Thursday, September 20, 2007
CNA vs. nurse
I've had an interesting experience at work in the last week - I worked two shifts masquerading as a CNA rather than my usual team-nursing nurse tech role. (Why would I do such a thing? One day I got called in because of a scheduling mix-up, and I was available so I went, and the other time was because I'd agreed to cover a CNA who needed a day off.) At my hospital, CNAs are responsible for about 8 or 9 patients, and take care of the basic caregiving stuff such as: checking vital signs, bathing, changing beds, ordering meals if patients need help, helping patients eat if necessary, toileting, monitoring intake and output, refilling water pitchers, emptying catheter bags and wound drains, toting meal trays to the tray return cart, taking out laundry bags, and answering call lights (which ends with, "I'll tell your nurse" about 50% of the time). Okay, so since I usually do primary care for my own patients, I do all that stuff on a usual day, but not for 8 patients!
Things that I didn't have to worry about as a CNA were: attending report, passing meds, assessing pain, troubleshooting IVs, talking to doctors, or documentation.
One of the RNs who precepted me earlier this summer asked me which I thought was harder - the CNA role or the nurse role. I actually hesitated quite a while to think it over - and I'm still not sure. I felt busier as a CNA, because I had to see to the needs of so many different people. But I felt like I was much more superficially involved with each patient - I didn't even know what many of their diagnoses were, and I did no followup whatsoever on their plans of care. I just covered the basics and passed the buck for anything else to the nurse. I actually found that deeply unsatisfying, because I wanted to know what was going on with the patients. Were they getting better? Worse? Would they be discharged tomorrow? Were they getting medicines that might be causing unpleasant side effects?
I think this means that I am thinking like a nurse. This is a good thing.
Things that I didn't have to worry about as a CNA were: attending report, passing meds, assessing pain, troubleshooting IVs, talking to doctors, or documentation.
One of the RNs who precepted me earlier this summer asked me which I thought was harder - the CNA role or the nurse role. I actually hesitated quite a while to think it over - and I'm still not sure. I felt busier as a CNA, because I had to see to the needs of so many different people. But I felt like I was much more superficially involved with each patient - I didn't even know what many of their diagnoses were, and I did no followup whatsoever on their plans of care. I just covered the basics and passed the buck for anything else to the nurse. I actually found that deeply unsatisfying, because I wanted to know what was going on with the patients. Were they getting better? Worse? Would they be discharged tomorrow? Were they getting medicines that might be causing unpleasant side effects?
I think this means that I am thinking like a nurse. This is a good thing.
Labels: nursing
