What is your nursing “Hot Take”. I’ll start:

“Nursing in general is a toxic job, but the worst people are usually that old generation CNAs/LPNs/RNs”

Go ahead!

i had i'd say roughly 30-40 residents i had to change. it's absolutely ridiculous. i'm on my break rn and im not gonna have enough time to get the other hall since i just finished my normal hall. i'm coming up on 6 months here and im starting to look for a hospital position. i can't do this shit, so many callouts and i can never help when im asked to work extra because i desperately need the two days off i get so i can recharge. god. please tell me it'll be better once i get into a hospital. i chatted with one of the nurses briefly and she agreed i should get out as soon as possible

I'm nonbinary and currently in the process of becoming a CNA and I've started to wonder about how I'd potentially deal with my identity once I start working. Currently in my course I haven't told anyone about my preferred name or pronouns since I just don't feel like correcting people especially since we are only going to know each other for a short amount of time, but I would like to do so once I do hopefully land a job as I'd be obviously spending more time with the people around me then. I just worry if it's even worth it, I mean I have no problem telling potential coworkers and what not but everytime I think about this I just don't see it going well when it comes to residents who may not be as accepting. So i'm curious for those who are out at work how it's been going for them, are your coworkers respectful and do you ever tell your residents your preferred pronouns?  I know this can heavily depend on where you live/work and just in general how respectful the people around you are but I thought I'd ask anyway and see what people's experiences have been. Also ik a similar question was posted a while back but I wanted to see how people's experiences have been lately.

okay y’all, so i’ve been out of my classes for roughly two weeks, and last night was only my sixth shift of being a nurse aide. this morning the cna (an older woman, if it matters) for my hall came and got me before i could leave. she asked some questions, which i understand, but then she made me go into one of the resident’s rooms with her and made me change them again even though i told her i just had and that she wasn’t wet, nor had she pooped. and of course, as i’m changing her it becomes apparent that she is, in fact, not soiled at all. all the cna says to me after that is: “well, you always need to have help with this resident” even though i did have help and had done everything perfectly. and now i’m sitting here on my way home and i’m thinking about what else she might pick apart.

I've been a CNA for just over 10 years in the state of NY. It hasn't been easy in the slightest. Over the last 5 years I've been struggling with diagnosis of Autism/OCD/ADHD. I've been bullied a lot throughout my career, since the very beginning. I am the kind of aid that appears like a "try hard". Tries to be nice too much, work too hard, and always is super hard for the residents. I know that the other aides don't always like me for it, but I can't try less for the residents or be less kind. It's never been in my nature. I've spent a few months away from work after some really toxic experiences with coworkers/supervisors just being straight up awful humans. After getting myself back in the saddle I realize I'm absolutely terrified of my coworkers. I got a new job and everything. I don't know how to navigate these spaces anymore. I feel like aides just love to hate each other and I don't understand this type of distrust? Idk I'm losing my train of thought and had to put this down. I hoped someone would talk back about it.

Hi guys, I kinda wanna just ask like, what is the quality of life working as a CNA compared to a job I currently have? For context, I am a server, I can never use the bathroom for almost the entire length of my 12 hour shifts. I have severe feet issues that cause me to limp at the end of my shifts and they do not allow me to sit down, at all. I also do not get breaks, I technically am given two fifteen minute breaks during my shift but I can never actually take them or I am told to stop sitting down and get back to work you know what I mean. I’m just looking for another opportunity to make a honest living where I’m not miserable or physically in pain while I pursue my education. I have pretty much always wanted to get into nursing, and since finding out about CNAs, I think I could actually get outta this shitty job and be more happy haha.

Edit: I will try to respond to everyone!

Long story as short as possible.

I'm a hospital CNA. Patient asked me to tell management that she really needs some specific cardiac test. I told management. Pt's RN finds out that I told management. RN tells me "not good" and becomes pissed at me for the rest of the day, to the point of telling me to "go" the moment she showed up during what was a potential rapid response (another patient, who was also assigned to this same RN, was reading ~83% O2 during a panic attack).

