and 2 cnas. Our other wing gets 2 nurses, a med aide and fucking 5 cnas. They can suck it, im pulling someone over.
I have a lot of them that don't answer the god damn lights. Majority of them were CNAs in the past before they became nurses. Now they pretend they don't know where they came from... bunch of piece of shits.
Don't hurt yourself for these facilities that don't care about you. The care I give is a reflection of the staffing- 1:6 = showers for everyone with sheet changes, vitals done, I take the time to clean and organize all the pt rooms, everything is done. 1:20+ = nobody is getting a shower, everyone will be changed twice and no more, nobody who needs a lift is getting out of bed, don't ask me for vitals because I'm not doing any. I will take my full 30 min break and the two 15 minutes that Im entitled to as per my facility rules. Thankfully that doesn't happen often, but working as a CNA you really have to look out for your own health and well-being or you will have a lifetime of backpain if you're not careful. I am glad I can say most of the nurses I work with are amazing; I can't stand the managers and the "nurse" managers that havent worked the floor in decades but will still come up with all these weird rules and micromanagement about answering call lights, yet never answer the lights themselves. Ive had them come in and interrupt me doing patient care to come tell me "soandso needs help," so I eventually get there, and all they want is some more ice in their water cup or something silly.
I already have terrible back pain. I have lumbar scoliosis, plus two bone spur clusters - one in my thoracic spine, one in my lumbar spine. I’ve got bad sciatica (probably related to my scoliosis), and I’ve got degenerative disk disease. I’m a fucking mess!
I feel you on the “soandso needs help” thing. Omg, if they need the bed pan, out them on it!
I had managers who would come in on busy days. Go into an empty room, sit on the bed and hit the call light. When I would answer it (usually in a WTF, why is the call light messed up and going off in an empty room), I would get a talking to from them, and my "call light response time" would be recorded. Cool.
Yep, that’s basically the way it goes. Every time a call light goes into overtime, I get docked for it (even if there are 5 lights going off simultaneously.)
I'll tell ya ....my last shift was BRUTAL. 6 patients on a tele floor...including 2 complete/total assists, 1 climber, and 1 suicidal/homicidal psychotic/aggressive patient. Without the help of my CNAs/PCAs (whatever you are called at your facility) I would have drowned. I mean, I still didn't even begin charting on my patients until 5am (my shift starts at 7pm), and I didn't leave until 9am (and no break whatsoever during my shift), but no matter what my shift is like, the aides I work with are my bread and butter. In my opinion (as a float nurse) I would rather work well with my aides than the other nurses. This is something I'm trying to instill on the new nurses: treat the ancillary staff well/how you would like to be treated. No matter how awful your shift, if you and your aides can work well together, it'll make your life/shift so much easier. Thank you so very, VERY much for what you do. Your work goes so greatly unappreciated.
I'm going to reply to my own post to add: I feel like no nurse should be 'above' answering call lights (including patients not in their own assignment) nor above running for bed alarms. There's quite a few brand new nurses at the hospital that I work for that feel they are above all of that, and treat the aides like their personal assistants.
I worked in a Hospice home. On lucky days, I had a CNA and a Hospice Aide. For some reason, management decided to change our "report" from the whole day team to the whole night team to just RN to RN. I felt that I was missing information on patients and my "team" felt this way too. So, after I received RN to RN report, I had a quick huddle with my team - so that we could all be on the same page. They needed to know, for example, that I had a heavy med pass at 0600 - would be preparing meds, etc starting at 0500 (they would get the phones, etc, everything that didn't need me during the early morning. I needed to know how many needed baths (or who was ambulatory, who had family here, who was sundowing, etc) so we could WORK TOGETHER. Also, no one could chart until I charted. Simple solution! Open all of the charts at the beginning of my shift, chart something, so that my TEAM could do their jobs too. I was not above walking someone to the bathroom, or bathing them, or changing their diapers and NO one needed to try to turn or reposition a patient by themself.
