CNA Job Description

Certified nursing assistants or the CNA’s are often employed in nursing homes, hospitals, long-term healthcare facilities, community care facilities as well as home health aides. These professionals play a major role in the healthcare team in different medical settings. Regardless of where the CNA works, their responsibilities are almost the same but some may differ on the kind of facility or employment location.

CNA Aptitudes

In order to understand the CNA’s job description, let us take a glance on some of the essential traits that every certified nursing assistant should have. First, the nursing assistant profession is focused in one universal concept which is to provide an excellent care as possible to the patients. In fact, there are three characteristics that are followed in this concept and these are; Care, Compassion as well as Empathy.

• Care – The ultimate goal of health care professionals is to offer impeccable care to the patients in a full extent regardless of the condition or environment. This means that it is very important to listen on the patient’s needs because it plays an enormous factor. Whenever you pay attention on the needs of the patients, you will better understand his/her concerns and address it as immediate as possible.
• Compassion – Being compassionate means that you have a positive feeling towards the person who is actually grieving or suffering. Even though you cannot completely obtain the exact details of the patient’s condition, it will not matter in any way as long as you try your best to be compassionate in caring for them.
• Empathy – Empathy is quite similar to compassion, however, it is more than that. Being empathetic means that you understand fully the needs and concerns of the patients. In fact, the best way to show empathy to the patients is to imagine yourself in their own situation. For instance, what type of care would you want to obtain from the CNA if you are sick or in pain?

 

CNA Duties

Since we understand now the traits and characteristics that are essential in your career as a certified nursing assistant, let us try to explore the detailed list of job descriptions that every CNA will meet in some time of their career. The following are job descriptions that are under the scope of duties for all certified nursing assistants.

• Personal Hygiene –This type of duty includes washing and bathing of patients as well as assisting them in shower as needed. The most essential part in hygiene is to assist the patient in their grooming like brushing their hair, trimming their nails and many others. Several patients should be assisted in changing their clothes every day.

• Infection Control –Everyone in the health care team including the CNA should know the proper protocol in inhibiting the spread of bacteria in the medical setting. Certified nursing assistants should be updated on the current infection control management by taking the continued education courses. These courses will give them knowledge on how to minimize the spread and transport of diseases. Washing of hands all the time as well as disposing all the soiled linens or materials properly plays an important part in controlling any infections.

• Dietary Care –CNA’s are responsible in providing adequate nutrition to their patients. Some of the patient may be able to eat without assistance while others will really need direct feeding. Most of the time, recording the type and amount of food consumed by the patient is necessary in their daily nutrition monitoring.

• Administering Treatments –Certified nursing assistants will handle different medical equipments like the bladder scanners, anti-embolism stockings, intermittent pneumatic compression equipments, bedpans and many others. You may also assist in administering variety of treatments like patient massage.

• Reporting –Certified nursing assistants should have a direct contact with their assigned patients. This makes you a frontline person in providing care to patients in need. With this capacity, you have to be observant as much as possible because it is very important in the health care planning. You have to record the health status of the patients and this includes their intake or output, vital signs and many others. You also have to communicate your observations or recordings to the CNA’s in the next shift, charge nurses and registered nursing staff.

• Emotional Support –Apart from the physical care, you also have to cater the emotional needs of patients. This should be considered all the time especially that certified nursing assistants will spend most of their duty hours to the patients. Hence, this will enable you to understand better the daily moods of the patients, fears as well as their concerns. In this kind of role, you will be a conduit of the patients and other staff in the health care team. Take time to listen or counsel the patient in order to relieve their stress and daily concerns.

Considerations

Certified nursing assistant’s job description, regardless of the setting, may encompass similar duties. However, their responsibilities as a health care professional may vary in different setting. CNA’s who are working in hospital settings will have an added responsibility especially if they worked in a specialized area.

Conversely, certified nursing assistants who are employed as home-health aides will be able to handle several ancillary duties that are not related to their medical profession, including cooking and housework chores.

Although some CNA duties will differ in variety of locations, it is still important to take into account the three personal characteristics- care, compassion as well as empathy. Taking these traits by heart will make you a better CNA to the patients in needs of care.