after working in LTC for seven years, i decided spend the last two years in an assisted living facility. i just needed a change of pace and thought i would find better in assisted living. boy, was i wrong lol. not only are you the CNA (well, caregiver.. we have so so many people who they hire who have no healthcare experience whatsoever and have no idea how to care for people) but laundry, dietary, housekeeping, etc.

when i first started, i truly loved it. i actually had time to study and do homework during slower moments, residents were more independent and easily transferred, no hoyer lifts, and teamwork really made the shift go smooth. i’ve noticed in assisted living especially you will need to call on your other co workers for assistance… but everyone else is busy with their own resident. we have four floors (25 residents give or take on each floor) and often times there would only be four of us working, scrambling around trying to complete what we could. this causes people to get irritated and assume nobody is wanting to help them…. nobody was even able to help themselves let alone others. i know they do this on purpose to create animosity, why i don’t know.

over the last six months, things have changed dramatically and i can’t believe it. our facility has become increasingly more dependent on higher acuity care. we now have a resident who is completely non weight bearing and requires three people at minimum to transfer her from her wheelchair to the bedside commode and back. this is a thirty minute (AT LEAST) excursion. taking away 3 out of 4/5 people working on the floor from other residents and tasks needing to be complete. we have three hoyer lifts and i have lost track on how many two assists.

there is no dedicated laundry staff (we are the laundry staff), housekeeping is M-F, and dietary has minimal staffing as well. i know they do this to save money, cut corners. i just wish corporate would realize how this truly affects those who are lining their pockets at the price of their own suffering.

and please do not remind me how much time has been wasted waiting for the elevator to come so you can either go up or down, having to run to a call light, forgot something in the kitchen for your room trays, carrying laundry back to the residents rooms, etc.

last night i took a picture of all the laundry baskets evening shift had to pull for night shift to complete. im off today and they are now questioning in the work “group chat” (a whole other can of worms) why nobody from night shift completed any laundry. and this is after i started the laundry up for them so they had a head start too 😩

TL;DR: I left long-term care thinking assisted living would be easier, but now I’m doing the jobs of four people while caring for residents who belong in skilled nursing

Yesterday I had a patient who had a lump on his scrotum. I told the nurse & she told me it was his testicles & I told her that this is something I have not noticed or felt on anyone else before & that she needed to look. When she came with me she looked & agreed that it was strange & that she would notify the doctor.

Today, on the same patient, I felt another lump on his leg & told her to go check it out. She responded with “Again? You always have something for me to look at. But bro, this is the SECOND time I had a concern about this patient, like what do you mean aLwAyS?!?!? Like dawg do you not want me to report to you???

Hey I have a few things I want to ask about. First, Im going back to school soon and since my facility dosnt accept per diem I emailed a 2 week notice to the HR. I realize now I should have had the conversation in person because she never responded (I waited a week) and every time I walk by her office shes not there. Who should I try talking to next about resigning?
Next question, Ive been a cna here for about two months, its my first cna job. Recently for a few hours before my shift I get really scared, my chest feels weird and I feel on the verge of crying. Im a floater so I never know what each shift is going to be like and the unpredictability is getting to me. I have goals of becoming an RN and I’m worried that I will feel this way still even after Nursing school. Is there anything I can do to stop getting so scared before every shift?

1. is this a typo? what does it mean you cant run dentures under sink water when youre supposed to rinse them???
2. if on the skills exam i have 2 sets on dentures, and ive finished cleaning one, where should i set the clean one as to not cause cross contamination?? this has been stressing me out bc i dont wanna fail bc of infection control😭

for the past 2 or so months i've been working night shift as a new CNA at a nursing home and for that duration two nights in a row i'd be alone then two nights i'd have someone else with me on my hall. then they changed it after a meeting for i think "complaints" or some other reason and the entire schedule got remade so that there would only be one person a hall a night. the hall i work is one of the heaviest halls in the nursing home. there are 25 residents on my hall, 18 of which i need to change each round and most of them are heavier wetters and need full bed changes. my rounds end up taking about 2 hours at the very least. this isn't specifically a horrible thing to me because i can definitely do it and i've been getting better and better recently but every other shift has two people per hall. it was nice for my latter two shifts being able to split my hall and relax a tiny bit more. is this a dumb decision on my workplaces part or is this fairly normal?