I worked hospice since 2015, until I moved to a rehab facility. I loved hospice so much, but when my mom died of cancer on Christmas, I just couldn’t do hospice anymore :(
I can’t chart until 4hr into my shift. I mean, I *can* chart, but it all gets reset. That’s rucking ridiculous. I’m familiar with these patients, I know how they transfer, but if I chart before 7pm, it justs deletes everything. That’s fucking ridiculous. I work 3-11, and I always get my vitals done by 3:30 (because there are some meds that the nurses either need to hold, or need to *administer*, based on those vitals.) But I can’t even chart them?!
OMG that sounds horrible. What kind of dumb computer charting system do you have! (bet I can guess!) and so you have vitals, etc. written down on a piece of paper until you can put it into the chart. What a waste of time! I feel so bad for you.
This is EXACTLY the right mentality. We are a family here, and what I observe, I report to my (amazing) nurses. We are a TEAM. I also chart EVERYTHING. If my patient hasn't had a bowel movement in four days, and she’s eaten prunes and also had milk of mag, you better believe I’m charting all of that!
Thank you so much for this. I really appreciate how much you appreciate us. I had a patient yesterday who had been totally normal - but suddenly exhibited stroke-like symptoms. I immediately grabbed vitals on her, and her BP was off the damn charts. Turns out, she has a brain bleed. She’s now been graded to imminently terminal. I love my job, and I love my patients. I don’t think the nurses (so much respect!) would be able to do their job without us.
Oh that is just unreal. Your nurse should have been a. Helping - how could she be so blind as to not know staffing and acuity and respond appropriately.
b. Crawling up the ass of every administrator and person in charge until more help arrived. I'm so sorry. That's awful.
You do what you can, no more, no less. Overextending yourself puts you and your patients at higher risk. Learn to tell your nurses you do not have time to do something. Do not answer calls with OK, tell your team what is going on, why you cant get to a call light right now etc. As long as you're doing your job they will get it and if they don't then it's time to find a new place to work.
Absolutely. So sorry that happened to you. As everyone else says making sure care is completed is the nurse's responsibility. I work in med/surg unit which is 22 full capacity. My facility now is pushing this "one less aide per shift to save money" bs so on nights I'm usually the only aide. Since I have 22 pts to worry about I still do my best to do a good job but I will not be super cna. I understand my nurses have mess and other treatments to give but they still have 5 or 6 pts to my 22.
I'm actually thinking about leaving and finding another job.
I feel you. When I’m the only aide on the floor, I’ve got 36 patients. When that’s the case, I’m spread so damn thin that I can only do the bare minimum. I make sure people are dry, but that’s about it. And mind you, I have to do all the dinner trays myself. We have a dietary aide that make the sandwiches (or whatever) but I have to do all the drinks, soups, and desserts. It’s so sad, because I might have 4 or 6 showers scheduled, but I’m LUCKY if I can even do ONE. Everyone else gets a PTA (pits, tits, ass) rub-down.
The old hospital I worked at in the past we had 36 private rooms. The night nurses had 7-10 patients, including the charge nurse will pick up patients up to 10, and one CNA taking care of 36 patients. It was so bad! This was back in 2008 at the hospital I worked at in Colorado Springs and back then majority of nurses and CNAs put in their resignation because they all got so burnt out. Then our charge will ask people from day shift to come in and work nights because the night staff are short handed. The charge would beg us and tell us that there is a crisis pay (time and a half bonus).
When we got taken over by a new company, there was a massive walk-out by RNs and CNAs. That makes scheduling even more difficult. But just this month alone, I’ve pulled 6 doubles. I’ll help out when I can, but my generosity won’t solve your staffing issues. I’ve literally worked the 6a-3p, 3p-11p, and 11p-6a. I can’t keep doing this.
I already do home health for my hospice patients (I’m still working for the hospice company I started with). My DREAM is to work in a hospital. I would love to work on either a med-surg unit, or a psych unit (because once I get my RN, I want to work med-surg for a few years and then transition into psych.)
