Are you planning to become a Certified Nursing Assistant? Then, the first thing you should do is to get a good idea about the typical job duties of a nursing assistant. That will help you to make a wise decision in choosing your career.

The responsibilities of a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) are countless, because they are typically attending to the patients apart from assisting nurses and doctors, particularly in a healthcare unit. Typical Day in the life of a Certified Nursing Assistant involves attending many job duties from making a bed for the patient to presenting reports to nurses. A normal routine of a certified nursing assistant might go somewhat like this:

Assist in daily chores: Each morning they might assist the patients dress up if required, and aid these folks in whatever way to prepare for the day; this includes help and any kind of assistance in the bathroom also if required.  They might furthermore help in serving the patient’s breakfast if required. Particularly with the aged or extremely unwell patients, vitals usually have to be taken.  Occasionally, based on every individual patient, vitals may also mean hearing the lungs and heart and documenting the way the individual is breathing.

Assist in shifting: While in the noon, the Certified Nursing Assistants might assist with shifting the ill to and from their diverse appointments if required, do their mattresses and assist feeding them meal if needed.  Vitals typically have to be taken all over again with the extremely aged and/or ill patients.  At night, nursing assistants might aid put patients sleepwear on if necessary and assist to feed them dinner as well.  Vitals typically have to be taken once more in case of very aged as well as horribly ill patients. The Certified Nursing Assistants maybe required helping the patients with baths also maybe in the noon or by evening if the admitted patients are not capable of doing it themselves.  So, nursing assistants exist for the patient for all the basic requirements during the complete length of the day.

Other additional chores: Nursing assistants are usually accountable for changing the used diapers of patients.  If the nappies are reusable, certified nursing assistants are accountable to tidy them out in sites known as Hopper Rooms, that is essentially washing by means of water pressure, then that diaper is thrown in a container which is to be cleaned later. Some other random tasks that nursing assistants are expected to execute over the length of the day time is to empty catheters for individuals who have them.  Also, to empty bedpans also if put to use.

Responsibilities for CNAs during night shift: If nursing assistants work in the night shift, they may be have to check on the admitted patients often, and if required, take their vitals, assist the patients to the bathroom, or help them change their diapers.  Certified Nursing Assistants may also be required to perform chores for their patients like providing them with drinks and the like.

How to become a CNA?

Generally, to acquire training as a Certified Nursing Assistant, you have to attend courses, typically provided in numerous places in your neighborhood.  After these courses, in case the examinations are passed properly, then the certification will be issued to you.  You have to be qualified and licensed to do the job as a CNA, exactly as one should be certified to serve as a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN).

There are several employment opportunities for Certified Nursing Assistants (CNA).  A major reason is really because there are usually individuals who become ill, there will always be individuals who get into dreadful mishaps, and there is often the aged who require special care which they can’t do themselves.

To sum up, Certified Nursing Assistants exist to assist the nurse in fundamental care of all the patients. They essentially do almost everything to look after the sufferers.  Hence, the patients of the nurses also turn to be the nursing assistant’s patients.

Just like nurses have to report to the doctor or the physician in-charge, Certified Nursing Assistants are accountable to the Nurse they are working under.  Nursing assistants undergo an entire review of every single patient. Not just that, but the CNAs also need to update the person in-charge of the next shift regarding each of the patients.

Finally, the Certified Nursing Assistants are expected to fill out all about the day’s work relating to each patient in a systematic, organized and specific fashion.  Each and every location can have the new way of having the employees complete the mandatory paperwork, be it on computer or on paper.

A certified nursing assistant gets an opportunity to work in close association with nursing home residents under the guidance of registered nurse.  In general, a CNA working in nursing home has to deal with the same resident patients for a long period and thus becomes more attached to those patients.

Placements of CNA in nursing homes
The Labor statistics bureau has stated that around 1.4 million individuals were placed as CNAs in 2006 and among them, 52 % were placed in residential care centers and nursing homes.

Duties of CNA
The major duties of certified nursing assistants working in the nursing home include aiding patients to take bath, dress and feed and to obtain vital signs.  Further they have to assist patients who had incontinent episodes and changes in the medical condition of patients have to be reported immediately to the concerned medical staff.

Work Environment
As the job of CNA is physically very demanding, the nursing assistant has to stand and walk for long hours.  In addition, patient work loads may be high.  So it is very significant for a nursing assistant to understand appropriate body mechanisms to decrease or avoid chances of getting back injury.

Education Requirements
To become a certified nursing assistant in a nursing home, the candidate has to possess a high school diploma.  High school vocational courses, employers and community colleges provide training to under go the state certification examination.  According to the guidelines of Federal Government, if CNAs has to be appointed in nursing homes, they must fulfill the competency examination and should have undergone professional training for at least seventy five hours.

CNA Salary
The Labor statistics bureau states that the average annual salary of a CNA is around $23,850.

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.

Patients who are paralyzed are at a greater risk of developing bedsores.  These patients cannot experience pain and if they develop bed sores they simply cannot experience the discomfort.  Therefore, in the case of such patients, prompt action must be taken to remove the bed sores in the initial stages itself.  Now, you as a certified nursing assistant need to understand as to how you can help the patients.

One of the best and foremost methods to prevent bedsores is you need to rotate the patient regularly.  You along with other team members should make this your foremost duty.  By rotating the patient regularly, you ensure that all the body parts of the patient get proper supply of blood.  By doing this, continuous or constant pressure is not applied on any particular body part.  To assist in rotation, you may place a sheet below the patient’s body.  Both the ends of the sheet can be easily grasped and this will assist in rotating the patient.  You can also prevent bedsores by reducing the moisture on the body parts.

