Bratty little bitches!!
Posted: 27 Jan 2016, 15:48
Well! I'm a couple of weeks into the new job and not certain, at all, that I like it! I'm now a clinical instructor for Nursing Fundamentals and am dealing with first-year nursing students (while still doing PRN at my "former" place of employment). On one hand, it's a GREAT time to get hold of nurslings before they learn some nasty bad habits from somebody else! On the other hand, it's irritating as f**k, because a few of these said nurslings have some seriously ill-conceived notions that, because they'll have an aide to do their "scut" work, they shouldn't *have* to learn the basics! Believe it or not, I even had one of these little snots say to me "I don't understand WHY we need to learn all of this. I'm not spending all of this money to learn how to do AIDE work!" Grrrrr! Did I have some news for her, and yes, she will, in the next few weeks, have to have one serious "attitude adjustment" if she hopes to pass through MY little section of the nursing program!
I explained the following things to her: first, that we nurses are capable of doing many things that our aides CANNOT (and are not qualified) to do. But, the most "basic" needs of our patients are NOT going to just "go away" because we have more technical "busywork" to do. This is why we NEED our aides and why, if we hope to survive as nurses, we need to RESPECT what they do, and to be capable of performing these "basics" ourselves! Yes, often, these poor folks ARE relegated to doing the "scut" work for us -- which is often difficult, back-breaking work like bathing confused, combative patients, transferring dependent patients from bed to chair and from chair to toilet, etc. It can also be "messy" work, like providing incontinent care, or fairly mindless (but necessary) work such as procuring vital signs, emptying catheter bags, emptying drains, making beds (often while the patient is still IN said bed!), emptying trash containers, etc. etc. BUT...these aides are working under OUR licenses, which means that WE are the ones who are legally responsible for whatever care is (or is not) provided by our aides. And, with that in mind, shame on us if we are NOT equally capable of doing such work ourselves! There is NO EARTHLY REASON whatsoever for us not to be just as capable as our CNAs of performing this so-called "aide" work. And, as I continued to explain to the spoiled brat who took me to task for trying to teach her how to do "aide" work -- in MANY nursing environments, one does not even HAVE an aide to dump on! That's right, people...in certain patient environments (critical care would be one), the nurse does EVERYTHING for his/her patient(s). This is what is known as "primary care" nursing. Also, there are times, even in an environment where aides do a majority of the "hands-on" care (such as the ECF environment), it often happens that one or more aides either call off for a given shift OR your facility has a shortage of aides to begin with due to ongoing staff turnover, etc. and the nurse has NO CHOICE but to "help" with this work him/herself! I put the word "help" in quotation marks because, even among my seasoned nurse colleagues, too many of them, while sitting upon their high horses, assume that they are "helping" their aide if they take a patient to the potty. WTF???!!??? As I indicated earlier, as the nurse, it'll be YOU who's responsible for whatever care your patients do or do not receive, and it is YOUR license which is on the line. With that in mind, it'll be YOU who'll be held accountable when your patient gets up to try to toilet him/herself and then, perhaps, falls and fractures a bone because your aide was in another patient room when the call light went off and YOU couldn't be bothered to answer it! Honestly, get a grip, people! Toileting a patient, feeding a patient, transferring a patient, changing his/her bed linens, providing incontinent care, obtaining vital signs, etc. are things which ALL nurses should be capable of performing...and we SHOULD be capable of performing these tasks just as well as (if not better than) the CNAs who are working under OUR supervision and under OUR licenses! These tasks are NOT "aide work," THEY ARE NURSING DUTIES!! And shame, SHAME on you if you believe that, because you've managed to be admitted into a nursing program, that you are somehow "above" performing these most basic of nursing tasks!!!
Some of these obnoxious little brats are in for a huge surprise, it appears! There is positively NO WAY that I'm going to even CONSIDER teaching such people invasive procedures (such as catheter insertion, injections, IV insertion, tube feedings, etc., let alone a MEDICATION pass) until they've managed to learn (and to become proficient in) the "basics" of nursing care. Lesson number one, for all you spoiled brats out there: you are NOT "helping" your aides when you grab a set of vital signs, take a patient to the toilet, get him/her a glass of ice water or make a patient's bed. Your aides are there to help YOU to do YOUR job!!! That's right, YOUR job! This means, that when the call lights are going off like popcorn, and every single aide on the unit is tied up in another patient room, it's time to get up off YOUR spoiled, lazy ass and to ANSWER some of those call lights, maybe TAKE a patient to the potty, help him/her into a more comfortable position, or to change his/her linens and clean him/her up if he/she has soiled him/herself. If you EVER think that you're somehow too "special" to have to actually put your hands on a patient -- guess what??!!?? There's no freaking WAY that you'll EVER pass my "fundamentals" class, which means that there's no WAY that you'll be able to go on to learn bigger (and supposedly "better"), things. Trust me when I tell you that a good nurse does NOT dump on his/her aides, nor does he/she EVER neglect the "basics" of patient care....grrrrrrr!!!
