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[quote=Anonymous][quote=doodlebug]I was a nursing assistant for a few years out of high school. Thought I wanted to go to nursing school. I worked at 3 different places, and cared for hospice people dying of cancer (and other things), alzheimer patients, people in a persistent vegetative state who were kept alive due to tube feedings, short term patients who had just had surgery and needed a bit of therapy before heading home, head trauma patients (almost exclusively young men) etc. It is EXHAUSTING, even for a young person. Very few people notice how hard you work but absolutely notice when you've fallen short in some way.

You could easily have 8-12 patients (8 being a light load) of which half had to be bathed every day (everyone was bathed every other day except Sunday.) Everyone needed their vital signs. You had to track who ate what and when, mood, who pooped and peed and how much etc.

It was a big job with lots of heavy lifting, no benefits (heaven help you if you injure your back and can't afford to see a doctor. You could suffer the rest of your life.) Everyone things their mom/dad is the most important patient and deserves the majority of your time. They don't realize that once you account for all of the above, plus take time to wolf down some lunch at some point, change the sheets of everyone who had a shower etc you really only had about 10 min a day for each patient. If one family ties you up for 30 min, everyone else suffers. Unlike nurses, CNA's aren't allowed to stay late because they don't want to pay overtime, so you better figure out a way to get it all done.

That's definitely the most thankless job I've had. [/quote]

If nobody thanked you enough, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

I am a nurse now and I was a nursing assistant all through nursing school. It really was exhausting. My unit had 30 beds and usually 1, sometimes two of us to check vital signs every 4 hours, check blood sugars, bathe patients/change linens, record input/output, feed those who couldn't feed themselves, incontinence care, etc. I had no time to pee most days. 
Now being a nurse, it is still stressful and super busy, and I still have to do all of the above plus give meds, assess patients, call doctors, charting (a LOT of charting), etc. Which is why I appreciate my nursing assistants that much more. when we don't have one for the shift or when we have a lazy one, it makes our day SO much harder. We have a nursing assistant in my unit that I will schedule my work days around his schedule. He is awesome. I never have to ask him to do anything, he just does it all. He is professional, he is always busy and he does it all with a smile on his face. Patients love him and so do the nurses. I always make sure I thank him for everything he does, because he saves my behind every time he is there. [/quote]

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