Certified nursing assistants (CNAs) provide the much needed support to nurses in various health care settings: hospitals, rehabilitation clinics, long-term care facilities and doctor’s offices.
Certified nursing assistant jobs and responsibilities cover a wide range of patient care and hospital maintenance and because of this, CNAs must be physically healthy, have great people skills and tolerance for their tasks. It also helps for a CNA to possess a sense of humor.
There are various ways an individual can become a CNA or healthcare worker. There are training programs offered by medical schools, technical schools, colleges and even organizations like the Red Cross. Certified nursing assistant jobs are taught in these training programs lasting within a number of weeks or months depending on the program.
Certified nursing assistant jobs mostly require certification so after completing training, the individual will have to take the certification exams.
The basic responsibilities and jobs of a CNA are as follows:
• Help patients bathe and dress
• Feed patients who are unable to feed themselves
• Empty bedpans, help patients to toileting facilities
• Change beds and patient’s diapers
• Take vital signs (measure pulse rates, respiration and blood pressure)
• Chart patient vitals in each shift, report any changes and patient improvements
• Keep patients from developing bedsores by turning them over every few hours
More often than not, a certified nursing aide is the one present when a patient calls or signals for help so the job can require lifting patients who are too ill to get up. Safe lifting techniques are also needed to perform this certified nursing assistant job.
Since certified nursing assistant jobs are not limited to hospitals, CNAs are trained to exercise paralyzed or comatose patients in long term care facilities. Health care workers also work in home care settings and serve as caretakers for patients with disabling conditions or those recovering from any illnesses or disabilities.
These jobs certified nursing aides perform allow the nursing staff to provide patient care that requires greater training. These tasks include starting IVs, administering IV medications, charting and noting significant changes in a patient’s health, giving appropriate medications on time and alerting doctors to potential problems.
In many health care facilities, the problem of having a higher number of patients than nurses are resolved by the presence of competent certified nursing assistants. Still, it could be tiring for CNAs if the patient to nurse ratio is particularly high.
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