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Certified Nursing Assistant

By admin ⋅ April 16, 2008 ⋅  Email This Post ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

In the United States, Certified Nursing Assistants, Certified Nurse Assistants (CNAs), State Tested Nurse Aid (STNA) or Nursing Assistants-Registered (NA/Rs), assist individuals with healthcare needs (often called “patients”, “clients”, “service users”) with activities of daily living (ADLs) and provide bedside care—including basic nursing procedures—all under the supervision of a Registered Nurse (RN), Enrolled Nurse, or Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) (Meyer).

In today’s hospitals and extended care facilities a nurse assistant is an important part of a healthcare team that includes many personnel outside of nurses. Nurse assistants are needed to provide routine care so that nurses can provide care that only they can perform, as outlined by each state’s Nurse Practice Acts, such as formulating care plans, nursing assessments, administering medication, and assisting in surgery room preparation. The nurse assistant must not only be very skilled in the actual procedures being performed but must also be able to observe a patient’s condition and report that information back to the nurse. Due to other responsibilities, the nurse cannot spend large amounts of time in the room with the patient so the nurse assistant is often referred to as the nurse’s “eyes and ears”.

A nurse assistant is usually responsible for Activities of Daily Living, which include bathing and feeding patients.

A nurse assistant must also have a strong grasp of emergency procedures and be able to stay calm in stressful situations. They must be able to initiate a Code Blue and be well-drilled in CPR.

To become a Certified Nursing Assistant, one must have 100 hours of cna training clinical practice and 50 hours of classroom instruction. Certification by the Department of Health Services requires the following: health screening and TB test, completion of 150 hours of cna training in a program approved by the Department of Health Services, criminal background check, and successful completion of a nurse assistant certification and competency exam. Certified Nursing Assistants must also complete 48 hours of in-service cna training or college courses every two years to renew their license.

To get more information about cna schools and cna programs, you can visit this helpful website in www.medical-career-training.com.

Tags: cna programs, cna schools, cna training