I'm a care assistant AMA

[WibbleyPie]

I work with dementia residents and generally frail and elderly people in a residential care home (no nurses)
I have also worked on EMI units and nursing units alongside RMNs and RGNs.

Why did you decide to work in care?

I'm a former care manager and went into a more specialist are of dementia care and safeguarding before leaving my last full time care role and working with CQC.

Absolutely loved res / dementia care it's the best job in the world and the most challenging all rolled into one.

Out of curiosity, how do you find the qualified staff and RGN/RMN staff compare to care assistants as in the extent, level of care and are you put on more by them or supported all the way?

@Whatinthelord

Why did you decide to work in care?

Originally I did it as experience while doing an access to nursing course, but my circumstances changed and I couldn't go on to train as a nurse at the time, so I stayed in care as my job and did NVQ's. I like the job, although it is physically, emotionally and mentally hard at times it's also rewarding.

@PinniGig

I'm a former care manager and went into a more specialist are of dementia care and safeguarding before leaving my last full time care role and working with CQC.

Absolutely loved res / dementia care it's the best job in the world and the most challenging all rolled into one.

Out of curiosity, how do you find the qualified staff and RGN/RMN staff compare to care assistants as in the extent, level of care and are you put on more by them or supported all the way?

I'd like to work with the CQC at some point in the future, as an inspector or in some way that can improve the whole social care service overall. It really is very challenging and rewarding at the same time, in the same shift you can be devastated and elated, it's quite an emotional rollercoaster isn't it?!

Re qualified staff, it largely depends on the person themselves in a lot of ways, working within the same service with them was a mixed bag, overall I have to say we were respected by 90% of them and we knew that there were ones who would listen to concerns we had and ones that wouldn't, I found that the nurses who'd never worked alongside care assistants in a home rather than a hospital were a bit dismissive that we weren't 'trained' and of the experience we had and how we knew the residents and knew when something wasn't right.
That's the same with the nursing teams we deal with now that come into the home and do the medical care we can't.
Some though can be very dismissive and I've had a few that can be quite defensive in some ways, maybe because they don't understand our scope or training, and seem to think that we are somehow encroaching on their territory and like to 'pretend' we're nurses, or don't understand that we don't do anything medical, we do social care and so something that even you would do at home for someone, like take a blood sugar level isn't something we're allowed to do unless specifically trained etc.
That's largely down to the massive differences in training though that come under the title 'care assistant' it's different to 'Health care assistant' but many people, even in the field, confuse the two.
Overall most of the trained staff I've worked with or come across have been supportive of the residents/patients and have had their best interests at heart, and have been big team players, I've always taken the attitude that their job is different to mine with different responsibilities and different duties, they are more qualified than me medically and I follow their direction, however I would (and have) step in if I feel that something isn't right.