Certified Nursing Assistant: A Vital Profession
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What Are Certified Nursing Assistants?
Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs) are health care professionals who provide care for patients who are disabled, physically injured or unable to care for themselves. Usually they work in hospitals, mental health wards or retirement homes with patients whose primary need is long-term care.
Becoming a Certified Nursing Assistant requires you to complete an approved CNA certification course. According to One Great Earth, these courses last anywhere from several weeks to several months, depending on your state requirements. In any case, a minimum of 75 hours of certified training or more is the requirement, at which time you must pass a competency exam. Upon successful completion of the program, you will become a qualified CNA and be registered with the state accordingly. Training requirements vary from state to state, so you must be sure to check with your state board for the exact details.
A Caregiving Career
Most jobs are CNAs are available in long term care facilities, hospitals, retirement centers, mental institutions and nursing homes. There is also increasing demand for CNAs in private nursing and home care, which might require additional certification requirements.
Unlike nurses and doctors, one of the most rewarding aspects of being a CNA is the opportunity to provide a greater amount of direct patient care. CNAs are responsible for daily patient care, and they must report any changes that they observe in the patient's condition. As a CNA, you work as a team with doctors and nurses in order to provide a total package of complete patient care.
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Training and Skills
There are many hundreds of CNA training programs available all across the country. Your state licensing board can provide you with a list of approved CNA training schools in your area. For students who have difficulty traveling to school, or for those who have no training schools located nearby, one popular alternative is to enroll in CNA classes online. Online courses allow the student to complete her training in comfort and convenience of home.
CNA training involves teaching you how to help patients accomplish basic daily functions, such as bathing, grooming and eating. Some of the topics covered include basic anatomy and physiology, nutrition, communication skills, and patient's rights and expectations.
A Vital Profession
The Certified Nursing Assistant profession plays an extremely vital role in health care system today. As such, it is a very rewarding profession that can allow you to have a job and make money doing something that you truly love, as well as something that has great value to society.
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Point well taken. My cousin has been a CNA for years and I think she is a saint. The purpose of my article is to encourage people to explore this career as an option, if only as a good stepping stone to some other health care specialty. You are correct, it is the responsibility of the school to paint a realistic picture of the daily job. It's also the responsibility of the student to talk to other CNAs to open their eyes a bit wider. It's not a job for everyone! But entry-level jobs of any kind are rarely all butterflies and rainbows.
Great Information in your Hub.You Must Keep Posting Useful Content.I love reading topic related to medical field.
AlyssaNicole 11 months ago
As a CNA, I find that these were the types of things my teachers told me keep me going in my studies to become a nursing assistant. I blindly thought it was going to be butterflies and rainbows and that I was going to love these people and help them in their old age. Not at all. It is a very thankless, but necessary, job. Now, not to knock the profession by any means; I fully agree with you in the fact that nursing assistants are very important. Every profession needs a grunt and to do the work no one wants to. However, the reality needs to be taught to these people, sometimes teens, in how the job actually works. The work itself is backbreaking. Mentally, physically and emotionally taxing, and somewhat scarring. You get abused all sorts of ways from residents, who sometimes don't know any better because of old age and sickness. I feel that while the work in itself is very simple and common sense, most of the time empathy is not always there. Also, I think that if people knew how challenging the work was beforehand, there would not be so much bitterness and disregard of feeling when it comes to the elderly after the fact. A CNA can be getting paid $12 an hour, but will have to be taking are of up to 14 residents that are all totally dependent! And sometimes that CNA is only 16 and still in high school!! So while you have CNA as a "profession", which it can be, most are only CNA's until a better opportunity comes along because of how strenuous the work is.