I explained the following things to her: first, that we nurses are capable of doing many things that our aides CANNOT (and are not qualified) to do. But, the most "basic" needs of our patients are NOT going to just "go away" because we have more technical "busywork" to do. This is why we NEED our aides and why, if we hope to survive as nurses, we need to RESPECT what they do, and to be capable of performing these "basics" ourselves! Yes, often, these poor folks ARE relegated to doing the "scut" work for us -- which is often difficult, back-breaking work like bathing confused, combative patients, transferring dependent patients from bed to chair and from chair to toilet, etc. It can also be "messy" work, like providing incontinent care, or fairly mindless (but necessary) work such as procuring vital signs, emptying catheter bags, emptying drains, making beds (often while the patient is still IN said bed!), emptying trash containers, etc. etc. BUT...these aides are working under OUR licenses, which means that WE are the ones who are legally responsible for whatever care is (or is not) provided by our aides. And, with that in mind, shame on us if we are NOT equally capable of doing such work ourselves! There is NO EARTHLY REASON whatsoever for us not to be just as capable as our CNAs of performing this so-called "aide" work. And, as I continued to explain to the spoiled brat who took me to task for trying to teach her how to do "aide" work -- in MANY nursing environments, one does not even HAVE an aide to dump on! That's right, people...in certain patient environments (critical care would be one), the nurse does EVERYTHING for his/her patient(s). This is what is known as "primary care" nursing. Also, there are times, even in an environment where aides do a majority of the "hands-on" care (such as the ECF environment), it often happens that one or more aides either call off for a given shift OR your facility has a shortage of aides to begin with due to ongoing staff turnover, etc. and the nurse has NO CHOICE but to "help" with this work him/herself! I put the word "help" in quotation marks because, even among my seasoned nurse colleagues, too many of them, while sitting upon their high horses, assume that they are "helping" their aide if they take a patient to the potty. WTF???!!??? As I indicated earlier, as the nurse, it'll be YOU who's responsible for whatever care your patients do or do not receive, and it is YOUR license which is on the line. With that in mind, it'll be YOU who'll be held accountable when your patient gets up to try to toilet him/herself and then, perhaps, falls and fractures a bone because your aide was in another patient room when the call light went off and YOU couldn't be bothered to answer it! Honestly, get a grip, people! Toileting a patient, feeding a patient, transferring a patient, changing his/her bed linens, providing incontinent care, obtaining vital signs, etc. are things which ALL nurses should be capable of performing...and we SHOULD be capable of performing these tasks just as well as (if not better than) the CNAs who are working under OUR supervision and under OUR licenses! These tasks are NOT "aide work," THEY ARE NURSING DUTIES!! And shame, SHAME on you if you believe that, because you've managed to be admitted into a nursing program, that you are somehow "above" performing these most basic of nursing tasks!!!
Some of these obnoxious little brats are in for a huge surprise, it appears! There is positively NO WAY that I'm going to even CONSIDER teaching such people invasive procedures (such as catheter insertion, injections, IV insertion, tube feedings, etc., let alone a MEDICATION pass) until they've managed to learn (and to become proficient in) the "basics" of nursing care. Lesson number one, for all you spoiled brats out there: you are NOT "helping" your aides when you grab a set of vital signs, take a patient to the toilet, get him/her a glass of ice water or make a patient's bed. Your aides are there to help YOU to do YOUR job!!! That's right, YOUR job! This means, that when the call lights are going off like popcorn, and every single aide on the unit is tied up in another patient room, it's time to get up off YOUR spoiled, lazy ass and to ANSWER some of those call lights, maybe TAKE a patient to the potty, help him/her into a more comfortable position, or to change his/her linens and clean him/her up if he/she has soiled him/herself. If you EVER think that you're somehow too "special" to have to actually put your hands on a patient -- guess what??!!?? There's no freaking WAY that you'll EVER pass my "fundamentals" class, which means that there's no WAY that you'll be able to go on to learn bigger (and supposedly "better"), things. Trust me when I tell you that a good nurse does NOT dump on his/her aides, nor does he/she EVER neglect the "basics" of patient care....grrrrrrr!!!