A Certified Nursing Assistant has a very demanding job. It drains a person's physical strength by lifting residents but, it can drain the worker of emotions as well because of the loss, pain, and abandonment surrounding many residents. I am a Certified Nursing Assistant and I believe the hardest part of my job is getting attached to a resident as they pass away. The death of a resident leaves preparing their body the Certified Nursing Assistant's responsibility so their families can say goodbye and the funeral director can take them to the funeral home. The whole process takes a minuscule amount of time, thirty minutes or less, once someone knows the process. However, the body needs respect and care even after death.Preparing a body is emotional for the worker and the family. Start by gathering the supplies to prepare the body. First, …show more content…
Pay special attention to the face and hands, take the time to remove crusts of secretions from the eyes, nose, and mouth. The cleansing of the body includes perineal care and removal of the IV and catheter if they are present.The resident receives a new gown and new bed linens after their bath is complete. The draw sheet placement changes, meaning it is vertical instead of horizontal, so it is easier to move the resident onto the gurney. After replacing the sheets, the step of adding dentures per families request and placing a rolled towel under the chin to support the jaw to keep it closed before rigor mortis sets in. Next, closure of the eyes to the best of the Certified Nursing Assistant's ability and then combing of any stray hairs using warm water to keep them down if needed. After preparation of the resident, the next step is positioning, adjustment of the bed includes positioning it so that it is flat with the resident's arms placed straight at his or her sides. The resident's arms should lay outside of the blanket at each side of the
The patient will be asked to remove clothing and will be given a gown to
The nature of the work is very similar for the C.N.A. and L.P.N. A C.N.A. work includes performing routine tasks under the supervision of nursing staff. They answer call bells, deliver messages, serve meals, make beds, and help patients eat, dress, and bathe. Aides also provide skin care to patients, take pulse, temperature, respiration, and blood pressure and help patients get in and out of bed and walk. They also escort patients to operating rooms, exam rooms, keep patient rooms neat, set up equipment, or store and move supplies. Aides observe patient’s physical, mental, and emotional condition and report any change to the R.N. Likewise the L.P.N. provides basic bedside care. They take vital signs such as temperature, blood pressure, restorations, and pulse. They also treat bedsores, prepare and give injections and enemas, apply dressings, apply ice packs and insert catheters. L.P.N.’s observe patients and report adverse reactions to medications or treatments to the R.N. or the doctor. They help patients with bathing, dressing, and personal hygiene, and care for their emotional needs.
Nurses are both blessed and cursed to be with patients from the very first moments of life until their final breath. With those last breaths, each patient leaves someone behind. How do nurses handle the loss and grief that comes along with patients dying? How do they help the families and loved ones of deceased patients? Each person, no matter their background, must grieve the death of a loved one, but there is no right way to grieve and no two people will have the same reaction to death.
The hospice aide’s job duties varies depending on the patient. If the hospice patient is in good condition, the job duties are very similar to that of the nursing home CNA. The hospice aide’s main goal is to maintain the patient’s dignity while providing the most comforting care possible. Many hospice patients are referring to as being on “comfort cares” – meaning if they don’t want to eat, they aren’t forced to. The hospice aide’s job is a hard one, as any CNA’s is, but perhaps more so, as they lose their patients at a higher
Next, implementation of the interventions must be completed that were identified in the plan. After checking the orders for pain medication, the student provides the patient with prescribed analgesics. Also, she states, “I will assess pain level every 2 hours or as reported by the patient.” She repositions the patient in a semi-fowlers position by elevating the head of the bed 45 degrees, provides ice chips, and reassesses vital signs.
Essay 1: How will you contribute to the mission of the Nurse Corps scholarship program in providing care to underserved communities?
The transition from student to a qualified nurse can be a stressful and overwhelming ex-perience for many newly qualified nurses. This opinion is widely upheld throughout the literature with Higgins et al (2010) maintaining that many of the problems experienced are due to lack of support during this initial transition and a period of preceptorship would be invaluable.