I later tried to talk with the RN about it and she said "I don't want to talk about it."

The thing is - I wasn't telling management that her patient (the one wanting the cardiac test) was calling her worthless and telling me about how she (the RN) forgot to give the pt a very important medication (which the pt reminded her of and received). I was simply telling management that she wanted this cardiac test or threatened to leave AMA (like the patient asked me to).

I feel like if a patient asks me to tell management something within reason that's it's my duty to advocate for the patient, and tell management. In the past, unless the patient has specifically asked me to tell something to the charge nurse or management, I always just tell the RN when the pt wants something regarding their RN.

What's up with this situation? Have you ever encountered something like this? Any advice?

Hi guys!

I've been wanting to experience the ED for a little bit since I've been certified. Backstory! I started as a Med Surg and Telemetry PCT for a hospital then moved into PCT float Pool for a hospital. The only place I haven't been able to go is the ED.

I currently work in cardiology performing stress test procedures. (Recently started, facility EKG cert.). I've been applying to ED tech/ PCT ED positions with no luck :(. I have a month long phlebotomy training in Nov. I'm in the process of signing up for.

Any tips to get some interviews? I feel like my resume is decent. Do they all just want EMT certs?

Thank you!

I have been working in an assisted living facility for a few months, they also have a memory care unit & that’s mostly where I’m at. In the AL side almost 4/5 of the residents are high care levels. I picked up a shift the other day 6a-6p & when I got there they placed me on AL side and not memory care. I’ve only worked AL on night shift and even then it’s hard. I come in and I’m the only CNA scheduled for 56 residents with one nurse. I have 10 morning showers and I call the DON and tell her there’s no way I’ll be able to get all these showers done before breakfast (rule that you have to) she gets mad and says if everyone else can so can you. I start my first shower and the nurse calls me and tells me there’s 7 call lights going off. Like wtf do you want me to do I’m bathing someone rn. Whatever I finish the shower and start answering call lights. The second call light I answered had a blowout and as I’m changing her she digs in her depend and literally gets shit all over her hand then as I’m getting a baby wipe to wipe it off she grabs my ponytail. At this point I’m already stressed and now have feces in my pony tail. Mind you this lady is in AL if she has dementia she should be put in the memory care unit. I go and get the purple wipes and get as much poop as I can out of my hair but end up just taking my $500 extensions out because the smell was so terrible. I couldn’t leave because I’d be charged with abandonment. Anyways long story short when the don got there at 8:30 I told her I had to leave and shower then come back.. she freaked out on me pretty much saying since I’m the only cna I have to suck it up yap yap yap which I understand but idk why one of the cnas from memory care couldn’t come up and cover call lights (which I said that). Then she goes ahead and writes me up (let’s me leave for a 40 minute break), next day I get a call from HR stating I’m suspended for a week unpaid. wtf do I even do. I’ve been applying to other jobs but there’s no way I should’ve been suspended for that when i literally just used my break time to shower

At my job for NOC shift, we’re not allowed to wake the patients early to check or reposition them. We’re supposed to let them sleep. So we only change and reposition them once besides passing out ice water. I see other CNAs start changing residents at 5AM and finish all of them by 6:30AM so they can return the cart to the laundry lady who gets mad if we return it after that time. Well yesterday I got an assignment that I was unfamiliar with (because they keep jumping me around while other CNAs get a fixed assignment). And in my assignment, I basically had to go from one wing to another wing because it was just basically random rooms that other CNAs do not want.

