What is a CNA ? A Certified Nursing Assistants (CNA) job description is dealing with all patients health care daily needs. This will take place in various medical facilities, from helping newborns in a hospital for example through to helping the elderly in a nursing home or hospice.
The CNA job is a vital role on the front line in every medical facility. If you had to describe what is a CNA in one sentence, then it can be summarized as the eyes and ears of nurses. This is simply because they spend much more time with, and checking patients health, than any nurse or doctor does on a daily basis.
CNA duties – what does a cna do ?
- Mealtime for patients. A CNA will most often be responsible for feeding patients. This will include bringing and setting up of food trays for most patients and direct feeding for some patients.
- Dressing & bathing patients, plus basic hygiene requirements on a daily basis. Helping patients into and out of clothing ready for operations or discharge from the facility.
- Escorting patients to toilets, another part of the hospital for examination or outside the facility. Plus help with getting patients in and out of beds, or into a wheelchair.
- CNAs will usually be required to turn over bedridden patients to prevent bedsores and this elleviates the patients weight from pressure points in their body.
- The checking of vital signs of patients. This can include pulse reading, taking blood pressure readings or checking temperature of a patient.
- The changing of bed sheets and taking used laundry for cleaning.
- Organizing and tidying of patient rooms and workstations.
- Change of catheters & charting readings.
- Delivering items other than meals to patients like reading material for example.
- The relay of a patients chart information to another department within the facility. Also vital sign readings, meals and liquid intake amounts relayed to the Registered Nurse or next CNA that comes on shift.
- Any other adhoc task that may arise on a daily basis set by the RN in charge or by a doctor.
As you can probably tell from the above CNA job description, the role of a CNA is often a hectic and sometimes stressful occupation. You will therefore ideally need a high level of compassion and patience in order to deal with all the various tasks that are thrown at you daily. You will need a caring attitude towards the patients who relies on you for help.
I hope this has answered some of your questions on what is a CNA and the medical role that a CNA is involved with. If you are wanting a career within a hospital or other medical facility, without the need for years of study. Then you should consider training and CNA certification in order for you to become a Certified Nursing Assistant in a short space of time.