However, at work, in nursing, they are fast becoming a nuance. I see many nurses and aides who constantly check their cells for messages; or who are texting someone. Right in the middle of patient care! Or a residents’ mealtime!

Message to CNA’s:
Cell phones no longer interfere with most medical equipment. This is no excuse to use them while we are working. Surely any message can wait until a break. Nothing is more aggravating than watching your co-worker drop everything they’re doing to TEXT someone. Or to check a call. Not only is this aggravating, it’s very unprofessional.

Message to management:
What is YOUR policy on this? Where I work we are not allowed to carry our cells with us on the units. Equipment problems are not the stated reason either. Rather, common courtesy and professionalism are cited. Cell phones take time and attention away from resident care; residents and co workers perceive the use of cell phones during care as rude (IT IS!). Staff are allowed to use their cells on their breaks only, and in the break room only- not in patient care areas.

Related posts:

1. ASIDES: Making Meals Resident Centered
2. ASIDES: What Not To Wear At Work
3. ASIDES: Answering Phones

If you’re a smoker, you’ll want to read this article. If you’re not, you should still read this.

At work smokers take their breaks and usually light up. Having that cigarette often relaxes us and keeps us even keeled. Many facilities are now smoke free- no smoking on the actual grounds of the property or within certain distances from the buildings. BUT most allow staff to smoke inside their vehicles. This is a privilege and not a right. Be grateful when you can.

One thing is noticed often by smokers and non smokers alike: After you have smoked, YOU SMELL like cigarettes. It’s the natural course of events here. The smell gets in your hair, your uniform, your skin. And your breath. It’s not a nice thing to smell.

Do yourself and everyone else a favor: Clean up after a smoke…when you come back inside, WASH your hands first of all. Then brush your teeth or at least use some mints or gum. Some aides I know also do a little more: They use the hand gels to help rid their body of the scent. How? They simply rub the gel in their hands and before it dries they quickly rub it all over their arms, neck and uniform top. It works wonders. One aide actually briefly runs her gel soaked fingers through her hair as well.

Other aides wash up and then use a lotion with a light scent, to cover up the odor. At a local nursing home down the road from me the staff use the unscented Febreeze-like spray over themselves- this is probably the best thing I have seen yet, that really works.

Residents and patients can get nauseated when they smell cigarette odors. Others may become agitated because they WANT to smoke but cannot. Either way, it’s gross and no one likes the smell. So be considerate of others.

Related posts:

1. ASIDES: Making Meals Resident Centered
2. ASIDES: What Not To Wear At Work
3. ASIDES: Answering Phones

It would seen pretty simple- at work the phone rings as you’re walking by the nurse station. The unit secretary isn’t there. You answer it. You’re polite and take messages, right?

Let’s have a better look at this. When the phone rings we should make every effort to answer it as soon as possible. This doesn’t mean we get up and leave whatever it is we are doing at the moment. It does mean, if we’re close to the phone and NOT busy with resident duties we answer it.

A good greeting goes a long way when it comes to phone calls. It shows respect and dignity towards the caller.
When taking a call, take a deep breath AND SMILE before picking up the phone. The smile will come across to the caller.

“Hello –ABC Unit, this is Suzy speaking. How can I help you?”
Such a simple sentence. Yet a lot of information is shared with the caller.

The unit is identified.
The name of the staff answering the phone is known.
And an offer to help is made.

Many times the call is for a nurse who is often busy and not anywhere near the phone. Instead of running all over the unit to locate the nurse, and keeping the caller on hold, or waiting, take a message. Ask who is calling; a phone number where they can be reached, and ask for a simple description of what the caller needs/wants.

I don’t waste my time looking for people who get calls. No matter what I always run into them eventually and usually within the hour of a call. Depending upon the policy of your employer, you may simply leave a note near the phone with calls received and it is up to staff to check. At my work we have a notebook next to the phone where messages are recorded, and it is UP to EVERY staff to check this log for calls, INCLUDING the nurses. No one runs around looking for anyone.

There are times though, when a call is very important. Anytime a call is from a spouse, a child, a babysitter, a school, a hospital or parent of a staff, we should take a message and LOOK for and relay the message to the staff. Usually these calls are of an emergency nature. Every effort must be made to get the message to the staff who the call was for. It is up to management to vet out habitual family calls during work hours that are petty and non-emergency in nature. At the time these calls come in however, each of us cannot decipher this.

Related posts:

1. ASIDES: Making Meals Resident Centered
2. ASIDES: What Not To Wear At Work

Our appearance is important in how we are perceived. When we dress appropriately, people respect us more.
Lately I’ve seen some aides come to work looking like they’ve been run over by a truck.

Wrinkled and stained scrubs might be ok to wear around the house, but please don’t wear them to work.

Thread born, tattered and ripped uniforms are another pet peeve…they present an image of laziness. Really old and faded scrubs also come across as tacky.

Scrubs can last for years with proper care and handling. Some of th newer materials are really easy to care for- wash, dry and wear…There’s no need to iron uniforms but ALL scrubs need to be FOLDED after being dried. Folding them while they are still warm keeps the wrinkles away. It’s always a very good idea to have an extra set of scrubs with you…I keep a set in my car; one never knows when an accidental spill or other event will happen, that requires a change of clothes. Better to be safe than sorry.