For my assignment, I had 16 residents and 13 of them needed to be changed and repositioned. 5 of them are on g-tubes so I had to get the nurse to turn them off. Well I asked the nurse at 3AM after my break if she could please turn them off so I can start changing them and she tells me it’s too early. I told her my assignment is very heavy and I’m unfamiliar with these rooms and she’s like yeah but morning shift doesn’t change them right away so they’re just going to be sitting in their soaked briefs if you start changing them too soon. Well my thought process was since it literally take me at least 15 minutes to change someone because I have to wait for the water to get hot (we use towel and water), gather all my supplies (we don’t have a linen cart so we have to get it one at a time from the supplies)…not to mention my rooms are all over the place so I have to factor in the time to get there. Well the nurse starts turning off the gtube at 3:30AM and it turns out pretty much all of the patients couldn’t even assist in rolling so it’s very hard to change them. One of them was a 200lb+ man and he couldn’t even move his body because he was in pain. I’m a 150lb woman and I basically had to do my best to roll him myself. And you may ask, why did I not ask for any help?? Like we don’t do that here at all. When I was training with my preceptors they all tell me, try not to ask for help and try to just do it yourself because there’s not a lot of people during NOC anyways. Also I had like 2 patients (thankfully females) who kept throwing punches at me as I was changing them. Their grips were so hard they wouldn’t let me brief them up. Another man was soaked everywhere so I had to do a full bed change/gown change and that took a while for me as well. When I finished, it all took me a little after 6:30AM and of course the laundry lady got mad at me because she wants it returned latest 6:30AM.

I dont know if it’s just me but when I was training with my preceptors we didn’t have to change that many people?? Like they only had 6-7 incontinent patients. I’m the newest one here but they did this with a girl that I became close to who had to quit and she was getting like 10+ incontinent patients and would often finish late as well.

Am I just really slow or is it not normal to be assigned 10+ incontinent patients with a lot of total dependents?

I’m sure this question has been asked hundreds of times, but I’m not sifting through hundreds of posts to find the answers. 😂

I work weekends at a new facility, and I’m currently going through the “I’m new, so apparently everything that goes wrong is my fault” stage.
One of the employees (I’m not entirely sure what her title is because she works in therapy but isn’t licensed?) was caught calling me “retarded” and “a dumb bitch” over a situation that genuinely was not my fault.

For context, a resident who is nearly completely independent went to therapy without pants on. This resident gets herself up, gets herself dressed, and rarely needs assistance with anything. She usually isn’t even up that early. Instead of simply asking where the resident’s room and closet were so she could help resolve the situation, this employee threw a fit. Honestly, it felt like she was looking for a reason to start something.

There’s also a nurse on another hall who seems to have a problem with me. She’s called me lazy, despite the fact that I DON’T EVEN WORK ON HER HALL. She’s the one who sits behind the nurses station and watches TikTok . Or clocks in and GOES HOME for an hour. She has no firsthand knowledge of how I do my job, yet she’s targeted me on multiple occasions. I’ve been firm in response without being outright confrontational.
The problem is that the way I’m being talked about and spoken to is absolutely ridiculous. I understand being new means I have things to learn, and I’m perfectly willing to accept constructive criticism. What I’m not willing to accept is being insulted, talked down about, or treated like a punching bag because I’m the new girl. There’s a clear difference.

Leaving this facility this early isn’t an option for me, so I’m trying to figure out how to navigate this professionally without letting people walk all over me.
For those of you who have worked in LTC, SNF, or other healthcare facilities for a while: How do you handle the catty coworkers and workplace bullying without making yourself a target or getting caught up in unnecessary drama?

Do you address it directly? Document everything and go to management? Kill them with kindness? Set firm boundaries and keep it moving?
I know I can’t control how other people act, but I would appreciate some advice on how to protect myself, earn respect, and get through this stage without losing my mind. Because I am NOT used to this petty of drama especially in a workplace.

Hey there,

I got certified about two months ago and I’ve been applying pretty consistently since then. Any LTC facility that’s hiring, hospitals, I’ve even reached out to urgent cares and family practitioners just to get a job.

Any advice on additions to my resume or different facilities to apply to?

