Certified Nurse's Aide: A Job Requiring Passion in the Workplace

I have worked in nursing homes for the past ten years as a certified nurse's assistant, and one thing I have learned is you have to have a huge degree of passion for the people you take care of in order to deal with issues that crop into work as a certified nurse's aide.

At times three or four certified nurse's assistants are scheduled for forty-two residents per a first shift, this does not should like much but when you realize the work entailed it is overwhelming. Depending on the level of care involved, it is feeding, changing, pacifying, and assisting the residents who are assigned to you in many ways during your shift.

For a second shift the number of certified nurse's assistants often goes down to two or three for the same workload of residents, and you rarely are able to get off the unit for a break let alone get a minute to yourself.

When third shift rolls around two or sometimes, just a certified nurse's assistant is responsible for those residents. Granted a third shift certified nurse's assistant is not feeding on the scale that the other two shifts are but they still must feed the diabetics to make sure they do not slip into a diabetic coma during the night.

A third shift certified nurse's assistant is required by law to change attends of those residents who require it every two hours, or turn those residents who have a tendency to have skin breakdowns. Imagine turning half of those residents on your floor by your self because you are working short once more.

Any given shift is hard for a certified nurse's assistant who is working short and without passion for the job, it simply cane not be done. You really need to like people, and have that passion within your self to be a certified nurse's assistant, or you just cannot do your job. Is there any other job in the world where you are insulted but those you help on a daily basis for every basic need?

As certified nurse's assistant washing, dressing, feeding, changing, or otherwise assisting those residents assigned to us, and sometimes residents are mean and do not understand why we hurried. We aides are scratched, have hair pulled, and we are insulted daily by some residents, we just carry on our jobs with a smile because we have the passion it takes to do the job.

It is not a secret within the United States to any certified nurse's assistant that staffing shortages are rampant at every nursing home. A certified nurse's assistant often has many responsibilities for several residents per shift. Usually that aide is doing more then his or her fair share because of staffing shortages within the nursing home without passion on behalf of the aide.

Passion with our day-to-day jobs is something most people lack simply because after awhile our jobs become just another part of the routine. For those people working inside the medical fields, jobs such certified nurse's assistant have to include some passion or people simply would not perform them.