Certified nursing assistants are medical professionals who are always on the front lines of patient care. They are known as nurses’ aides, orderlies, patient care technicians, and home health aides. This job is one of the most humane and the most vital for daily hospital operations. Certified nursing assistants have good skills in patient care and they are always prepared to help in the treatment of those who are sick, disabled or unable to care for themselves. Certified nursing assistants always work under the supervision of a nurse, but they work more closely with patients.
Certified Nursing Assistant Job Description
Daily tasks of a certified nursing assistant covers a wide range of responsibilities, from basic care services such as bathing, grooming and feeding patients, to assisting the nurses with medical equipment and checking and recording patients’ vital signs. Certified nursing assistant will normally carry meals to the patients and help them to eat when they need help in feeding. Certified nursing assistant also records the food ingestion of every patient and keeps the record for the nurse.
Sometimes, this profession demands a lot of physical effort as the nursing assistant needs to turn over bed-ridden patients to avoid bedsores. The nursing assistant will also clear the catheter bags and patients’ disposable incontinence undergarments.
On a busy day, a certified nursing assistant will provide care for more than twenty different patients. Nursing assistant will answer all of the calls for help and carefully observe changes in patients’ condition or behavior. However, the most important task for every certified nursing assistant is to provide a lot of attention and appreciation for the patients, and to make them feel as much as secure and venerable as possible.
Certified Nursing Assistant Training
Each certified nursing assistant has to have a high school diploma or GED. In addition, a certified nursing assistant needs to complete 6-to-12 week CNA certificate program at a community college or medical facility. The goal of the program is to learn basic nursing skills, anatomy and physiology, nutrition and infection control.
Certified Nursing Assistant Salary
It is estimated that about 50 percent of all certified nursing assistants earn between $24,729 and $29,887 per year. Top earning certified nursing assistants make $32,388 or even more. The years of experience and place of employment are strongly affecting the salaries. The prospects for certified nursing assistants are very promising, as there is an increasing long-term care needed by an aging population.
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