I’m almost done with my clinicals, and honestly it’s made me rethink if I even want to be an CNA. I’ve been a medical assistant and gave that up to take care of my grandma. I’ve always considered being a nurse and I believe that being a CNA would be the next best step for me. I’m not sure if it’s the facility I’m at, the school I went to, or the current CNA/Nurses that I deal with…. But I’m honestly starting to rethink it all. I haven’t felt this humiliated, depressed, or defeated in my life. I’m hoping that once I’m done and I’m able to move to better place things will get better, but part of me doesn’t even want to do it anymore.

CNA in long-term care. I’m having a lot of trouble pushing the linen carts / meal carts / wheelchairs around all day, and my back is killing me. Do you guys have the same issue? Which carts or equipment are the worst for you?

Can anyone give me literally any information about travel CNA jobs? Experience, companies, pay? Thanks!

Hello, I am a 20 F ; ive been working at a LTC facility for over a year.
For some background our facility, is one of the lowest rated in the county. It’s absolutely horrid. We never have any wipes or briefs, everyday our shift is getting blamed for things we didn’t to, and constantly watched on like we’re children (for some reason it’s really discouraging feeling like if I fuck up just a little bit I’m going to be in trouble, whenever one else can sleep and do what they want). I only make 19.50, I have on average 20-23 people every night whom are all totals but 4. I come in everyday and work my ass off. I am starting to become resentful and hateful towards people that have nothing to do with what I have going on.
I’ve started getting to the point where I don’t even want to be in healthcare anymore. I am trying not to give up so fast, because I know some of it is the facility but the other part is just the fact that being a cna..sucks😐. I am not sure what to do, I want to help people but I don’t want to go to school (at least for an extended time) and I want to feel compensated for the work I’m doing!

What is some advice that I could take or some other career I could do in healthcare before throwing in the towel.
(I’ve looked into getting my cma, but it’s just less stress with the same pay🤷🏽‍♀️)

Considering working overnights so I can go to school during the day. It balances better for me tbh. What’s it like and is it easier? I have autoimmune issues and I get fatigue/weakness during flares so im wondering if this will be easier on my body. I worked overnight for hotels before I love the schedule.

I started two weeks ago and it still feels like my body is adjusting. I’m already afraid I might eventually wreck my body doing this kind of work because I’m feeling some stiffness and soreness in places I’ve never felt before lol but I always try to be mindful of proper body mechanics. I foam roll and stretch after every shift. I still weight train and go to the gym, eat well, sleep well, etc. How can I properly maintain my body or is developing issues kinda inevitable :(

I work in hospice and makes me feel like crap that I work hard with my patients and make our company look good cause how well I do at my job..

I have to spend 45+ with each patient while my nurse only has to spend 15 minutes each and the nurse gets all the credit someone wants to sign on with our services. Im like I spend way more time with the patient and facility in one day then the nurse does in two weeks and i dont even get a good job

Im in the process of getting out of Healthcare because nurses get all the glory while aides make a measle 20 bucks hour.

This is my first job interview since I got certified, and I really want it to work out.

They did a phone screening with me first, and it went well, cause she immediately scheduled me to meet with the unit nurse manager. She said I would get a tour of the unit, but I don't know what else will happen.

I've heard that some interviews kinda test you by asking you about different scenarios. If this happened to you, can you give examples? Are there specific answers they are looking for? What else do they ask you?

What about dress code? It feels like it's too much to wear a blazer, especially since we'll be walking around the unit.

I am very new to healthcare overall and I feel really slow when it comes to my work. I also feel like I’m learning something new every single day. When did you guys start feeling more confident at your job?

hii! so i’m having a pretty rough day at work which makes me feel 10x as bad but, i am still fairly new to ltc (less than 6mos). there’s 9 assignments per shift at my job and i literally can only work 1 without asking for any help. is that a sign that the facility is too heavy? granted i am 5’2 120lbs but, when i do need help it’s for 2+/11 residents i have assigned.