A CNA's sacrifice

As CNAs, we give up a lot of things for the people we serve. Our job is physically and emotionally taxing, and not many people see how much it is. In a given eight hour shift, this is a typical schedule:

2pm-Receive report on how the day has gone, any falls that have occurred, etc.

2:30pm-Start vitals on your team (group of patients), as well as answer any call lights, Q2 checks (changing briefs of patients who are incontinent or rotating position of patients who have bed sores, etc.), and handling any emergencies that could arise

5pm ish- Dinner (you are taking note of how much patients eat and recording it for your charting later)

6pm-start rotating breaks for staff members while maintaining sanity on the floor

8pm-snack time. Your showers should be done or getting done by this point, help tag team any patient who is an Extensive 2 or more lift (meaning they cannot be transferred or done without at least two aides)

9pm-Your I&Os need to get to the nurse, (measuring how much certain patients drank and urinated), do Q2s before graves come in, chart what happened on shift, and maintain the floor

10pm-Report to graves, finish charting, stop only for emergencies

Nurses aides put up with a lot of crap (haha sorry, unintentional pun) during any given work day. Patients often lash out, whether verbally or physically, because of pain or frustration. They will try to argue their way out of showers, toileting, therapy, or anything else you are asking them to do. We have to ensure that they are eating, drinking, and toileting properly, or we have to report to the nurse and start helpful measures. Patients have purposely urinated on me, sprayed me with the shower hose, collapsed in my arms, you name it, I’ve seen it. I’ve been called every name in the book, sexually harassed (once a patient attempted to pull me into his bed), sworn at, spit on, slapped, kicked, etc.

(P. S. My birthday is coming up, and I want this shirt!) hahaha

And then there are the families of the patients. They are a mess all their own, and sometimes more of a pain than the patient, as they insist that we aren’t doing our best for their family member, get in the way while we try to run tests or otherwise care for the patient, or nag insistently over something we have no control over. I had a family member once who called up my supervisor screaming that I had walked out when her mom couldn’t breathe and asked for her oxygen. That could have been true, I couldn’t tell what she wanted—the patient spoke only Spanish, and the daughter who was supposed to translate was the one who had gone home and then gotten the call from her mother.

We miss holidays with our families to care for yours, I missed Christmas with mine; we wait to go to the bathroom until we have taken everyone on our team (at least once!); we miss meals; we get dehydrated (I’ve passed out on a shift before because of that); we go home and our legs are swollen and ache because we have been standing for so long; we risk communicable diseases, not only for ourselves but our families; the list goes on and on.

So the next time you see a CNA, recognize that they go through so much to take care of others, that often they sacrifice their own care. Hold back that biting word, and give that aide a smile, heaven knows they need it.