I got off work about an hour ago and now I'm off until Thursday night. I worked 12 hour shifts on Saturday and Sunday. Monday was only a 6 hour shift and I got off at 1:35am this morning. I'm completely exhausted.
I wouldn't say that I hate this job, but I also wouldn't say that I love this job. It's hard. Certified Nurse Technicians basically do all of the dirty work so that nurses can get away with just passing meds. As a tech at a nursing home, I'm constantly lifting, pushing, and pulling patients and some of them are not skinny. A lot of them are very overweight which makes my job so much harder. On top of the physical stress of the job, there is the mental stress. When I'm at work, I take care of elderly people and a lot of them do not have their minds. I see them as a shell of a person because the person that they used to be, isn't there anymore. Day in and day out they sit or lay around not knowing where they are or who they are. Some of them holler or scream because they are in pain or because they are scared. Most of the time, I can't help but wonder who they used to be and what they were like when they had their minds. It's really sad.
Nursing homes are so understaffed. These places worry so much over their budgets when they should really be thinking about the residents. Without a lot of staff, the residents suffer. I am only one person and I can't be in 20 rooms at the same time. Where I work, there is one tech per hallway. There should be 2 techs per hallway. I don't get much help when it comes to lifting my patients. I strain my back and legs each time I'm at work and I come home in pain. I have to lift my patients into bed or onto the toilet or into their wheelchair and after doing that to 20 or more patients, I hurt pretty bad to the point of barely being able to walk.
So, why do I do it? I do it because I love helping elderly people. I always have. Plus, I make more money working as a tech, than I would working in retail, customer service, or the food industry. I haven't reached the point where I know what I want to do in life as far as a career goes. I thought that I wanted to be a nurse, but the more nurses that I come across, the more I realize that I don't want to be associated with that. 9 times out of 10 a nurse won't help a tech lift or turn a patient and they won't answer call lights or clean a patient. Yes, that is my job, but sometimes I'm busy and can't make it to a patient's room for a while. A lot of nurses act like they are too good to do the dirty work when it comes to patients. It's ridiculous. So, that is why I honestly don't want to be a nurse anymore. I'm not saying that every nurse is like that, but most of them are unfortunately!
I've met a lot of people at work and the majority of them have been nice. They are also overworked and underpaid....and they don't get help either.
I just hope I figure out soon what I want to do as far as a career goes, because as much as I love helping elderly people.....the whole lifting patients thing is going to end up hurting my back for good and I don't want that to happen!
No comments:
Post a Comment