There is no denying that CNAs’ job pressure can be really difficult to handle. But understanding the challenges can help you shine in this role. The reason is simple- you can prepare yourself for it beforehand!
You know, research shows that about 40.3% of CNAs primarily report understaffing, and 27.5% of CNAs increase workload demands as the top work-related challenges. Moreover, being undervalued or underpaid makes this career path more difficult for CNAs.
But don’t worry! Today, we have figured out 13 common challenges in the CNA’s job and the most effective ways to overcome them. Just read on.
What Are The Common Challenges In CNAs’ Role? Effective Ways To Overcome!
In the healthcare industry, CNAs play a very important role in offering care to patients. However, these dedicated professionals have to go through many difficulties in their daily job tasks.
Let’s get into a deep discussion in this regard.
1. Being Seen As The Lowest Role In Healthcare
Do you know what’s the most difficult thing about being a CNA in healthcare? It is the feeling of being seen as the lowest role even though all those hard work!
The CNAs have one of the most crucial roles in providing care. But unfortunately, their work is sometimes taken for granted.
They often struggle with how the patient, their family, and sometimes even the coworker diminish their job. It can lead to the feeling of frustration for the CNAs.
How To Overcome
You are important and always remember that. It is what matters the most! Improve your skills and value by training and education.
You should build strong communication with your patients. It will help them to understand your role. Moreover, advocate for yourself whenever and wherever you need it.
2. Incredibly Physically And Mentally Demanding Work
What responsibilities do the CNAs take on? Honestly, they are always on their feet, running around to handle more than a number of physically and mentally demanding tasks.
Assisting patients with daily activities, lifting, and positioning is physically tough. Moreover, the CNAs job can be emotionally draining by witnessing the patient’s suffering.
How To Overcome
As a CNA, you should learn to maintain a balance between taking care of the patients and taking care of yourself. You should also do the relaxing activities.
For instance, talk with your co-workers and join the support groups. These steps can make you feel strong and make you ready to give high-quality care to the patients.
3. Facing Challenges In Effective Communication
Effective communication is a must in healthcare. The CNAs have to convey the patient information accurately to the doctors and nurses to ensure the right treatment.
Poor communication can lead to misunderstanding. As a result, it will increase the chances of errors in the treatment of the patient.
How To Overcome
You should undergo comprehensive training to enhance your communication skills.
Here, you have to learn how to use the standard techniques for documenting patient information and reporting. It will help to avoid misunderstanding and will ensure important information is conveyed correctly.
4. Adapting Different Patient Needs
In the CNA job, you have to deal with patients coming from different backgrounds and healthcare needs.
You have to understand this difference to provide the best care to the patients. That’s because the patients are more likely to feel comfortable and trust when they see you understand and respect their needs and values.
However, it is not as easy as it may sound!
How To Overcome
Don’t worry about this challenge. Your nursing assistant training program will teach you about different cultures and the personal preferences of the patients.
You will learn how you can provide care considering these differences. It will allow you to ensure every patient feels respected and understood.
So, make sure to learn in your training program and apply it in your every job task.
5. Handling Challenging Behaviors Of Patients
It can be especially difficult for the CNAs to deal with the patients who show challenging behaviors. Like aggression, resistance to care, or confusion.
You know these challenging behaviors can happen for many reasons. It can be medical conditions like dementia, cognitive impairment, pain, or anxiety.
You will require patience and empathy to deal with the patient when he/she is upset or difficult to manage.
How To Overcome
Here, you need to identify the triggers and respond calmly to handle the challenging behaviors of the patients.
The de-escalation techniques can really help you out in this regard. You can learn these techniques practically in your nursing assistant training program.
However, the below tips provided by the Western Journal of Emergency Medicine can be helpful for the starting point of the de-escalation process.
- Move the patient into a private area away from public spaces to talk
- Be empathetic and non-judgmental
- Focus on the thoughts behind the feelings.
- Respect personal space. Stand 1.5 to three feet away from the person if possible.
- Keep your body language and tone neutral.
- Don’t overreact
- Don’t ask challenging questions.
- Allow silence and Allow time for decisions.
6. Underpaid Than Their Hard Work
The daily CNAs face the outnumbered hard work in their job every day. For example, they sincerely care for the patients, deal with the death and dying, and sometimes work in dangerous situations and so on.
Their salary is not high despite all of these. It is one of the main reasons the CNAs choose other healthcare worker jobs.
Here is a comparison of the salaries of the CNAs and the other healthcare workers.
Healthcare worker | Median salary |
Certified nursing assistant | $38,130 in a year |
Licensed practical nurse | $54,620 in a year, |
Registered nurse | $81,220 in a year |
RN specializing in HIV/AIDS | $97,000 in a year |
RNs specializing in informatics nursing | $88,630 in a year |
RNs specializing in legal consulting | $88,050 I a year |
Nurse practitioner | $125,900 in a year |
How To Overcome
You should advocate for yourself in this regard. Try to ask for a raise in the salary every six months of the year. You can also team up with your coworker or other CNAs to make this request.
However, if the problem is not solved, you can try to look for another employment with a better salary. True, the system won’t change in a night, still, it is worth trying.
7. Dealing With Death And Dying
In the healthcare field, there’s no question that you have to deal with death and dying as a part of the job. But it does not make it any more challenging to face it every day.
The CNAs take care and assist the ill patients till to their very last moment. They also provide emotional support to the patient and their family. It can be harder for the CNAs in case they have grown close to them.