Old sneakers are another image buster. And do consider that these shoes probably have an odor as well, that others can smell. When you have newer shoes, spraying them daily with Febreze or a similar product works wonders to keep these odors from ever forming. Lysol even works well. Clean your shoes, sneakers too- with a damp cloth to remove stains.

Keep your hair neat. Wild hairdos just look unprofessional in our work. Make sure your hair is clean too! Greasy slick hair is nasty to look at. And very few patients/residents want your hair in their face or over any other part of their body as you do personal care. The other day I witnessed an aides’ beautiful hair fall into a brief full of feces. The hair wasn’t pulled up. It was GROSS.

Scents? Nope. Don’t wear perfume to work. Many patients/residents have super sensitive smell and these odors can nauseate them.

And one final thing: Keep the makeup off as much as possible. It runs. It makes you look like a clown. Even the mascaras that promise 12 hours of wear…smudge under your eyes and make you look more tired than you probably already are. The work we do involves a lot of running around, bathing, showering activities…perfect situations for make up to melt off our faces.

Related posts:

1. ASIDES: Making Meals Resident Centered

This is the first of a new series, “ASIDES”, we’re producing here. These will be short and sweet posts about actions every CNA can take to be more resident centered.

Meal times are not gossip hours.

At work the other day I picked up on a trend I have seen a lot of lately: During resident meals, the CNA’s chit chat about their own personal lives with other aides. I overheard an aide bragging about how drunk she got at a party over the previous weekend.

These things should never happen. CNA’s have breaks for this type of banter. When they are with the residents, it’s never appropriate to discuss personal problems or share daily briefings and updates about recent events in their lives. The resident is the focus of meals. The CNA’s should strive to make meals as resident centered as possible. Meal times are social times. We want to keep it light and relatively fun.

When we’re serving up meals, ask the residents if they want condiments such as salt, pepper, margarine/butter (if allowed); ask what they prefer to drink, and provide it . Don’t just cut up the food and slap the plate down in front of them. For residents who need assistance with eating, CNA’s should sit down next to residents, not stand. Food should be offered in a normal manner: A couple bites of scrambled eggs, then toast, then a drink…then eggs, and so on. Pureed foods should never be mixed. When offering drinks, don’t allow much to drool out. Be very aware of dignity and respect. Have plenty of napkins ready. Don’t treat the resident like a baby.

Meal time discussions should happen. Current events, the weather, the up coming holiday are good topics. Sometimes background music is appropriate. Sometimes diminished lighting can create a warmer ambiance for the meal. Find out what works for each group of residents. The goal of the CNA is make meals as enjoyable and stress free as possible.

Related posts:

1. Survey Lessons: Resident Dignity and CNA’s

It’s been said that anger is a response to situations that are not to our liking. Anger is common in nursing homes, and is very common among CNA’s who feel overwhelmed with their work loads. Anger is a choice we make when dealing with people and circumstances we don’t like. Remember that.

Are you letting anger rule your life??

Anger comes out in three ways:
Outward expressions of anger include yelling, screaming or violence, and even less threatening approaches like sarcasm.

Inward expressions include feelings like seething, biting your tongue, or suppressing angry feelings.

The third way to express anger is control and channel it into more acceptable methods of expression.

Who hasn’t experienced any or all of the above feelings and thoughts? I have.

Pre-Anger Episodes are often Physically Felt
That momentary flash of feeling hot, or the quick upset stomach or headache… That feeling like you’ve just been hit. Normal feelings we feel right before the emotional reaction of anger is thought of. These are normal and if we feel them know that a period of anger could pop up very soon.

Anger is a choice! Always remember that.
No one can really “make us mad;” we allow others to make us angry. So if we are choosing anger, then we also have the ability to choose another response. Taking responsibility for choosing to express anger in unhealthy ways is an important step in learning to make other choices.

Know what SETS you off!
At work this might include learning that a peer has called out (for the 7th time in three weeks); the nurse requests another set of VS (at two minutes before quit time); you work through your break because of staffing issues…and so on. Keep mental notes of your triggers for a couple weeks or better, keep written notes. Log it all and look for patterns. You’ll learn a lot.

Figure out alternatives To How YOU react to YOUR ANGER…
Once you know what will set off your anger modes, think about ways to divert the anger reaction. For some this might be deep breathing; for others it might include a quick walk away from the situation; I know an aide who simply smiles every time she feels herself growing angry. She tells me the act of smiling removes the emotion of anger instantly. Other people say thinking about their children or friends or some other non work situation helps. Find what works for you and learn to USE it to check your anger.

The benefits of managing anger are very good: You feel better about yourself and have more confidence; your co workers will respect you MUCH more and will often model you’re behavior and skill; people will like to be around you…since you’re the calm and cool and collected person! Who wants to be around bitter, miserable and hot headed people all the time?

You will also physically feel better- it takes a lot out of us to be angry. Anger and stress go hand in hand- both of these can lead to physical problems. No one wants this. Drop the anger response and see what else you can do in those situations. You’ll be a better person if you do.

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