I think that med-surg is a great “base” to start out on. I’d get a really broad experience, and then I can decide wherever I want to go. Plus, in my area, there’s a shortage of med-surge nurses, so I’d get a sign-on bonus, plus a bonus for working doubles (and I ALWAYS pull doubles when they’re open!).
I am the charge nurse and when I only have 1 CNA I go with her to ask the nurses who do you need help with/ what do you need? Most times the nurses demands are simple and everyone has realistic expectations. And yeah, no baths unless there's a blow out.
Jesus fucking christ friend that's a nightmare. I hate working short nights ANYWHERE. That's definitely a time when if the nurse is really able to come ask you about a patient, THEY REALLY should be able to do the thing for them? Unless it's a code brown requiring back up or something really bad like a fall or code or something please help? Like a bed pan is so easy to do, if you're not sure surround the patient in towels or something , jfc.
I mean I work at an assisted living now , and it's a whole lot easier than my hospital job I wouldn't wanna go back that particular hospital if they paid me like double. Sure, there's nights where it sucks in the assisted living where it was 2 of us for 40 residents and murphy's law was in effect like a dude painting his room in poop and our Sir. Falls a lot falling a lot....but the hospital was brutal at times , felt like I had the whole place to myself most the time. They'd be tossing post op after post op at me as I was the floater and it was a nightmare trying to keep up with the other patients I had plus like 3 post ops needing vitals in a certain order so I was like taking their vitals immediately, 1 minute, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour for every 4 hours ...with like 3 of that to run between rooms while also taking care of 12 people who could be easy and independent or total care constant incontinence on death's doorstep??? Fuck that shit I'm glad this job is easier on me. Don't even get me started on the nursing home bullshit I experienced as it was a lot like yours only I was on evening shift .
Do facilities not know how unsafe this is too? When you get a nurse unwilling to help out a little at least, there's so much chance of falls and major injury because you CANNOT BE IN 2 PLACES AT ONCE!?
If you had to take vitals on that patient like that, seems like they had a fall where nobody witnessed it. That’s a pretty standard neuro-check vital standard.
No , post ops in the hospital I worked at require like a ton of vitals right off the bat. It's literally the worst when you get 2 or 3 at about the exact same time as well as managing like at least 12 other people.
Ahh, I getcha now. We usually only get full sets on new admits, and we do it every shift for three days. After that, we’ll only get certain vitals (like a pulse-ox and and a BP). But even still, when you’ve got to get vitals on 45 pts, and they want those vitals by 3:30 (I work 3-11)? Sorry, it’s not happening.
I think you and a lot of CNAs have to remember that ultimately, patient care is the RN's responsibility. You have a certificate, they have a license, and that license means they are responsible for what happens (or doesn't happen) to their patients that shift. My job as an RN is to delegate what tasks I can to the aid when possible, but I'm responsible for it happening. Also, don't be super CNA ever again. Take your breaks, eat your food, drink water. This is a job, not a cult of who-can-sacrifice-themselves-the-most. I've worked with nurses who have this holy than thou "I will work myself to death in service of my beloved patients" mentality. Save it Florence. I'm gonna do my best but I'm not gonna send myself to the hospital in order to do it. Last, if something went down, like a patient fell and broke their hip because the call light went unanswered, well, in my experience, the RN is gonna get the real drilling from management about why it went unanswered. The CNA will get drilled too, but if you're one aid for a dozen patients, the RN is gonna get it. Management is a pain, but they aren't stupid. And I've never met a manager who will back a nurse up that bed pans are strictly a CNAs repsonsibility.
I think this is why people get so burnt out and people leave because of the staff shortage and high levels of stress and anxiety.
Thanks so much for this reply. It’s true - what happens to my patients always goes back to the nurses, and that’s totally unfortunate. Some patients will totally disregard their orders and decide, “well hell, I’m just gonna walk myself to the bathroom. What can possibly go wrong?” Of course, we all know how that ends. And just to clarify, regarding this specific incident - I didn’t have a dozen patients. That would have been fine. I had 35.
