Effective Communication Skills for CNA

If you plan to take CNA as a career you must note that being able to communicate effectively and maintain good interpersonal relationships is very important if you wish to be successful in this health-care profession.

Being able to express yourself verbally and in writing is a skill that you can learn and apply in your profession.  Similarly, building an effective interpersonal relationship with your patients and forming positive working relationships with your coworkers are essential qualities needed to become a successful and effective CNA.

Communication skills for CNA involve listening, responding, and documenting what patients tell you about themselves and their unique needs.  Active listening, that is, listening to patients without making any judgment or being distracted by your own thoughts, is key to accepting them as worthy human beings who deserve your attention.  You should also develop skills to gather the unexpressed needs of the patients when the patients can not communicate them verbally.

Overcoming Communication Barriers with Patients

In effective communication with the patients you need to speak clearly in a language patients can understand without using any medical jargon.  You may need to ask open-ended questions for encouraging more response from the patients.  Continue Reading »
CNA Communication Skills

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How to prevent pressure sores?

As a certified nursing assistant, you have a huge responsibility of taking care of the patients.  You will be dealing with different kinds of patients with different types of diseases.  In plenty of cases, you would be dealing with patients who are not able to move and require constant care.  Patients who are not able to move tend to develop bedsores – also known as pressure sores.  Therefore, it becomes your foremost duty as a CNA to ensure that patients do not develop bedsores, since they can be very painful and cause a lot of discomfort.

Now, you need to understand how bedsores or pressure sores are caused.  In the case of patients who cannot move, there tends to be constant pressure on certain body parts while lying down.  Now these body parts are deprived of essential oxygen and because of this the muscle and tissue of that region start breaking down.  So it becomes essential for nursing assistants like you to keep a strict vigil on the patients and look for any kind of indication that may lead to bedsores.

There are plenty of other factors which contribute to bedsores.  Bed sores are also caused due to continuous friction on a specific body part.  One of the main reasons why patients contract bedsores is because they are not given a proper bath and their body parts are not washed properly.  It is important that patients are made to stay in a hygienic atmosphere.  Apart from this diabetic patients are also at a greater risk of contracting bedsores.  You would be surprised to find that individuals with blood circulation problems are also at a high risk of developing bedsores. Continue Reading »
Preventing Patient Bedsores

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Are CNA Training DVDs really useful?

As you know, becoming an efficient certified nursing assistant (CNA) requires a lot of time, practice and patience. No doubt, you need to go through CNA training manuals regularly in order to refresh all that you learned in your CNA training sessions.  Definitely, the most important aspect of CNA profession is the clinical or practical work.  As you are well aware in order to qualify as a certified nursing assistant, you need to take two exams, namely the written and practical CNA exams.  Most of the students feel very comfortable with the written section.  It is only the practical section that leaves them a little nervous.

Many students like you would like to rehearse all the practical aspects taught in the class in the comfort of their own homes.  But as youngsters, you tend to forget most of the lessons taken in classrooms by the time you reach your house.  This causes a lot of anxiety because during the training course, you simply cannot ask your instructors to repeat the same lessons over and over again.  You need not despair.  It is for students like you that CNA Training DVDs have been created.

Surely, these CNA Training DVDs have arrived as a blessing in disguise.  All the theoretical lessons and practical sessions of the training course are covered in the training DVDs.  One of the main advantages of the DVD is that you can view the practical sessions plenty of times and also perform mock sessions along with the DVD.  By doing this you are constantly polishing your skills and this gives you an opportunity to update yourself with the latest nursing skills even after you have finished your training course.

One of the main advantages of the instructional DVD is that it deals with all the topics separately.  In case you do not feel at ease with a particular nursing duty, you can go over to that section and view them as many times as you wish.  By now, you would have clearly understood the advantages of owning a DVD; now let us have a brief look at the contents of the CNA Training DVD.  Essentially, the DVDs contain all the practical skills accompanied with plenty of examples demonstrating how a nursing duty should be performed in the correct manner.

Some of the duties included are feeding, cleaning and dressing the patient, applying stockings and dressings, ambulation and moving the patients, basic duties like sanitation.  One of the most important sections of the training DVD deals with how to take and record the patient’s vital parameters like pulse, blood pressure, respiration, weight and height.  The DVD also deals with all the legal issues in detail in case you come across any in your nursing career.

You will find plenty of sections in the CNA Instructional DVD very helpful in preparing for the practical examinations.  Sections dealing with physical therapies and motion exercises, body movement, control of infections, making beds for the patients, skin care and assessment, all the details as to how to give a bed bath and how to use bath accessories are dealt in detail in the DVD.

Therefore, it is a great idea to buy the  CNA Training DVD not only for aspiring nursing assistants but also for certified nursing assistants who wish to improve their nursing skills.

Both Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs) and Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs) usually work under the guidance of a registered nurse (RN) or a doctor; however, the job of an LPN carries more responsibility than that of a CNA.  LPNs therefore receive higher salaries than the CNAs.  Because of this reason, most CNAs are looking for a way to to become a Licensed Practical Nurse and go up one step in their healthcare career.  In this post, we will discuss the CNA to LPN bridge courses which can help the CNA to transition to LPN while maintaining her job.

LPNs, often called as Licensed Vocational Nurses (LVNs) in states like Texas and California have a job role that falls somewhere between the CNAs and Registered Nurses.   By virtue of added experience and education, LPNs are usually self motivated.   They often assume the responsibility as a a mid-level manager. Registered nurses give more freedom and responsibility to LPNs than the CNAs.   Unlike an CNAs, the LPN is able to administer medication to patients, prepare IVs and set up procedural rooms.  And in many cases LPNs would be supervising other healthcare staff like nursing assistants and nurse aides.

CNA & LPN Salary Difference

The average annual CNA salary is around $27,000, and the average annual salary of an LPN is around $40,000, exceeding the average CNA salary by $13,000.  These salary figures will vary by experience,location, and employer.  The difference in he salary can be a good reason for a CNA to hope to transition her job to that of an LPN.

CNA to LPN Additional Education Requirements

If you are already working as a CNA, you’d happy to know that you can continue studying for LPN while maintaining your job as a CNA.  This is possible because most CNA to LPN bridge courses could be completed be part-time in the evenings or on weekends or even through distance or online programs.  It is also possible for you to get a study leave from your job for taking these courses; and after completing the LPN bridge program you can resume your duties as an LPN.  As a matter of fact, many hospitals, nursing homes and other employers often encourage CNAs working in their facilities to join CNA to LPN courses to advance their career in nursing.  Some employers may even offer to take care of the cost of your education. It is therefore better that you talk to your employer about your future career advancement plans. Continue Reading »
CNA to LPN Bridge Programs