Moreover, the CNAs can also develop the feeling of constant loss if they deal with the situation more often.
How To Overcome
You should take care of yourself emotionally and be mentally strong in this kind of situation.
Always remember that you have done well in taking care of your patients. If you find it hard to handle the feeling all by yourself, talk and get advice from a counselor.
8. Consuming Schedules
It is no secret of the staffing crisis in the healthcare system. You know it increases the pressure and stress of the jobs that are already challenging enough to start with.
Of course one of them is the certified nursing assistant job. On top of that some CNAs have to work for long hours.
It can be either due to earn money or to cover up the shifts helping the stressed coworkers. In both ways, it can result in quick burnout if you don’t set boundaries.
How To Overcome
You should work with the staffing agencies to handle the situation. They can offer you solutions so that you can have more choices on where and when to work. Moreover, you can also work part-time at a regular job.
It can offer you consistent income and you can also take on the extra shifts by the staffing agencies.
Thus, it’ll help you to avoid overworking. However, ask for support and ask for better staffing if you are staying with your present job.
9. Experiencing Conflicts With Coworkers And Patients
It is unfortunate to accept but conflicts tend to be more common in the places where emotions are high. In the CNA job, you may experience conflicts with your co-worker, with your patient, or with the patient’s family.
It can be of course challenging for you to handle the conflicts in healthcare. However, you need to be professional towards the solution.
How To Overcome
Here are some tips that can help you to handle the conflicts professionally.
- You should listen and understand the point of view of the opposite person.
- Speak respectfully and calmly with them to reduce the tension.
- You should also suggest or offer ideas to your co-workers to solve the problem.
- Take a few minutes of break to cool off if you see the conversation is getting heated up.
- You should also ask for help from your seniors or supervisors in case the problem persists.
10. Poor CNA’ Working Conditions
Sometimes, the work environment of the CNAs may not be ideal. Outdated equipment and inadequate staffing affect your ability to provide effective patient care.
You may experience higher stress levels and decreased jobs due to this issue. It can make it harder for you to focus on your tasks when the work environment is not ideal, and the resources are limited.
How To Overcome
You should first talk with your supervisors about the specific issues you are dealing with. For instance, additional staff or better equipment.
You should talk about the work environment issues so that the management team can take action.
Moreover, you should also take care of yourself. Take regular breaks and ensure a better work-life balance. It will help you to cope with the issues that make your work life challenging.
11. May Get Tired From Demanding Work
The CNAs generally have to face exhaustion due to the physically and mentally demanding work. You have to take on the long hours and continuous responsibilities. It can lead to burnout, reduced productivity, and even mistakes in care.
How To Overcome
You can follow the Pomodoro technique to maintain focus and reduce mental tiredness.
The technique uses a timer to break down work into intervals. It is generally 25 minutes in length with short breaks known as one pomodoro. You should first list and prioritize the tasks that you need to complete in the CNA role.
Then, totally focus on one work for 25 minutes and take 5 minute break. After that move to another task.
However, you should adjust the intervals according to your workload in the high-demand CNAs environment.
12. The CNA Team May Be Short-Staffed
The demand for nursing assistants is on the rise with insufficient staff to fill up the vacant places.
That’s why in some healthcare settings, the CNAs may face the challenge of working with limited staff. It can ultimately increase the workload and create additional stress.
Sometimes this short staffing can also decrease the quality of the care they provide to the patients.
How To Overcome
In this highly demanding situation with short staffing on the top, you should try to stay organized and work closely with your team. You and your team should focus on the most important tasks first.
Supervisors can also help you out in this case. Ask for their help when needed. You should also help your co-workers when things become hectic. Work together, and stay calm to get the job done effectively.
13. Less Common Room For Career Growth
As for the last one, less room for career growth. You may have less opportunity to advance your career.
The most common career growth option is to become an LPN or RN. However, that’s true, not everyone wants to be or not has enough time or money to follow the path.
How To Overcome
If you want something different in your work, you can work per diem. That means-
- You can work on call in different places or with different age groups
- You can also become a traveling CNA and move to work between different locations.
You can also consider going back to nursing school. It will not cost much and you can also look for scholarships if needed.
Moreover, there are also some other job options you can consider. For instance, emergency medical technician, or phlebotomist. These career paths take less time and money.
FAQs
Let’s check out some queries that the people mostly asked about the certified nursing assistant job. Hope this will help you to learn more.
What are the biggest challenges facing nursing today?
Staffing shortage- it is one of the biggest challenges nursing has faced in recent days. This is mainly because the job is very physically and mentally demanding. Still, they do not get enough pay for their hard work. As a result, it increases the workload of the people who are already in this field.
How to handle difficult situations as a CNA?
You need to sometimes speak for yourself and let the other know how important a role you have in the healthcare sector. Moreover, you should try to build good relations with other CNAs. It will help you to minimize the challenges to a very extent.
What are your weaknesses as a nursing assistant?
Unable to manage time, that’s the weakness of most of the nursing assistants out there. Furthermore, the CNAs have to document too many details and find it difficult to prioritize the tasks.
Final Words
All in all, you can handle all the potential challenges in the CNA career field just by being organized and asking for help whenever you need it. Always remember that it is important to speak up for yourself sometimes.
You should also take care of your own health physically and mentally to stay strong. Keep going learning, always think positive, and be confident to face any challenges professionally, chin up!