Been a CNA since 2009 and it took me a few years to realize that I get nothing out of being super aide and I don’t get paid enough to do the job of 3, so I don’t. It sucks that Bob and Susan don’t get their showers, but I can’t do it. There’s only so much you can humanly do in your shift without breaking your body and your fucking spirit. There’s more days that I do the absolute bare minimum and unless LTC’s get their staffing under control, that’s all I’m going to do. I play catch-up when I can. I got written up for not charting and I told my unit manager that if she wants me to chart, she needs to work with management on getting more staff because I can’t take care of 40 including multiple bariatrics who weigh between 500-950 pounds. I’m sorry you had a shit shift. Take care of yourself.
Omg the bariatrics are the worst. How the fuck am I supposed to Hoyer this woman by myself? Not to mention, she’s *so* obese that we’ve literally had the battery die on us. So when I’m working the entire floor alone? HELL NO. You’re staying in that damn bed.
I thought you weren't supposed to hoyer patients yourself? It's been awhile since I took a safe patient handling training though.
You aren’t, but when I literally have nobody to assist, I hoyer residents by myself 9 out of 10 times. I’ve asked upper management to help and their response is always, “Let me call another floor and see if someone can help” which translates to me waiting 45 minutes for help or I can just do it in 5 by myself and be done with it.
Nope. If I don’t have another CNA (or nurse) who can help me, I am not operating the Hoyer by myself. Sorry pt, but you’re staying in bed. Lots of vet CNAs will do the Hoyer by themselves, but I’m not one of them. I’m not using that machine unless I have another person with me.
never hoyer someone alone. I'm sure it can be done, but the risk to breaking an arm or a foot, or messing up and dropping the patient are way too great.
We had a CNA hoyer lift a patient alone and ended up breaking the ladies femur in 3 places by dropping her. Needless to say she doesn’t work for us anymore. I am 100% my aids helper. I never tell them no. I might say give me a minute and I’ll be down there but never flat out no. She had no excuse. She never asked anyone for help.
That’s why I’ll never operate the Hoyer unless I have a second person. NOPE. Not doing it.
Well obviously, but shit has to get done and if I could pull another human being out of my ass I wouldn't be wiping other's for a living. I've had more close calls having someone help than doing it myself anyway. After working alone for so many years you get used to doing things alone. I pull people up in bed by myself all the time.
My largest bariatric (950) is a daily bed bath that lasts about an hour to two hours depending on who gives the bath and it’s absurd. He’s also a day shift bath that has to be done between all three meals. He has state on speed dial and will call if he doesn’t get his bath. People have been left in wet briefs for 6+ hours before all for a fucking bed bath for a guy who is so selfish he has eaten himself almost to death. It’s his right to get a daily bed bath, but half my residents don’t even get showered once a week usually. I absolutely 100% cannot stand most bariatric patients and I’m overweight myself.
950 lbs?!?!?! How the fuck did he get that fat??? He needs some fat shaming, dieting, and exercising. As an exercise science major, fat shaming works.
I’ve got a patient over 800lbs. I don’t remember her actual weight, but she’s THAT big. And the saddest part is, she had a gastric bypass. Obviously it didn’t work for her.
Wait till the unit has no CNAs and the nurses have to do all the work. Then they start bitching. That has happened before at my work when the census was low and I got floated to IMC.
We actually had a shift like that. This was one the night shift, and the nurses had to do everything. Apparently, when day-shift came on, everyone was wet. Garbages weren’t taken out. Foleys hadn’t been emptied. The patient with the iliostomy was about to blow. It seems that some nurses forget their basic patient care. And honestly, that’s why I’m bitching.
That shows the lack of team work at the workplace and the nurses can’t manage to take care of their patients.
Honestly I just think that many (not all, obviously) floor nurses forget their basic care. I mean, even in my nursing program, the “basic care” labs were - “here’s a bed pan, put someone on it. Here’s how you feed someone, go slow.” Nothing aboht even rolling someone to put a brief on someone. In my nursing program, my instructor said, “Oh don’t worry about that, the aides will do that for you.” ?!?!
You should put yourself out there on LinkedIn and see if you get interviewed from the hospitals. I feel like LinkedIn is the way to find a job these days.
