What Is A 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 Does a Certified Nursing Assistant Do Every Day?

A CNA's main tasks improve the quality of daily living for the ill patients under their supervision. Most times, patients being cared for by a Certified Nurses Assistant are older. There's two levels of CNAs: CNA-I and CNA-II. A CNA-I usually performs jobs that demand just fundamental Certified Nurses Assistant schooling, but are vitally important. Level 1 CNAs usually do things including:

* Keep a clean patient area - changing sheets, sanitizing bedpans, and the like.

* Bathing patients - keeping patients clean and properly washed while they are under care

* 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.

* Documenting vital signs - making sure the patient isn't negatively reacting to medication or even at risk of developing new ailments

* Providing meals and drinks for patients - many elderly people who need assistive care are unable to feed themselves, so a CNA helps them

* Recognizing and preventing bed sores - any person that remains in their bed for hours on end is prone to uncomfortable bedsores, and CNAs move patients to prevent sores from developing.

* Warning doctors of emerging ailments - if unforeseen symptoms emerge, the Certified Nursing Assistant may be the first to notice and tell physicians

* 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 - shifting their patient's arms or legs through the total range of flexibility to ensure they are mobile

A CNA-II has to carry out all the tasks that a CNA-I can, but has also gone through additional training to compete more complex jobs. The responsibilities of these "level two" Certified Nursing Aids include:

* Employing complicated devices - starting oxygen treatments, checking oxygen flow-rate, and so on.

* Conduct nasal and oral cleaning using suction - getting rid of oral secretions in case the patient is not able to do it themselves

* 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

* Doing sterile and clean dressing and bandage adjustments - cleaning and disposing of dirty dressings and bandages

* Management of IV therapies - Putting together and purging IV lines, overseeing flow rate, terminating IV treatments, and so on.

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

* Handling force feedings - after the set-up is verified by Licensed Nurse, a Certified Nursing Aide can be given the task of performing 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.

Precisely what sort of man or woman pursues employment as a CNA?

Several kinds of individuals are attracted to Certified Nurses Assistant positions. Many men and women who choose to become Certified Nurses Assistants want to care for other people, they generally tend to be kind people that get satisfaction in taking care of other people. Many Certified Nurses Aides identify themselves as outgoing, or as a people person. Becoming a Certified Nursing Aid means that you work with lots of people every day, or that you take care of an individual as his or her primary carer and friend. For this reason, several Certified Nursing Aides say they really like working with people.

So what is a CNA Nurse? In brief, they are normal people, the same as you, who love caring for other people...so much they make it their regular occupation!




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