A Certified Nursing Assistant is an important job in any area of health care. With modern nurses having so many duties, it is almost necessary for them to have an assistant in doing a lot of the duties that they may not have the time for.
These are duties such as: bathing a patient, helping a patient use any facilities that they need to, feeding patients, making beds and many other duties. These carers are some of the least respected group of workers in the workforce considering the work they do for anyone in any kind of hospital.
To become a Certified Nursing Assistants, one of the more popular routes is quickly becoming the online option (which you can find here: www.CNAOnlinePrograms.net). This is happening because the course can be flexible and the classes can be taken at any times, as well as the advancements in technology. Because of this, schools offering these courses have changed them slightly so that you learn from the same curriculum online as you would in the classroom. The only exception to this rule is having to find your own in-clinic hours at a local hospital or nursing home, whereas going to a school on campus; you would have someone aiding you in your search.
So, what will you be learning in one of these programs? You will learn the basics of the CNA job description, which include learning things such as: how to keep and maintain a sanitary patient area, how to properly bath a patient and many more. You will learn the basics of nursing, communication with your patients, anatomy, physiology and proper patient care, and there are many more interesting areas which you can indulge yourself in.
However, you cannot expect this to be an easy job as there are plenty of duties that a Nursing Assistant will take care of. From this, you can assume that there will be plenty of things to learn and there are. Covered in the job description, these are also the topics are covered in the curriculum:
- Housekeeping: Making sure everything is as clean and sanitary as possible
- Toilet Care: Checking bedpans and helping any patients that may need to go to the toilet to do what they n need to do. This might also involve emptying catheters
- Patient Hygiene: Bathing, cleaning teeth, clipping nails and sometimes even cutting hair and eyebrows
- Feeding: Helping to feed and hydrate the patient
- Wound Care: Cleaning and dressing wounds that may require to it to be done
- Bedding: Changing of linen and bed sheets to prevent infections
- Exercise: Helping a patient exercise as per doctor or physician orders
- Mental Support: Proving mental support for patients and their families (especially important in some situations where the families of patients may get emotional at certain intervals.)
- Movement: Helping patients walk, get in or out of bed, or in a wheel chair
- Equipment Care: Making sure all the equipment used is sterile and clean
- Socialization: Taking patients outside, or in a nursing home, taking patients on field trips
- Helping Hand: Helping any patient out as necessary at any point during the day
- Being Dependable: Responding to call lights as soon as you possibly can
- Safety: Removing all possible hazards in the area and picking them out as soon as possible
- Comforting: Not so much a skill to learn but one that is needed, you must be comforting to all patients, no matter their situation
While these are some of the more important duties of a CNA, you will find out more as you go about your course and learn every piece of information you can. I have tremendous respect for Nursing Assistants, as they helped comfort my mother when her father was not in the best place, and I hope anyone in this job can offer this kind of help to anyone who is in need.