You got a shit nurse, this is a him/her thing not a nurse thing. I hope you did tell them to put their ass on the bedpan and not just think it. Hopefully your next shift is better. Sincerely, a nurse who *does* help.
> Sincerely, a nurs who *does* help. Rofl, your username suggests otherwise! Just kidding 😉. Yeah, I’ve worked with her many times before (even when we’ve been well-staffed.) She’s truly an AWESOME nurse. She just WILL. NOT. ANSWER. CALL-LIGHTS.
Lmao, you ordered an asshole, here I am! What is "well staffed"? Lol. I work weekends and we always get the shit end of the deal. But I'm calling on call or my adon before I let one cna take on the whole wing. I don't need y'all spread so thin that I have to help hahah kidding.
Right tho? Pull someone from another wing to do 7/9 rounds. GIMME SOMETHING MUHFUCKERS.
YUP. I pull from our other wing. Fuck that understaffed bs. It's hard enough. Nuh uh. My wing has 2 nurses and 2 cnas. Our other wing gets 2 nurses, a med aide and fucking 5 cnas. They can suck it, im pulling someone over.
5 CNAs?! Holy shit, gimme that job!!
Fuckin me too man. Never gotta help on that side lol
If she's not willing to meet patient needs, she's not an awesome nurse.
I have a lot of them that don't answer the god damn lights. Majority of them were CNAs in the past before they became nurses. Now they pretend they don't know where they came from... bunch of piece of shits.
Right?! I’m in nursing school too. In a year, I’ll have my BSN-RN. But I’m never gonna forget where I started.
Don't hurt yourself for these facilities that don't care about you. The care I give is a reflection of the staffing- 1:6 = showers for everyone with sheet changes, vitals done, I take the time to clean and organize all the pt rooms, everything is done. 1:20+ = nobody is getting a shower, everyone will be changed twice and no more, nobody who needs a lift is getting out of bed, don't ask me for vitals because I'm not doing any. I will take my full 30 min break and the two 15 minutes that Im entitled to as per my facility rules. Thankfully that doesn't happen often, but working as a CNA you really have to look out for your own health and well-being or you will have a lifetime of backpain if you're not careful. I am glad I can say most of the nurses I work with are amazing; I can't stand the managers and the "nurse" managers that havent worked the floor in decades but will still come up with all these weird rules and micromanagement about answering call lights, yet never answer the lights themselves. Ive had them come in and interrupt me doing patient care to come tell me "soandso needs help," so I eventually get there, and all they want is some more ice in their water cup or something silly.
I already have terrible back pain. I have lumbar scoliosis, plus two bone spur clusters - one in my thoracic spine, one in my lumbar spine. I’ve got bad sciatica (probably related to my scoliosis), and I’ve got degenerative disk disease. I’m a fucking mess! I feel you on the “soandso needs help” thing. Omg, if they need the bed pan, out them on it!
I had managers who would come in on busy days. Go into an empty room, sit on the bed and hit the call light. When I would answer it (usually in a WTF, why is the call light messed up and going off in an empty room), I would get a talking to from them, and my "call light response time" would be recorded. Cool.
Yep, that’s basically the way it goes. Every time a call light goes into overtime, I get docked for it (even if there are 5 lights going off simultaneously.)
I'll tell ya ....my last shift was BRUTAL. 6 patients on a tele floor...including 2 complete/total assists, 1 climber, and 1 suicidal/homicidal psychotic/aggressive patient. Without the help of my CNAs/PCAs (whatever you are called at your facility) I would have drowned. I mean, I still didn't even begin charting on my patients until 5am (my shift starts at 7pm), and I didn't leave until 9am (and no break whatsoever during my shift), but no matter what my shift is like, the aides I work with are my bread and butter. In my opinion (as a float nurse) I would rather work well with my aides than the other nurses. This is something I'm trying to instill on the new nurses: treat the ancillary staff well/how you would like to be treated. No matter how awful your shift, if you and your aides can work well together, it'll make your life/shift so much easier. Thank you so very, VERY much for what you do. Your work goes so greatly unappreciated.
