Submitted by Cathy:
Washington just made a top 5 list and not in a good way. We have just been ranked the 2nd worst state in America for nursing home staffing shortages, with nearly 40% of our long term care facilities short-staffed.
Care workers in Washington like me who’ve been around for a long time are used to the conditions workers face in nursing homes. But for new CNAs coming into the system, we see them struggling.
They are coming in without the training they really need to feel confident to do the job. They are overwhelmed by the demands and challenges of helping so many residents who can’t care for themselves.
To put it bluntly, they get scared and they quit. They also find out they can get paid more and care for fewer people at a time if they leave long term care for a hospital job.
I’ve been working to support CNA’s in nursing homes for years now and the single biggest complaint they have is being overworked. When you are overworked, you are more stressed, you get injured, you get sick, you burn out. And nursing homes residents suffer.
You can’t give quality care to residents if the home isn’t putting enough staff on the floor to respond to their needs. Nursing home residents are there for a reason – they need help with just about every daily task of living – dressing, eating, toileting, and cleaning themselves.
It might be in your job description when you are hired: you are the shower aide – that’s all you do. Well, come to find out you actually have to do showers, plus dress and feed residents, and change soiled beds. The turnover of staff, and administrators, is through the roof. So that’s another factor that isn’t good for residents who need consistency of care, and staff who know them and their individual needs.
For CNA’s who’ve worked in the same facility for a long time, residents are like their family. They deserve good care. They deserve dignity and respect, and so do CNAs.
It’s high time CNAs bonded together to get what they deserve for doing one of the hardest, and most essential, jobs around.
So what do you think? Take this survey
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2 Responses
I’ve been a CNA at a local hospital for the last 2 years, but have been out on a workplace injury for over 16 months. I’ve been a CNA from hospice to travel home health to rehab and it makes me absolutely sick to see CNAs treated like revolving frontline infantry and paid low ball wages. Through my years, I’ve never seen a RN leave their position due to a back injury, yet they make triple my earnings because they can give pills. When I reached out to the union representing my area, they told me to call a lawyer. I couldn’t believe it! Had I been an RN, they probably would have come out swinging. Now, I have to find a new job (hopefully remaining in the medical field) that requires little to no lifting with ongoing back problems. This makes me absolutely sick!
We need better pay and better worker protections!