Tuesday, December 31, 2013

What Is A Certified Nursing Aid (CNA)?

By Dennis Bruckmer


A CNA is a Certified Nursing Assistant. The two terms have the same meaning, it just depends on the person to whom you are talking! A CNA executes things as part of a group of medical professionals, a group that includes healthcare doctors and nurses. Certified Nurses Assistants do things to assist physicians in caring for sick men and women, normally the elderly. A Certified Nurses Assistant's duties usually make ill individuals feel more comfortable so that they could have a more acceptable quality of life.

What do Certified Nurses Aids need to know how to do?

A Certified Nurses Aid is responsible for improving the quality of everyday living for sick men and women under their care. Most times, patients aided by a Certified Nurses Aid are seniors. There's a couple of levels of CNAs: CNA-I and CNA-II. A CNA-I generally executes tasks which call for standard Certified Nurses Aid education, but are still very important. CNA-Is usually do things such as:

* Sustain a clean patient bed - changing sheets, cleaning out bedpans, etc.

* Cleaning patient carefully - making sure patients are properly bathed, for their well being and relaxation

* Recording care journal and logging aid given - writing performed tasks in a log, including concerning signs, symptoms or responses to medication

* Helping their patients into bed - many patients have difficulty getting into bed, and require some assistance.

* Vital and life sign monitoring - ensuring that the patient is not having reactions nor at risk of developing new ailments

* Feeding and hydrating patients - many sick people who need the care of a Certified Nurses Aid are not able to feed themselves

* Identifying and avoiding bedsores - bedsores develop on people who stay in bed all day long, so CNAs move patients around their bed to prevent sores from cropping up

* Identifying and handling new problems - if completely new signs or problems develop, the Certified Nursing Aid may be the very first to find the problem and notify other medical professionals

* Understanding all patient responses - detecting negative reactions to treatment, and informing doctors or solving the trouble independently, if they are able to

* Preserving patient comfort - keeping the room comfortable

* Promoting their patient's range of motion - moving the patient's arms and legs through a total range of motion to ensure they are moving

A CNA-II will have to do the jobs that a CNA-I can do, but a CNA-II has taken extra training to compete much more complex duties. The jobs of these "level two" Certified Nurses Aids include things like:

* Using oxygen therapy equipment - starting oxygen therapy, checking oxygen flow, etcetera.

* Conduct oral and nasal cleaning using suction - eliminating oral secretions if the patient cannot do it independently

* Handling a blocked colon - cleaning out an obstructed colon if a patient can no longer go to the toilet on their own

* Providing tracheostomy procedures - forcing another air-way in the event patients lose the ability to breathe normally

* Performing sterile and clean dressing adjustments - cleaning and disposing of dirtied dressings and bandages

* Handling IV therapies - Assembling and flushing tubes, checking flow-rate, discontinuing I.V. therapies, and so forth.

* Tending to ostomy treatments - eliminating a patient's wastes when they've been through an ostomy

* Handling tube feedings - after the equipment is set up by licensed nurse, a CNA is given the task of executing tube feedings

* Applying Catheters - carrying out catheterizations and irrigating catheter lines

Most of these responsibilities and duties of a CNA drastically enhance the standard of living of a sick person going through any sort of recovery or treatment. A great CNA Nurse can certainly make all the difference in the world to a person who is under care. Consider your grandmother, your father or some other cherished one who might have to be in a nursing home and under care. Think of how it would comfort your family members, to know that your own flesh and blood is benefiting from fantastic care and attention while they are ill.

What kind of person wants to become a CNA?

Many kinds of men and women are attracted to Certified Nursing Aid positions. Many folks who opt to become Certified Nursing Aids desire to take care of patients, they are typically caring people that get satisfaction in looking after others. Many Certified Nurses Assistants identify themselves as outgoing, and as a "people person." Becoming a Certified Nurses Aid means that you work with a lot of people day after day, or that you work with a single person as his or her primary carer and friend. Because of this, many Certified Nurses Aids say they love being around people.

So what is a CNA? To put it briefly, they are normal men and women, the same as you, who enjoy looking after other people so much that they make it their regular job!




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