TAG | certified nursing assistant
Everyday more people need excellent medical care in hospitals and long-term care facilities. C.N.A.s are vital direct care workers that assist nurses and other medical personnel in caring for patients and ensuring the smooth functioning of the healthcare facility.
A career as CNA is an excellent choice for individuals who have a strong interest in providing care to patients. CNAs must be patient, tactful, understanding, dependable, emotionally stable, and in good overall health. They must have excellent communication and interpersonal skills and be able to effectively work as part of a team.
C.N.A.s need at least a high school diploma or GED and must complete a 6 to 12 week Certified Nursing Assistant certificate program with a minimum of 75 hours of education including 16 hours of supervised clinical instruction. Community colleges, vocational-technical schools, and medical facilities often offer CNA certification programs. Students learn anatomy and physiology, basic nursing skills, infection control, and nutrition and receive hands-on experience through clinical activities.
Most CNA programs offer a certification exam and regulations vary by state, but usually include mastering a set of basic patient care skills. CNAs are placed on the state registry of nursing assistants once they pass the state examination. They must complete 12 hours of continuing education every year to maintain their certification.
Ready to become a C.N.A.? Here are a few questions to ask your self before taking the next step.
#1. Am I ready?
#2. Is this something that I could make a career our of?
#3. Am I responsible enough to take care of others?
#4. Do I enjoy taking care of others?
#5. Am I emotionally and physically ready for a career in the healthcare industry?
Here are some of the most commonly use methods to obtain your certification:
#1. Your local Nursing Care Facility.
#2. Community Colleges.
#3. Vocational Rehab
#4. American Red Cross
#5. Free Online Classes
7
CNA – Dealing with Death and the Dying
0 Comments | Posted by admin in Useful CNA Information
Being left behind by the people you care about is such a tough experience. This is not a new issue especially to the nursing assistants who are always in contact with their patients and getting closed with them. When the time comes that their patients’ death comes, they face a very hard experience for they are not just a caregiver to these people but also they feel that these people are already have a part in their lives. They do not just perform simple tasks to the patients but far more than their usual work Apart from having a stable job, these workers make sure that they are giving their very best inorder to satisfy their patients.
One who wishes to work in cna job has really a heart of touching other people’s lives. Before one chooses this kind of career, he must be able to know beforehand that this job requires a strong personality because it is a fact that death and dying experience is common in this area. Nursing assistants must always bear this in mind.
Understanding the different cultures of every person is very important in taking considerations. Nursing assistants must always bear in mind to respect this matter and letting them do whatever ceremony they want to have before the last time of the patient’s life.
Some patients already know that their time is coming. Others verbalize that they are scared that their time will end. Nursing assistants, on the other hand, express a hard feeling because they cannot take it when they listen to their patient’s heartaches. They sometimes feel down and feels that they cannot stand anymore to continue with their profession. They forget the fact that they are the very important people who should be present. This is the time that they are really needed the most to provide support with them. Nursing assistants should take the opportunity to be with the patient during their last time, providing bedside routines or talking to them.
Nursing assistants must continue with their routine care with their patients even they know that they are dying so soon. Taking vital signs and reporting any unusualities are still very crucial especially during this moment. It is a part of nursing assistant’s job to monitor the patient’s status at all times. They should remember those conditions that the patient may be experiencing when they are declining and tell it immediately to the appropriate personnel.
Nursing assistants must try to find any ways to make the death not difficult for the patient to take. They can still administer appropriate drugs to relieve anxiety as prescribed by the physician. Some patients would ask nursing assistants to pray with them, or requesting to read for him some religious articles and magazines. They even request someone to stay with them or sit on their beds just to have a company. Nursing assistants should help each other in overcoming with death and dying. Some feel depressed after the death of their patients. This is the right time for them to have external support and employers are always there to help them.
2
Duties of the Certified Nursing Assistant
2 Comments | Posted by admin in Useful CNA Information
Nursing assistant is hardly known by people. People think that it is just the doctor and nurse, which contribute to the care and health of the patient. They don’t even know that there are many other people who work in hospitals and are equally responsible for the health and treatment of the patient. They also play a major role in rehabilitation and treatment of the patients. The most important among such people are the nursing assistants.
These nursing assistants are responsible for the care provided at bed side for the patients. They are certified assistants. CNA duties are to make the patient perform their day to day activities like taking a bath, eating their food by themselves, changing their attires and other everyday tasks. The nurse supervises the assistant to perform his/her duties. The nursing assistants are held behind the nurses due to lack of proper qualification. To become a nursing assistant in the USA one needs to undergo 75 hours of theory classes and about 16 hours of clinical practice on nursing. This is very much less when compared to other professionals like doctors and nurses. The requirement of nursing assistants is minimal in the hospitals. Hence, they are not much valued in the field of medicine. They don’t perform any injections on the patient. They even don’t prescribe medications to the patient.
The certified nursing assistants are referred to as CNA. They do only minor procedures, but still they form a very important member of the health care team. The patients come to the hospital for speedy recovery and comfort. It is the nursing assistant who sees that the patient is comfortable and healthy as well. They are responsible for the basic needs of the patient. For seriously ill patient who cannot change their dresses, the nursing assistant helps them in their day to day needs like eating and changing dresses. By this needy help, the patient feels better and almost like normal.
Whenever the nurses are busy with some other work then the nursing assistants provide the patient’s bed side care. Massaging the patient, bed bath to the patient, changing bed sheets are all included under the bed side care. With all these treatments the patient feels more comfortable in the hospitals. The nursing assistant need to keep an eye on the each move of the patient and need to report to the nurse about any change, which occurs in the patient regarding the health.
We may consider that these nursing assistants perform minimal work and care of the patient. They are well appreciated by the patient for their hard work, which the patient notices each day. The comfort and satisfaction achieved by the patient after changing their bed sheets and after a bed bath cannot be achieved by any other member of the hospital. They feel happy because they are by themselves unable to do it whereas the assistants help them out in doing these procedures. One cannot imagine being in a hospital environment without a nursing assistant. The service done by these professionals help in the speedy recovery of the patient.
