What is a Certified Nursing Assistant?
By Sandra Stevens
A certified nursing assistant is a vital member of the medical staff who takes care of ill patients. As the name suggests a CNA is more of an assistant to the nurse and performs similar but low level duties that a nurse would perform.
A CNA ensures that the patient is comfortable at all times. He or she also performs vital duties for the nurses such as taking vital signs or patient repositioning.
Depending on where they work a CNA's work may differ from place to place. Some nursing assistants work in private residences caring for old men and women who have fallen ill and need a medical personnel at all times. Some work at nursing homes ensuring comfort for old people. Most CNA's however work in proper healthcare facilities under certified nurses.
CNA's perform a host of duties depending on the limitations imposed on them by the state. Since the CNA training classes are usually not more than a year or two most states consider CNA's to be not qualified enough to perform more important tasks such as intensive care for patients or complicated nursing procedures.
Most CNA's are concerned with ensuring comfort for the patient in a number of ways. CNA's take care of patient hygiene as well as preventing problems such as bedsores from occurring. They also check patient vitals and are responsible for patients meals.
Nursing assistants also take care of patient movement. From simple tasks such as repositioning patient position for bedsore prevention to more complicated tasks such as transportation to the surgery or MRI room in a healthcare facility. They are the last line of medical staff. A nursing assistant is responsible for calling a Doctor or a certified nurse if a patients condition worsens or changes.
In private settings nursing assistants can become very close with their patients. They can become a form of personalized medical assistance. A certified nursing assistant can aid a patients physiotherapy exercises or even provide guidance for improved care. They may also provide close emotional support.
CNA Training Programs are becoming more and more advanced to equip nursing assistants with more knowledge for ensuring a greater degree of nursing care. The role of the CNA has evolved over the years to becoming just a fraction lesser than a fully certified nurse. It is now usual to see nursing assistants becoming fully certified nurses after on the job training and passing nursing certification tests.
Find out all about what a CNA does from expert Sandra Stevens on her blog. Get the best possible CNA Classes now!
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