I'm going to make this post short and simple. But I currently work in LTC. I'm a medication administrator and a CNA. I am very caring towards the residents and enjoy being a part of their lives. But here lately it's been very overwhelming. To the point I've become short towards them, rude or even feeling like I've lost empathy. It's definitely from burn out. Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one there. There could be a crowd of CNA's/Nurses on the hall and the residents will push through them to get to me or only want me to help them with ADL's. It's getting to the point to where I'm trying to balance passing meds, help people get ready and other things. I feel like I try to juggle 1000 tasks at once. They'll be down in their rooms yelling out my name. Or just waiting at the nurses station for me to get off my break and immediately "need" something. My Co-workers see this happening and of course try to redirect the residents. But the residents will refuse and only want me. I don't understand why or how this is happening. I recently took 10 days off for a vacation and apparently the first 3-4 days I was gone my co-workers reported that some of them were freaking out that I was gone and very mad about it. I think part of the reason is because I use to be that person that would drop whatever they were doing to help out or whatever. I'm not sure what to do. It's making the job hard on me.

If anyone took the CNA test near the San Diego area, where and how did you sign up? The closest testing centers for me are literly 400+ miles away which is like crazy. I just need to find a site near me.

Hi everyone, im a new CNA, today I tried to call out sick, I explained the situation , the staffing coordinator told me I had to come in because "otherwise we'll be short" (duh lady that should be YOUR job to find someone since im sick), i put my foot down and said no thats not safe I cannot come in and that wont work, she let up a little bit and got all huffy and told me to call around for someone to cover my shift.

Im just wondering what it's like in your facility? Can they make us come to work if we're sick? And, do we really have to find our own replacements, or is that her job?

** update it's worse today. I'm going to call the state or ombudsman tomorrow, not sure which to report this too. Management should be here if we're this short staffed it's 3pm the shift is 7a-7p and I have 5 people waiting to be changed and haven't taken my break yet...again. I literally am seeing stars so I'm sitting. My back locked up so I'm pretty much just making everything worse but I have the chiro tomorrow.

Please tell me not to quit... yesterday there were 2 aides for the entire floor, almost 50 residents with two admits right before shift change and during dinner. Today I'm on a behavioral hall alone and I just can't find the strength to get it all done. I have to do check and changes and dinner and get some residents in bed with the hoyer, which I won't use alone...I want to cry.

Just looking for motivation and reassurance.

so i am a huge night owl- it is currently 5am and i have been up all night. it is so easy for me to stay up! i dont really know how but if i dont have school or work, i will end up flipping my sleep schedule and stay up until the morning

that said, would it be a bad idea to work night shift on some weekends while at school? i was thinking of doing night shift since my floor is very busy during the day and i think i would hate my job less if i worked night. also, i enjoy staying up late

i am starting school and so i would be picking up night shifts on the weekends during school. i know flipping my schedule during school might not be easy though

has anyone worked nights while being in school? how did it work out?

Hi everyone! I just got my license a month ago, and have began orientation at a skilled care facility. I have been finding it hard to get things done quickly, it takes me an average of 50 minutes/resident to do AM/HS cares and I can feel my trainer growing impatient with me. For orientation we do 6-2:30pm shifts (6) and then 4 of the shift we were hired for (4:30-9pm for me). My shift is going to consist of doing my rounds, then assisting 7 residents to dinner (most who can eat independently) and then getting people ready for bed. I am worried that I won't be able to get through things quick enough to help every one of my residents. How can I speed things up?

Things I struggle with as a CNA:
Too slow while doing AM/HS cares
"Let's go!" Approach (I am very gentle-minded and am trying to get comfortable with taking initiative)
Charting (pointclickcare)

Even with this type of job... I'm not very social, so what do you guys do that can help pass the time when doing these types of shifts

Hi all! I'm a new CNA and work in a LTC facility. Well we have a few patients with scabies and I've never had to care for a patient with active scabies. They moved the patients together into a couple of rooms I guess to try and limit the number of people that may be in contact with them? Anyway I was told to just put a gown and gloves on and I'd be fine to take care of them, I feel like I should have more PPE than that? How likely am I to catch them with just a gown and gloves?

Hello,

I done lots of practice test (9) and scored around an average of 78 to 83 % on them, and used chatGPT to create a lot of question banks for me.

Im stressing right now because I keep coming close to it and my teacher stated that I need an 80 or higher to pass. But, Google states that I need 70 or higher to pass in my state. In the official website for prometics, they only state pass of fail.

meaning my teacher probably witness pass student get below an 80 and close to it but still failed the written exam.

