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Planning to break into a career in health care may not be as difficult as you would think. Getting a CNA certification is usually the best place to start, if you intend to make nursing your future career.
A CNA or Certified Nursing Assistant is a person who helps the RN (Registered Nurse) or LPN (Licensed Practical Nurse) with routine tasks. This is to enable them to focus on tasks that only they can perform such as developing a care outline, administering medication, nursing assessments and assisting in surgery room preparations. The basic duties of a CNA involve feeding the patients, assisting in their activities of daily living, assistance with personal hygiene and exercise, wound dressing, making sure their room is clean and preparing the patients for surgery, examination or treatment.
The best place to start looking for places that offer free CNA classes is your local hospital. You can try asking the nursing homes around your area to see if they offer on-the-job training. This means you get trained while working your way towards a CNA certification. However, taking these on-the-job training programs usually mean you will be required to stay with your employer for a period of time to cover the costs.
If you would like to have flexible employment choices after getting your certificate, then you may opt to get your training reimbursed by Medicare instead. If you undergo CNA training through your potential employer, then you may be eligible to receive it for free. The US Federal government currently offers reimbursements to health industry employers for training expenses on certain occupations. The CNA role is one of those occupations. This is primarily because the Federal government requires all home health aides to pass a competency test. And to pass the test, potential home health aides first need proper training.
In states that require nursing assistants to be licensed, the National Association for Home Care and Hospice offers free CNA training (also called a voluntary certification).
Some high schools also offer free CNA training to students that are aiming for CNA certification. Although a high school diploma is not required in being a potential CNA, most CNA’s do.
Aides who work for nursing facilities are required by Federal law to complete at least 75 hours of state-approved training, as well as passing an evaluation of competency. Medicare funds these trainings and a certificate is awarded to successful trainees. The names of successful trainees will also be listed in the State Registry of nurse aides.
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Do You Have What it Takes to be a CNA?
2 Comments | Posted by admin in Useful CNA Information
Being a Certified Nursing Assistant is not a walk in the park. The job, for one, calls for a lot of walking, standing and to some extent and in some cases, jogging or running (depends on the urgency of the situation). A CNA needs to be quite agile and physically fit for the job entails a lot of lifting and turning of patients.
What does a CNA really does? A certified nursing assistant assists an RN in ways like: taking responsibility of a patient’s basic nursing care i.e. bathing, feeding, changing linens and gowns, cleaning up and other related work. A CNA spends more time with the patient than any health care provider. A CNA help lighten the load of an RN in jotting down patient information, keeping tab on the patient’s needs and basically doing what has to be done as told by a superior.
Since a CNA has to spend more time with a patient with impaired mobility, thereby doing mundane work as bedpans, a certified nursing assistant should have a real compassion for others. A CNA should also be truly interested in helping other people.
A CNA’s workplace, usually a hospital, is a place where people are at their most vulnerable. Patients are sick; some more than others. A CNA should be emotionally stable – able to take in and take all types of traumatic situation. A CAN cannot show raw emotions when dealing with a gravely ill patient. In other words, a CNA must be able to comfort a patient and not the other way around. This is not taught in CNA classes.
CNA has to be trustworthy as he or she has direct access to medical and personal records of patients. RNs an MDs were sworn to respect the privacy of their patients. As CNAs could also work in private homes doing work such as helping the patient deal with banks and finances, trustworthiness and honesty are two very important characteristics too called for in a CNA.
A CNA should be flexible enough to do a wide range of work. Since a CNA sees and assists a lot of patients in a day and that no two persons are alike, so is the work. The exact duties and responsibilities of a CNA are based on the type of health care facility that she works in. The job typically entails on top of the previously mentioned duties, transporting patients and medical equipments. A CNA is just like a regular RN in terms of working odd hours and long rotating shifts.
Communication skills is required from a CNA as she must be able to express the patient’s condition to other members of the health care team. A CNA is also responsible for keeping records of vital signs and documenting of a patient’s medical record. A good work ethics is also desirable in a CNA. Are you up to the task?
The recent Asian pandemic caused by the type A virus H1N1 or more commonly known swine flu, is still a growing threat. Swine flu is a respiratory disease that originated from pigs. The strain has mutated and has now affected humans. The virus does not respond to most anti-flu vaccines in the market today except for oseltamivir and zenamivir. Having had the required annual anti-flu vaccine is no guarantee that a person exposed to the virus will not be affected. It is imperative that a CNA should know review precautions relating to H1N1.
CNA class include the study of infectious diseases so this information is just for review. Swine flu is not really fatal. A healthy person who has had his annual flu vaccine has really nothing to be worried about. The swine flu though is more serious for young children, pregnant women, and the elderly and to those who have diabetes, lung diseases and heart diseases. What precautions should a CNA know so he or she could impart pertinent information to patients.
Require anti-flu vaccines. A CNA should encourage patients to have their yearly flu vaccine between the months of June to September. As there are two generics that have a limiting effect on H1N1, then these should be the flu vaccine that should be required. To make it easier for the students and staff, the school clinic and therefore its doctor(s) should take care of the vaccination. In big colleges and universities who have tie-ups with hospitals, this should not be a problem. For regular patients, they should check their insurance policies if H1N1 vaccination is included in their policy. If not, they should pay for their own.
Educate the patients, parents and students about Swine flu. There are certain measures that a CNA can impart to others and to lessen the threat and possible contamination of H1N1. Although not necessarily “deadly” H1N1 can spread fast.
The first thing is to always wash your hands. Thought it’s not always possible to wash your hands on the hour by the hour in the bathroom, it would be good for you to bring your own alcohol gel. In this connection, it would be better for public buildings and establishments like hospitals and schools to install automatic alcohol dispensers in strategic places within their premises.
Second, always cover your mouth and nose when you sneeze and cough. It would be better to cough or sneeze into your elbow or the crook of your arm. Covering your mouth with a surgical mask does not help unless the surgical mask is an N95.
Third, if you feel feverish and have flu-like symptoms go home and seek medical help. These are some tips that a CNA should know about H1N1.
