CNA Training
Imagine this: You are a 26 year old CNA. You’ve just completed CNA training, and are finally working in a hospital as a CNA. You absolutely love your job, and see it as it your first successful and fulfilling career.
This is your first shift after a three day weekend, and you are given eight patients to care for, one of which is a 72 year old female who came to the hospital with a broken hip and is scheduled to return home in just a few days. The patient can’t move well on her own, and during your first rounds she complains of pain in her back. When you help her roll over, you see the unmistakable signs of a bed sore forming on her lower back.
You position the patient on her side, making sure she is as comfortable as possible, then you head to the nurse’s desk to immediately report the bed sore to your charge nurse. The nurse disappears into the room and comes back a few moments later, with an angry look on her face.
“That patient needs to be turned every two hours,” she screams at you. “It’s right here in her chart. Can’t you read a chart? Don’t you know anything? Were you even paying attention in CNA training? Congratulations. Your patient is now in immense pain and her discharge will probably be delayed further!”
You take a deep breath, count to ten, and silently wish that you had the ability to disappear. Your co-workers have stopped their work and they are staring at your red face. You’ve never been more humiliated in your life.
Humiliation After CNA Training
In this scenario, the patient’s bed sore is not actually your fault. You had been off work for three days, you found the problem, and you reported it immediately. You did everything you could to make sure your patient was cared for properly. That didn’t stop the charge nurse from screaming at you in front of your co-workers, however.
While this scenario may be fictional, this type of situation occurs more than you might think in the workplace after CNA training. People have bad days and they might take it out on others, or some may be so upset and frustrated they didn’t catch a problem, they react badly to the news. For many individuals who have completed CNA training, however, this type of reaction can be extremely embarrassing and humiliating.
Public humiliation can come in from many different sources and usually involves three parties.
- The perpetrator of the humiliation, who is generally exercising his or her power. This can be your colleagues, visitors, patients, and others.
- The victim, who is generally powerless and humiliated.
- The witnesses to the event.
If you have ever been publicly humiliated, either before or after CNA training, you know how horrific it can be. There are generally three steps you can take after CNA training to deal with this problem:
- You can take a stand against the perpetrator and risk being humiliated even more. In this case, you could explain to the nurse that you did learn something in CNA training and that you used those CNA training skills to identify the problem and request help for the patient immediately. You could also explain that you haven’t worked in the last three days and because your shift just started, you have done everything you could possibly do to help you patient.
- You can suck it up and move on. After CNA training, sometimes public humiliation can teach you a lesson you would have otherwise not paid attention to. If this is the case, it might be best to accept the lesson and persevere through the unpleasant circumstance.
- You can quit your job. If dealing with outburst in public from your patients, co-workers, or a patient’s family is too much for you to handle, exiting the environment may be the best choice after CNA training.
CNA Training: Dealing With Humiliation
After CNA training, public humiliation can be one of the most difficult parts of your job. At some point, however, you are most likely going to experience this embarrassment, either from a co-worker, patient, or patient’s family member. Make sure you are prepared for this and are aware of how you should deal with it after CNA training.
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