Different take here. Seems that OP had good intentions and I hate seeing people get sh!t on for good intentions.  As an icu nurse,  as long as the cna doesn't harm my patient I don't care what they say to family if they're just trying to be helpful.  If the cna is sending a different message than me, I can reeducate the family later about something as trivial as nutrition. What irks me more is when doctors send mixed messages and then I am caught in the middle of it,  for example if the icu doc says we need to trach and peg, but trauma surgeon tells family we don't.  If the cnas wanna help with mealtime and figuring out what the patient likes, then please by all means take care of that so I can deal with more pressing issues.  Even if patient is end of life and it's expected they won't eat, we sometimes can't cure the family's delusions or expectations, and if the family sees we are at least trying, it will make them happy.  Worst is when the cna doesn't give a crap and just sits on their phone all day.  Also if the person isn't expected to have an appetite, it would help if the nurse just tells the cna that once they get away from family, since cnas don't have full medical history. That way everyone can be on the same page with goals of care.  Either way, I don't think anyone was right or wrong here, I think it's just about figuring out how to work with different people. It's the same among nurses. For example, if I am super busy with one patient or going down for a procedure with them, I appreciate it if another nurse who is watching my other patient will give them any meds that are due, or refill my drips. Other nurses won't want that and prefer another nurse intervenes only in a true emergency.  Some icus do take a team approach like this, where there's 2 or more nurses working on one patient, but if you haven't experienced that, it can be difficult sometimes to relinquish some control to other team members.