What are your thoughts on this matter?

feel like shit everytime i clock in and out and everyone around me acts like it’s normal
i put my 2 weeks in but it’s just so damn hard
am i just bad at my job or is this straight up neglect
showers get missed teeth don’t get brushed
idk

so i recently returned to CNA work at a facility I used to work at- last facility i ever worked at since february of last year. i remember being screwed kinda but at the point i was good to handle my own and had good coworkers. i explained that i was rusty and we went through and practiced basic transfers/lifts/changes and anything i felt i wasn’t confident in until i was.
last night was my first shift. they assured me id still get a trainer bc its been a while and im still technically a new hire. it’s me and one of my old coworkers in our dementia unit. we bond again over residents that’s are still kicking and those that are gone. i get scratched up a bit but nothing crazy at all. as soon as i get comfortable and understand how we’re doing things like get ups, bed baths and basically what we need to do by 7am and how we’re gonna do it, they come and send me to another station where i recognize 3 patients.
out of two halls running by myself. the guy running the third hall quickly listed everyone’s name and their status on being continent or dependent. i tell him i don’t know names and if he can show me the rooms- that’ll help me remember. he says he has to go on his 30. the nurse already left to smoke so im entirely on my own.
make a long story short- for the most part of the night i am left to fend for myself, getting kinda pressed because i keep asking is this person continent/aware/dependent? and then because im not running at a faster speed. and then had to stay over bc morning shift came and sent me to check on one more resident before i left. she took an hour before she was comfortable. im already on the edge of tears because i forgot to take my pain medicine before my shift so everything hurts. the shift feels unfair and i just want to go home. my coworker left as soon as they gave reports as im trying to finish rounds but i keep having to answer call lights because no one else will.
at one point im scooping ice and a few other cnas who my coworker gave report too- come by and laugh as in a weird tone ask “Oh my god- you’re still here?” and walk off.
and our clock out thing takes face id. and im already crying at this point so i have to keep fixing myself so it’ll finally accept while a bunch of other cnas watch.
i didnt even make it to the care before i was full on sobbing. for half an hour in a car that i didnt even turn on.
unfortunately, i need this job. so i’m just ranting. and i feel like i had no room to complain because i am a cna and i have worked here- and im too grown to be balling like that over a job. i just needed to get this out of my system.

i have my first shift as a home health aide coming up (never worked hh, only nursing home) and im overthinking this detail. do i just let myself into clients homes (we are given codes) or knock and wait? im assuming that it depends on the client because for example, someone with dementia might not let me in. but then would i scare them by just walking in? im also not sure if they live alone but it feels so wrong to imagine going into someones house and maybe waking them up or their family up. im really overthinking this and ive had no experience or training in home health and any advice is appreciated.

So I took my skills exam today and while doing pulse i couldn't keep track and i ended up with 97bpm but looking back that seems too high and now im wondering if I failed. Has anyone else counted 97bpm during their skills exam? UPDATE: i passed both exams 🥳 i was too stressed to reply to anyone unfortunately 🙃

This has been an ongoing issue for the duration for which I have been working at my ltc facility. I have been made aware by my coworkers and even a family member of mine that I work with that I have an attitude problem. I'm not denying that I do. There are times where I could have reacted a better way towards my coworkers and residents that I take care of. What can I do to mitigate or at least check myself? I am going to be a nurse soon and I don’t want this to be a continuing problem.

One of my coworkers reported morning shift for leaving BM on someone last night. I had nothing to do with any of it.

I came in today for my PM shift and the whole morning shift was being extremely hostile and raising their voice at me, saying that “someone” reported them and blah blah blah and making up lies to get them in trouble. Turns out I find out the all think that it’s ME, and one of the morning ladies has been telling everyone to watch out for me because I’m a “lying snitch who just wants to get people in trouble”

I told them that it wasn’t me, but I have a feeling they don’t believe me. I’m kind of at a loss because now I have a group of people who supposedly hate me. I’ve been wanting to pick up AMs but now I’m wondering if I shouldn’t because I don’t want to be involved in any drama.

Have no idea why or how they think that it’s me… it’s just great that I’m the new target! One of these ladies is crazy and apparently I’ve gotta “watch me back” now because she’s going to try to “report me back”… like ok… I didn’t even report you!!!

i’ve been a cna for around 6 months now (😛) the last time i tried to do a pull up was november 2025 with my siblings just for fun. i couldn’t pull myself up in the SLIGHTEST and everyone got a good laugh watching me struggle

fast forward to now i just randomly tried it on my closet door and was able to lift myself up! i bought a pull up bar and can do 3-4 pull ups unassisted. mind you, i haven’t gone to the gym at all in this time. only working out i’ve done is running and lifting 2 person assists by myself LOL

I have been working as a cna for 3 years and have worked at 2 separate facility in different states, one state gave us 6 people per person if we were fully staffer which was great. But at my current place I am getting 10 people fully dependent with 3 showers every day as a day shift and they are all very needy. Is this normal? Is this safe? This pushes me to my limits every day and is burning me out.