Become more familiar of the basic certified nursing assistant skills and learn to master them.
A certified nursing assistant (CNA) is an expert in patient care or patients with activities of daily living (ADLs). After completing a training program, in which various certified nursing assistant skills are taught, and passed a comprehensive exam, a CNA works under the supervision of a registered nurse or a licensed healthcare provider.
The CNA’s training program generally takes 3 to 6 months, depending on specific and state (or employer) approved requirements. Certified nursing assistants, also known as nursing aids, or orderly, perform many duties in a variety of health-care settings.
Here are some of the basic certified nursing assistant skills:
Personal Care
This is one of the major tasks of a CNA. She or he provides basic nursing care and helps patients with their activities of daily living such as eating, getting out of bed, and bathing, among others. A nursing assistant should not just be skilled in ADLs, but should also be very observant of a patient’s condition or needs for emotional support, and must report that information to the RN.
Patient’s rights
It’s a primary duty of a nursing assistant to ensure that the patient’s rights are properly protected and observed. These would include the right of privacy and dignity of the patient, the right of confidentiality, to accept or refuse treatment, to know about their care plan and the making of their care plan.
Vital Signs Monitoring
Taking the patient’s vital signs is often done and recorded once a day or per doctor’s instruction. This includes taking the patient’s pulse rate, temperature, blood pressure, respiration, and level of pain. Vital signs are crucial to knowing the condition of patients such as an indication of some infection, decrease cardiac output, or heart problems.
It’s the responsibility of the certified nursing assistant to report any unusual findings to the supervising nurse or doctor.
Ambulation Assistance
Certified nursing assistants are taught a set of techniques and proper ways of helping patients to walk, get in and out of bed, enter a walker, or get some exercise. They help them move safely without straining their joints and muscles. Ambulation assistance helps patients heal faster, and improve their health condition.
Below are other major certified nursing assistant skills:
- Oral care
- Bedpan use and output measurement
- Feeding
- Personal hygiene and grooming
- Dressing and undressing
- Taking medication
- Hair and nail care
- Applying antiembolic stockings
- Range-of-motion exercises
- Documenting care
What’s next?
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