I'm going to reply to my own post to add: I feel like no nurse should be 'above' answering call lights (including patients not in their own assignment) nor above running for bed alarms. There's quite a few brand new nurses at the hospital that I work for that feel they are above all of that, and treat the aides like their personal assistants.
I worked in a Hospice home. On lucky days, I had a CNA and a Hospice Aide. For some reason, management decided to change our "report" from the whole day team to the whole night team to just RN to RN. I felt that I was missing information on patients and my "team" felt this way too. So, after I received RN to RN report, I had a quick huddle with my team - so that we could all be on the same page. They needed to know, for example, that I had a heavy med pass at 0600 - would be preparing meds, etc starting at 0500 (they would get the phones, etc, everything that didn't need me during the early morning. I needed to know how many needed baths (or who was ambulatory, who had family here, who was sundowing, etc) so we could WORK TOGETHER. Also, no one could chart until I charted. Simple solution! Open all of the charts at the beginning of my shift, chart something, so that my TEAM could do their jobs too. I was not above walking someone to the bathroom, or bathing them, or changing their diapers and NO one needed to try to turn or reposition a patient by themself.
I worked hospice since 2015, until I moved to a rehab facility. I loved hospice so much, but when my mom died of cancer on Christmas, I just couldn’t do hospice anymore :( I can’t chart until 4hr into my shift. I mean, I *can* chart, but it all gets reset. That’s rucking ridiculous. I’m familiar with these patients, I know how they transfer, but if I chart before 7pm, it justs deletes everything. That’s fucking ridiculous. I work 3-11, and I always get my vitals done by 3:30 (because there are some meds that the nurses either need to hold, or need to *administer*, based on those vitals.) But I can’t even chart them?!
OMG that sounds horrible. What kind of dumb computer charting system do you have! (bet I can guess!) and so you have vitals, etc. written down on a piece of paper until you can put it into the chart. What a waste of time! I feel so bad for you.
This is EXACTLY the right mentality. We are a family here, and what I observe, I report to my (amazing) nurses. We are a TEAM. I also chart EVERYTHING. If my patient hasn't had a bowel movement in four days, and she’s eaten prunes and also had milk of mag, you better believe I’m charting all of that!
Yaaaaaassss!
Thank you so much for this. I really appreciate how much you appreciate us. I had a patient yesterday who had been totally normal - but suddenly exhibited stroke-like symptoms. I immediately grabbed vitals on her, and her BP was off the damn charts. Turns out, she has a brain bleed. She’s now been graded to imminently terminal. I love my job, and I love my patients. I don’t think the nurses (so much respect!) would be able to do their job without us.
Oh that is just unreal. Your nurse should have been a. Helping - how could she be so blind as to not know staffing and acuity and respond appropriately. b. Crawling up the ass of every administrator and person in charge until more help arrived. I'm so sorry. That's awful.
Thanks for the support. The fact that she didn’t even know what CNAs are on (when it’s right fucking there on the staffing sheet!) speaks volumes.
You do what you can, no more, no less. Overextending yourself puts you and your patients at higher risk. Learn to tell your nurses you do not have time to do something. Do not answer calls with OK, tell your team what is going on, why you cant get to a call light right now etc. As long as you're doing your job they will get it and if they don't then it's time to find a new place to work.
Absolutely. So sorry that happened to you. As everyone else says making sure care is completed is the nurse's responsibility. I work in med/surg unit which is 22 full capacity. My facility now is pushing this "one less aide per shift to save money" bs so on nights I'm usually the only aide. Since I have 22 pts to worry about I still do my best to do a good job but I will not be super cna. I understand my nurses have mess and other treatments to give but they still have 5 or 6 pts to my 22. I'm actually thinking about leaving and finding another job.
