Nursing Assistant – Overview, Job Description & Training

What A CNA Is & What They Do

You can work anywhere in the world as a certified nursing assistant as there is always a demand for care for the elderly as well as all other ages that are demanding assistance, providing one as with job security as well as the opportunity to make a difference in countless lives throughout the time that they are in the profession. But you should known that often times the words “nursing assistant” are used loosely as often times people are really talking about a CNA, which the main difference is that a nurse assistant is one who hasn’t passed a certification course and state wide exam, which some facilities will hire an individual without any credentials but will allow them only to do the basic of the basic when it comes to their job tasks. To gain more freedom as far as the amount your job entails goes, most people attain their CNA certification which will also allow them to earn more money and is often times demanded by employers and required by law to work in a healthcare facility.

A certified nurse aide is just that, one who assists nurses with tasks that they do not have time to do, which being that they can work anywhere a nurse works, that opens the opportunity to a wide variety of different work places that new certified nurse assistants can work at, some of which include; nursing homes, different areas of hospitals that can range from pediatrics to intensive care, elderly care homes and in the homes of patients also known as a home health aide.

CNA Training & Job Description

Getting a job as a CNA is one thing, but getting the training you need is the main step to doing so, which you can training at places like local community colleges and technical schools to also being able to take courses that are offered via nursing homes and hospitals themselves, which these classes are held at a different location. These classes teach future nurse assistants the basics of the health care professoin and how to successfully execute the CNA job description, which students learn things like; how to test the vitals of patients, patient communication, language used in the profession, how to handle emergency situations, legal and ethical rights or patients, how to take care of patients hygeine, how to lift and manuever patients without causing injury, and more. One can become a certified nursing aide in a matter or a month to three months, as that is how long courses tend to run.

Once on the job a nurse assistant will be resonsible for applying all the things they learned in their schooling, which some of the tasks that take up a certified nurse aides daily schedule are:

• Helping patients walk and exercise.
• Offering skin care.
• Answering to the patients call lights.
• Escorting them to the operating room.
• Providing assistance during recreational activities.
• Helping them use the restroom and bathe.
• Keeping their rooms tidy.
• Providing detailed reports to the nurse or doctor as well as the CNA that is to come on after the conclusion of your shift.
• Monitoring the amount of patient food consumption and how much and how often they are eliminating.

Overall a CNA  is one who provides care to patients to help them with things that they have trouble doing or no longer posses the capacity to do so, which really consists of paying close attention to your patients in order to be able to cater to their needs as well as doing so in a calm and relaxing as well as a nurturing way that will put your patients at ease and building trust with them. Empathy is also another characteristic of a good nursing assistant along with having a good sense of humor that can be applied when talking to patients whom are often depressed about their situation.

Now that you know more about what a CNA is and what all they do, you may be interested in starting your career and getting your foot into the health care profession, which the first step you want to take is find a local CNA training course that is accredited, which can be done by either searching on the internet or phoning your states CNA registry.