CNAs or Certified Nursing Assistants are the nursing personnel, whose main aim is to provide medical care services to the sick and ailing patients under the administration of Registered Nurses. Professional nursing assistants can work in any long term medical care facility, such as hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, home health settings etc. However, CNAs working in nursing homes deals in with the same patients’ everyday and this results in getting attached with them.
But to work professionally as a certified nursing assistant in nursing homes, one needs to acquire the high school diploma or GED and then complete the state-approved and accredited CNA training program. This will lead to the CNA examination, which is mandatory for the nursing students to clear as this will award them with CNA certification.
This course doesn’t take very long to complete, but it is necessary to clear the final CNA exam, which is further split into written and practical test. The main aim of this examination is to check what one has learnt during their nursing aide training program.
Nonetheless, training program for CNAs who wish to work in nursing homes, are thoroughly trained in all the clinical and nursing skills, which can be summed up as:
- Human anatomy.
- Medical vocabulary.
- Nutrition and infection control.
- Patients’ rights.
- Emergency and safety measures.
- CPR skills.
- Housekeeping skills, such as cleaning up the room of the patients’, changing the bed covers, emptying their food bowls, and stocking up the laundry at the right place and on time.
Being certified will make you eligible to work as a nursing personnel in nursing home, where you need to accomplish some duties, such as assisting the patients in feeding, grooming, bathing, keeping a check on the food and medication intake of the patient, checking their vital signs (pulse, temperature, blood pressure and respiration), supporting them in walking, transporting and exercising.
Nursing homes are the place where there are more elderly patients, which require more care and concern. Their nutrition and infection control is in the hands of the nursing assistant. However, CNAs working in nursing homes require lots of stamina, both physical and mental. This stamina will help them to survive through the long day and night shifts.
CNAs working in nursing homes are also liable to keep the patients calm during the treatment or surgery and also provide them with emotional support. Certified nursing assistants need to have effective communication skills and should be polite enough to deal with the elderly patients in the nursing homes.
It has been seen today that CNA as a career has been flourishing at a rapid speed. According to the labor statistics, the employment for CNAs is increasing at a decent speed. So this has encouraged the nursing aspirants to pursue their dream to become a certified nursing assistant and work in nursing homes or hospitals or any other long term medical care facility. An average median salary of the nursing assistant is usually $23,850 per annum. And this salary figure can increase or decrease on the basic of numerous factors, which include the experience gained in the field, location of the job and quality of education.