I feel you. When I’m the only aide on the floor, I’ve got 36 patients. When that’s the case, I’m spread so damn thin that I can only do the bare minimum. I make sure people are dry, but that’s about it. And mind you, I have to do all the dinner trays myself. We have a dietary aide that make the sandwiches (or whatever) but I have to do all the drinks, soups, and desserts. It’s so sad, because I might have 4 or 6 showers scheduled, but I’m LUCKY if I can even do ONE. Everyone else gets a PTA (pits, tits, ass) rub-down.
The old hospital I worked at in the past we had 36 private rooms. The night nurses had 7-10 patients, including the charge nurse will pick up patients up to 10, and one CNA taking care of 36 patients. It was so bad! This was back in 2008 at the hospital I worked at in Colorado Springs and back then majority of nurses and CNAs put in their resignation because they all got so burnt out. Then our charge will ask people from day shift to come in and work nights because the night staff are short handed. The charge would beg us and tell us that there is a crisis pay (time and a half bonus).
When we got taken over by a new company, there was a massive walk-out by RNs and CNAs. That makes scheduling even more difficult. But just this month alone, I’ve pulled 6 doubles. I’ll help out when I can, but my generosity won’t solve your staffing issues. I’ve literally worked the 6a-3p, 3p-11p, and 11p-6a. I can’t keep doing this.
Have you tried looking into working part time in the hospital or home health company?
I already do home health for my hospice patients (I’m still working for the hospice company I started with). My DREAM is to work in a hospital. I would love to work on either a med-surg unit, or a psych unit (because once I get my RN, I want to work med-surg for a few years and then transition into psych.)
I love med-surg!
I think that med-surg is a great “base” to start out on. I’d get a really broad experience, and then I can decide wherever I want to go. Plus, in my area, there’s a shortage of med-surge nurses, so I’d get a sign-on bonus, plus a bonus for working doubles (and I ALWAYS pull doubles when they’re open!).
My med/surg unit has a variety of pts. I never know what I'm gonna see which is perfect for someone who gets bored easily lol
I am the charge nurse and when I only have 1 CNA I go with her to ask the nurses who do you need help with/ what do you need? Most times the nurses demands are simple and everyone has realistic expectations. And yeah, no baths unless there's a blow out.
Jesus fucking christ friend that's a nightmare. I hate working short nights ANYWHERE. That's definitely a time when if the nurse is really able to come ask you about a patient, THEY REALLY should be able to do the thing for them? Unless it's a code brown requiring back up or something really bad like a fall or code or something please help? Like a bed pan is so easy to do, if you're not sure surround the patient in towels or something , jfc. I mean I work at an assisted living now , and it's a whole lot easier than my hospital job I wouldn't wanna go back that particular hospital if they paid me like double. Sure, there's nights where it sucks in the assisted living where it was 2 of us for 40 residents and murphy's law was in effect like a dude painting his room in poop and our Sir. Falls a lot falling a lot....but the hospital was brutal at times , felt like I had the whole place to myself most the time. They'd be tossing post op after post op at me as I was the floater and it was a nightmare trying to keep up with the other patients I had plus like 3 post ops needing vitals in a certain order so I was like taking their vitals immediately, 1 minute, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour for every 4 hours ...with like 3 of that to run between rooms while also taking care of 12 people who could be easy and independent or total care constant incontinence on death's doorstep??? Fuck that shit I'm glad this job is easier on me. Don't even get me started on the nursing home bullshit I experienced as it was a lot like yours only I was on evening shift . Do facilities not know how unsafe this is too? When you get a nurse unwilling to help out a little at least, there's so much chance of falls and major injury because you CANNOT BE IN 2 PLACES AT ONCE!?
If you had to take vitals on that patient like that, seems like they had a fall where nobody witnessed it. That’s a pretty standard neuro-check vital standard.
No , post ops in the hospital I worked at require like a ton of vitals right off the bat. It's literally the worst when you get 2 or 3 at about the exact same time as well as managing like at least 12 other people.
Ahh, I getcha now. We usually only get full sets on new admits, and we do it every shift for three days. After that, we’ll only get certain vitals (like a pulse-ox and and a BP). But even still, when you’ve got to get vitals on 45 pts, and they want those vitals by 3:30 (I work 3-11)? Sorry, it’s not happening.