Licensed practical nurses (LPN 's) fill an important role in modern health care practices. Their primary job duty is to provide routine care, observe patients’ health, assist doctors and registered nurses, and communicate instructions to patients regarding medication, home-based care, and preventative lifestyle changes (Hill). A Licensed Practical Nurse has various of roles that they have to manage on a day to day basis, such as being an advocate for their patients, an educator, being a counselor, a consultant, researcher, collaborator, and even a manager depending on what kind of work exactly that you do and where. It is the nursing process and critical thinking that separate the LPN from the unlicensed assistive personnel. Judgments are based
To begin my personal statement, I grew up in the West African nation of The Gambia. I am the youngest of thirteen children and I was adopted by my uncle and his wife at age 2. My adoption was very different than the American way where all sorts of contractual documents had to be signed. Although the end results are the same, mine was done without signing any documents because my parents were just giving me up to my uncle and his wife to raise me. At age 5, my uncle enrolled me at Primary School without the consent of my biological parents for fearing that they would object because most parents in the Gambia do not think girls have the same rights to education as boys. I grew up without a television, running water or electricity. I did not know that I lacked
Granted, textbooks and nursing classes deal with death, but Marks explains that you do not really understand it until it is right in front of you. Overtime it becomes something that nurse’s become accustom to. To clarify the subject of death never becomes easy, it just becomes bearable. After 31 years of experience Marks explained to me that nurses have to learn how to distance themselves, yet still be caring at the same time; a trait that does not come easily to most. In the same way treating someone with a terminal illness is just as hard. In these cases nurses must step into the role of councillors. They must learn how to comfort their patient, yet not become too attached. As well they must learn how to explain to them what is happening, which can become especially hard when dealing with
The nurse needs to recognize the limitations of each staff member and learn what assignments are within the scope of their practice and what are tasks that need delegation. Delegation is defined as a complex process that requires clinical judgment and final accountability for patients’ care (Weydt, 2010). An assignment is defined as “giving someone else a task within his/her own practice and is base on job descriptions and policies” (NCSBN, 2005, p. 1). The Board of Registered Nursing (BRN) and the Board of Vocational nursing & Psychiatric Technicians (BVNPT) website, lists what duties the RN and the LVN can legally do and is within their scope of practice, this is called the ‘nurse practice act’. A nurse assistant personnel (NAP) or Unlicensed Assistive personnel (UAP) may perform different tasks depending on the state that they reside in, but most include tasks that are considered activities of daily living (ambulating, hygiene, grooming)(NCSBN, 2005). The LVN can perform tasks that the nursing assistant can do, as well as other tasks which include: medication administration (oral, subcutaneous, intramuscular), simple dressing changes, wound care, suctioning, catheter insertion, drawing blood from a patient, and starting an IV and intravenous fluids. IV and blood draws are dependent on the LVNs certification, competence, and
[A]lthough the days are busy and the workload is always growing, there are still those special moments when someone says or does something and you know you’ve made a difference in someone’s life. That’s why I became a nurse.” —Diane McKenty
The first step to understand your role as a CNA is to know the difference between a hospital setting and a nursing center. Hospitals provide emergency care, surgeries, and laboratory testing. They care for people of all types of ages and all scenarios. Hospital patients have three types of illness: acute, chronic, or terminal. Acute illness is a sudden illness from which someone is likely to recover. Chronic illness is an on-going illness which there is no known cure. Terminal illness is an illness or injury from which a patient is expected to expire. On the other hand, long term care centers are designed to meet the needs of people who no longer can care for themselves but do not need hospital care. These people are called residents upon their entrance. Care centers provide residents with the right medical, nursing, rehabilitative, recreational, and social services. Nursing centers meet the needs of all kinds of residents from alert, oriented, confused, short term, life long, mentally ill, terminally ill, to persons needing complete care. Besides the differences hospitals and nursing centers have similar standards. They must protect and promote patients or residents rights. Both require high quality care, and a clean and safe setting. The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act ...
Nursing excellence is defined in various ways. I believe that nursing excellence is demonstrated when nurses are involved in promoting holistic patient centered care, quality and innovation, education, evidence-based practice, and nursing research. Nursing organizations plays a pivotal role in promoting nursing excellence. For this discussion post, I will be discussing the role of two organizations; the National League of Nursing (NLN) and the Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN), in promoting nursing excellence and nursing practice.
Aware that, different nurses has their own ways approach to bed washing of patients and as a student nurse, I would always make sure that I followed the general policy or local policy that is in place so that, the care of the patients are met.