Nursing Nuggets >> Don't get Angry - Get Sympathy >> You're a bit young to be a HCA aren't you?
You're a bit young to be a HCA aren't you?
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Posted over 2 years ago I just have to have a miniature rant about this. I'm 19 and I have been working as a HCA since I was 15, starting out as a general assistant and now as a HCA for an agency. I don't look my age at all, I look a lot older than I am, but when I tell other HCAs or nurses how old I am (because they inevitably ask) they all keep asking me why I work in care so young!! It's starting to really irritate me, because I have been doing my job for 4 years now, and I know what I'm doing - I work for an agency so it' can become even harder than just being at the same home every day as things are always different between homes. Why is it that people think 19 is too young? And what inevitably follows is "oh, you must be a nursing student then". What's wrong with being a HCA and 19 and NOT being a nursing student? In fairness, yes I am going to take a nursing diploma in september if I'm accepted onto the course. But I mean really. HCA work is my favourite thing to do, and I'm hoping that nursing will be just as good, but why MUST I be a student nurse as a 19 year old carer?? Must I really be so patronised? My least favourite part is when I say I'm a university student studying music (which I am until the end of this semester) and I get asked what on earth made me choose HCA work, and why have I chosen a horrible/boring job? Quite rankly if as a nurse you disrespect HCAs so much to say their job is boring then clearly you've forgotten the basics of care, which as a HCA in a nursing home I often do far more often than the nurses who, in my experience so no offence if you're not like this, hide in their office with paper work and never pull their weight with personal care. I don't understand why it is that older HCAs only do their job for the money and have no respect for the residents/patients and the accuse young carers of wasting their lives. Grr. Okay, rant over!! Sorry if I offended anyone, I am purely speaking from my own experiences at work over the last 4 years! Krys x |
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| Posted over 2 years ago Hi, Krys. It's really good to see you back on ProNurse Feel free to "rant" away, you obviously feel passionately about your job and certainly don't deserve to be put-down or patronised. Keep up the good work and Good Luck with your application. Take care. Mo x. Mo. Forum Leader on ProNurse. |
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| Posted over 2 years ago Thanks Mo It's just been getting very frustrating lately, too many nurses in nursing homes seem to think their work revolves around medication rounds and paperwork, and they forget that nurse-patient communication is vital. It truly gets my rag when a nurse seems irritated by me requesting that they double check pressure points which I think need dressing, particularly when no other HCAs have not mentioned the wound's worsening. I think my problem is just with the amount of bad HCAs and Nurses I've been in contact with at work lately. One home I went to told me to brush a client's hair with a toothbrush as she did not have her own hairbrush. Mad or what? And apparently my "youth and high expectations" are what caused me to make a complaint about a client put to bed in her bra, vest, trousers and nightie without her teeth brushed or slippers removed. Krystyna x |
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| Posted over 2 years ago You're getting a poor snapshot of residential care - and there's a reason for it. It's something called 'the clniician's illusion'. We only see a small bit of the whole and we often form the impression that this is all there is. I'm generalising here and there are many exceptions but as a rule the homes who need to rely on agency staff a lot are those with high turnover of staff and limited staff numbers. These tend to be the homes that provide the poorest care - hence the high turnover of staff. My experience is the opposite. I generally only go into homes where the management organise training so I usually see a higher standard of care provison. Yhat's equally inaccurate. The truth is probably somewhere between your experience and mine. Certainly there's a lot of residential homes where the care is much better than you describe, where the staff stay long term and there are enough of them to do a proper job. Hopefully you'll get accepted on to a nursing course soon and start to see different standards. In both voluntary and public sector care provision there are many dedicated staff who really do provide excellent care. Oh yes - and don't worry about the age question. It's irrelevant really. If you can do your job and provide proper care then your age isn't an issue - although it will be used from time to time as an excuse to explain your objection to substandard practice just as you have described. Good luck. Cheers, Stuart |
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