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Details on Certified Nursing Assistant Training
Are you one of the people who enjoy working with people? If so then a nursing assistant career may be the choice for you. Nursing assistants work directly with the patient and can report back to the nurse any unusual findings. CNA’s (Certified Nursing Assistant) constitute a team that may include doctors, nurses, occupational therapists and physical therapists. CNA’s render needed care for the kind of patients who are referred to as ADL’s (Activities of Daily Living).
These can include but are not limited to bathing, grooming, feeding. Other nursing assistant tasks include completing an assessment of individual patients. Some CNA’s are trained to pass medications. CNA’s can really communicate with the patient and report back to the busy nurse.
CNA’s are also trained to provide emergency services. They may come upon a code blue situation and need to act rapidly. Nursing assistant training combines classroom with hands on internship training. The CNA training provides the student with the knowledge and skills to become a CNA.
Basic CNA care entails feeding, dressing, grooming, bathing, oral care, changing bed linens, putting on anti-embolism stockings, nail care and doing range-of- motion activities with the patient as and when this is needed. Other nursing assistant training that would be helpful is infection control emphasizing hand washing. Other courses a student could complete include anatomy, nutrition, body function and structure and communicating with patients, families and staff. The majority of the CNA program is on site learning in hospitals and nursing homes. This prepares the student and gives them confidence to work on their own. The CNA training program teaches aides how to take care of a bedridden patient as well as the ambulatory.
The kinds of patients who are bed ridden need highly specialized care. They need to be diligently turned every two hours and their skin monitored for breakdown. They likely need to be fed and should be given water throughout the day. Once a nursing assistant is certified he or she has to take continuing education classes each year. The need for certified nursing assistants is expected to grow faster than any other occupation. As the baby boomers age and home health care is available there will be even more of a need for certified nursing assistants. CNA’s are essential in today’s medical field and the need is growing and will continue to grow as the baby boomers age. The median salary for CNA’s in 2006 was $10.67. Aids that worked in psychiatric facilities made slightly more at $11.49.