Certified Nursing Assistants work in hospitals, nursing homes, extended-stay and private residences helping patients with everyday tasks. The majority of a CNA's job description involves personal care duties such as bathing, dressing, maintaining sleeping quarters and assistance during mealtime. Depending on where you decide to work your job duties can vary slightly. Being a CNA is not an easy job. You have to be attentive to your patients' needs and comfort them when they are feeling down and out. A lot of people become Certified Nursing Assistants not knowing what they are getting themselves into and do not last long.
Along with the job duties listed above, there are some other duties as well. They can include:
- Helping patients change bed covers
- Providing showers
- Changing clothes
- Administer medication at certain intervals
- Assisting patients with exercises
- Help patients use the toilet
CNA's will also help monitor a patient's well-being. This can include checking vital signs such as blood pressure, temperature, heartbeat, blood sugar and respiration rate. Certified nursing assistants can also measure a patients output from urine, blood and stool. Some of you may be thinking that this isn't the job for me. Well think again, becoming a Certified Nursing Assistant can be very rewarding jobs for those who enjoy helping make a difference in the lives of those less fortunate than yourself.
Another big responsibility of CNA's will be dealing with the relatives of your patients. This can include making/taking phone calls, explaining procedures in person and sometimes assisting the family with unexpected needs. This aspect of a CNA's job is very important because relatives will have a lot of questions and be on edge most of the time. Proper terms and techniques will be taught during your CNA training.
A CNA's job description will vary depending on the type of facility that they work in. For those of us who will work in hospitals will do more medical procedures. Those who work in nursing homes will have more job duties related to patient's day to day needs.
Quotes from retired CNA's:
- "As soon as I would get to work, even if I was having a bad day, I would be so happy to be where I was"
- "Becoming a CNA was one of the best decisions of my life. It has allowed me to show the world the compassionate person I am. Seeing the smiles on my patients faces makes every day go a lot smoother... "
- "I feel bad for people who work jobs they do not have a passion for."
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