problems with CNA's/PCA's

[MISS TRICE-STNA]

Well I'm STNA and I am a hard worker, I don't go to work to just sit around and be lazy. I know and I've seen exactly what you nurses are talking about you get paid to do a job not talk on the phone read the paper and BS the shift. Nurses put up with a lot and I just want you to know that not all aides work this way. Where I worked we had aides telling the RN supervisor what they weren't going to do.The aides ran our unit,it was sad. So please don't bash all of us because I care about what I do and that makes the difference!!!:luck:

[Danielsa3]

I am a STNA and i know what you are talking about. I am a hard worker and i take my work seriously, even picking up other people's slack. There are some aides that sit around all day and eat and drink and text on their phones. It is a huge fight every time a patient turns their light on for something, its like they have to play rock-paper-scissors to see who is going to go down there. And getting someone to help you with something? Its impossible. I feel for all you nurses who are going through that. I am currently in nursing school so i agree with the quote that all the good STNA's are in nursing school (well not all but most i guess) or thats what it seemed at the nursing home i worked at.

I am really enjoying this site... its great to get on here and chat about things that you are interested in!

[cougarnurse]

I have lit fires under butts by saying "hey so and so...come and help me move Mr/Mrs whomever." I look 'em straight in the eye, too. Don't have to do that often, as I am known for that! I figure it's everyone's job.

[socute01]

I am a Tech in an ICU and step down unit. I undestand what you are saying, but I have had nurses hunt me down while I am eating lunch to tell me that a patient with GI Bleed has pooed the bed.
I have also had nurses tell me to go give thier patients meds too. Ofcourse I refused.
Or walk out of a room to find me in the middle of cleaning another patient up, and tell me to walk another patient to the bathroom.
And I have seen nurses throw a fit because they had to put a magazine down to go give a patient pain med.
So I have seen just as many lazy nurses.
It doesn't make either right.
Don't blame the profession blame the person!

[amberdouglas]

As a traveler I have worked with some great techs and some horrible techs. My last assignment their was a tech there named Teva, she was GREAT, a year ago I was a hospital where the tech I worked with actually watched a patient FALL and her response instaed of trying to catch him or assist him to the floor, was she just clocked in and hadn't hung up her coat yet! People are differant as much as places are differant, but I have learned from experience that some of the more difficult people to work with respond alot more if you treat them with the respect they deserve and not like they are just "the aide." Sometimes people just get burnt out, and being a nursing assistant is one of the most thankless jobs in the world, and just being told thank you can mean a whole lot to people.

[Beaches]

I have worked with some excellent aides that do their jobs well, however if you ask them to re-prioritize patient care and do one patient's care before the one that is still asleep, they get their panties in a wad. Some aides have been straight up beligerent. If you notify the manager, the aides will make your life a living hell and patient care only suffers at that point. I don't have time for petty crap like that. Yep, I may be sitting at the desk - but I will be charting, taking off orders, etc. Nor have I ever refused to help my fellow staff members with a difficult bath, answer a call light, take a patient to the bathroom, or discharge a patient to the front door. It is a rare day that I would even have the time to read a magazine, play on the computer, and rarely do I have a personal phone call. I'm the one still charting way after my CNA's have left trying to figure out where the hell my I & O sheets went. I do agree, there are some nurses that seem to have a lot of free time and often pull rank, but take a look at their charting and it stinks too. It takes a cohesive staff to make it thru a busy day.

[cougarnurse]

I sometimes wonder if it could be a personality conflict, too.

[strawberyheelz]

I definitely understand this subject. I always seem to end up with at least one CNA who is lazy. The one I'm speaking about now thinks that she is supposed to come to work to get her sleep and get a paycheck. She gets upset when the residents turn on the call lights all night long. I have to constantly remind her that she is there only because of them. And if they weren't incontinent etc. that she would not have a job. This is the main reason why I am tired of nursing homes. The DON knows about these problems with this and other CNA's like her but does absolutely nothing when you write them up. I feel like what is the point of writing them up then? Nothing is being done to correct it and find staff that appreciates the job. Don't get me wrong we have some excellent CNAs also. One is almost 75 and she is the best one in the building probably one of the best I've ever encountered. But unfortunately the bad apples come with the job.

[cougarnurse]

Part of the problem icould be unionization, strawberry. My facility had to go through 'channels' to get rid of an extremely lazy aide. Union wanted to 'see a pattern'. Then, she turned around and brought in a lawyer, with other complaints.... Big headache, but she's gone now.

[Robert F]

Just remember that quality control sampling is not effective in judging the overall merit of a profession. Just because a few individuals are lazy, this does not mean that the profession in itself is lazy. Remember the functionalist theory that you covered when in your sociology class? This is much the same. Each profession functions as an "Institution", a team effort in which all of us must work together for a common end.

I can just as easily think of as many lazy RN's as I can CNA's.
Wherever you go in this life, there will always be lazy individuals; whatever the profession, be it: RN, CNA, LPN, MA, MD, PA-C, MSN, BSN, DO, etc. We must stop judging an entire profession based on the actions of a few.

Think about it this way, if 1 in 10 CNA's are lazy, that means that 9 in 10 are not.