Plenty of times you would have observed that patients are sitting on their waste.  This is grossly inhumane and simply unacceptable.  The skin of the body breaks down in such unhygienic conditions and you as a nursing assistant must take every step to prevent this situation.  You can use ointments like A&D or petroleum jelly on patients, since these help in preventing bedsores.  Always use a dry cloth to blot any particular body region of the patient.  This should be done when you are drying the patient after changing his clothes.  You may also provide essential nutrients and medicines to prevent bedsores.

It is also a great idea to use medical pads to prevent bedsores as they greatly reduce friction during body movement.  Therefore, with proper care and hygiene, you can definitely prevent bed sores.

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CNAs working in nursing homes have to deal with patients who are generally senior citizens, or others who need long term care, so their duties vary considerably from those working in hospitals and other health care facilities.  They need to develop a long term relationship with the patients, so being compassionate is an important trait required for this job.  Also they need to assist the patients in their daily routine activities, so the job is physically demanding.  If the CNA is placed in  community care, the work will keep them running through out the day.   But, wherever they are placed, they are expected to offer compassionate care in a very polite manner.

Regarding the continuing care community, a CNA has different types of duties like assisting the patients while walking or moving from one room to another in a wheel chair.  In general, patients need assistance while they move around in wheelchair from their rooms to activity room, dining hall or other areas.  Few other needs assistance while eating and other kind of activities performed in day to day life.  CNA working in nursing home will have to bathe most residents as the physical condition of those patients doesn’t allow them to carry out activities on their own.  Some patients will require help with toileting.  In some cases, CNA has to wear and change adult diapers for the residents.  Residents who don’t have the ability to move their body on the own has to be assisted by CNA to reposition every two hours in order to avoid bedsores.

Some residents have to be assisted to fulfill their grooming needs. Some patients have to be helped to brush, comb and makeup.  In men, CNA might have to assist while shaving and in cases, CNA has to shave the patient’s hair.  Few ladies might ask CNA to paint their nails or to assist them in putting different hair style.  The CNA some times has to change the resident’s linen as well as slight cleaning works.  The CNA will be instructed to perform duties similar to house keeping when they are appointed

The CNA also has the responsibility to oversee a patient while exercising.  If they are capable of exercising, the CNA has to watch them and observe their motion type.  The presence of CNA is important either to assist the patient in doing some difficult exercises or to report to the higher authority if any problem occurs while exercising.  But, the CNA can’t act upon their choices; they will be guided by a professional medical staff.

As a certified nursing assistant, they have to consider vital signs of the nursing home patients whenever necessary.  They include checking temperature and blood pressure.  The CNA might have to observe and report the food intake of nursing home residents. Both the solid and liquid form of food must be noted and reported.  Some times, CNA might assist to evaluate readings of blood pressure.  If the residents of nursing home become ill or gets hurt, the CNA has to report to the higher authority immediately and see to that the patient is being addressed as soon as possible.  Though we have come across a varied range of duties, it is not mandatory to perform all of them regularly.  The duties of CNA vary depending on the nursing home they are placed.

A typical day as a CNA would be something like as follows,

In the morning, a CNA will have to help patients dress up and help them in any of their morning tasks.  This includes helping in the bathroom especially in the case of elderly and extremely ill patients.  They would be required to feed people who can’t feed themselves.  They will have to take vitals for serious and old patients.  This might also require listening to the lungs and heart, also the recording of the breathing of the patient.

As the afternoon progresses CNAs would help to transfer patients to the different appointments.  They would have to pass out linens and reposition patients if need be.  Also, they will have to make the patients bed and feed lunch if need be.  Vitals have to be taken for very sick and very old patients.  They would also have to walk the patients who can not.

In the evening,  CNAs would have to help patients with changing clothes.  They will also have to feed dinner.   They may also need to help patients bathe or give patients a bath.  Thus, a CNA is there for the basic needs of the patient throughout the day.

If patients have used diapers, these need to be changed by nursing assistants.  If these are non disposable then they have to be cleaned by the nursing assistant through water pressure in hopper rooms.  Other random duties include emptying catheters for patients and emptying used bedpans.

In the night  or graveyard shift, CNAs  are suppose  to check on their patients more  often and also to take their vitals if required.  They would also have to help the patients to the bathroom and change diapers.

One needs to be properly trained to become a certified nurse.  Once trained, you have to pass a test and only then do you get a certification.  There are many CNA jobs available, as there are always going to be people who are sick or involved in accidents who are in need of care and attention.

Nursing assistants are mainly there to help nurses in providing basic care to patients.  CNAs report to their nurse and have to give her a complete summary  at the completion of every shift. Also they have to give the complete handover to the next shift.

At the closing of every days shift,  the nursing attendant’s final task is to fill documentation as to  what all was done for each patient in an organized fashion.  It could be  written on paper or fed into the computer as per the organization standards.  Documentation includes toileting sheets, bath sheets and bowel records, skin sheets from baths, transfer sheets, hallway assignment sheets and bed alarm records.

The day will end with you tired and exhausted but you will feel needed and rewarded for the truly noble profession of nursing. So, before you enroll for CNA training, you should get a good idea of typical CNA duties, and assess yourself if you’d really like this type of job.

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