CNA - Certified Nursing Assistant

Certified Nursing Assistant

The primary purpose of the Certified Nursing Assistant position is to provide each assigned resident with excellent daily nursing care and services in accordance with the resident's assessment and plan of care, and as may be directed by your supervisor.

Administrative Functions

• Identify residents before administering treatments, serving meals, etc. as necessary.
• Record all entries on flow sheets, notes, charts, etc. in an informative and descriptive manner.
• Use only authorized abbreviations established by this facility when recording information.
• Report all changes in the resident's condition to the RN Team Leader as soon as possible.
• Report and provide statement for all events, accidents and incidents you observe on the shift as they occur.

Admission, Transfer, and Discharge Functions

• Ensure that the resident's room is ready for receiving the resident (i.e., bed made, name tags up, admission kit available, etc.)
• Greet residents and escort them to their room.
• Introduce resident to his/her roommate, if any, and other residents and personnel as appropriate.
• Make resident comfortable (i.e., put to bed, get water, etc.)
• Inventory and mark the resident's personal possessions as instructed.
• Store resident's clothing.
• Assist residents with packing their personal belongings when they are being transferred or discharged.
• Transport residents to new rooms or to the receiving area.
• Assist with loading/unloading residents from vehicles as necessary.

Personnel Functions

• Perform all assigned tasks in accordance with our established policies and procedures, and as instructed by your supervisor.
• Follow work assignments, and/or work schedules in completing and performing your assigned tasks.
• Cooperate with inter-departmental personnel, as well as other facility personnel to ensure that nursing services can be adequately maintained to meet the needs of the residents.
• Create and maintain an atmosphere of warmth, personal interest and positive emphasis, as well as a calm environment throughout the unit and the shift.
• Meet with your shift's nursing personnel, on a regularly scheduled basis, to assist in identifying and correcting problem areas, and/or the improvement of services and participate in Team Conference.
• Report all complaints and grievances made by the resident.
• Notify the facility when you will be late or absent from work.
• Report occupational exposures to blood, body fluids, infectious materials, and hazardous chemicals to your supervisor.

Personal Nursing Care Functions

• Participate in and receive the nursing report upon reporting for duty.
• Follow established policies concerning exposure to blood/body fluids.
• Assist residents with hygiene needs to include:
• Daily dental and mouth care (i.e. brushing teeth/dentures, oral hygiene, special mouth care, etc.)
• Bathing (i.e. bed bath, tub or shower bath, etc.) as directed
• Dressing/undressing as necessary
• Hair care needs (i.e. combing, brushing, shampooing, etc.)
• Nail care (i.e. clipping, trimming and cleaning the finger/toe nails)
• Shaving male residents
• Controlling hair growth on female residents (i.e. facial hair, under arms, on legs, etc.) as instructed
• Keeping residents dry (i.e. change gown, clothing, linen, etc. when they become wet or soiled)
• Change bed linens. Keep linens tight to avoid wrinkles from forming under the resident.
• Make beds (occupied and unoccupied.)
• Put extra linens on bed as requested.
• Position bedfast residents in correct and comfortable position, utilizing positioning devices as indicated.
• Assist resident with bowel and bladder functions (i.e., take to bathroom, offer bedpan/urinal, portable commode, etc.)
• Maintain intake and output records as instructed.
• Keep incontinent residents clean and dry.
• Check and report bowel movements and character of stools as instructed.
• Assist residents in preparing for medical tests and appointments (i.e., lab work, x-ray, therapy, dental, physician dialysis, etc.)
• Assist residents in preparing for activity and social programs (i.e. church, parties, visitors, physician, dialysis).
• Assist in transporting residents to/from appointments, activity and social programs, etc. as necessary.
• Assist with lifting, turning, moving, positioning, and transporting residents into and out of beds, chairs, bathtubs, wheelchairs, lifts, etc.
• Assist residents to walk with or without self-help devices as instructed.
• Provide eye and ear care (i.e., warm/cold compresses, removing wax and hair, cleaning eyeglasses/hearing aids, dentures, etc.) as instructed.
• Assist in preparing the resident for a physical examination.
• Measure and record temperatures, pulse, and respirations, as instructed.
• Answer resident calls promptly.
• Check each resident routinely to ensure that his/her personal care needs are being met in accordance with his/her wishes.
• Assist with the care of the dying resident as directed.
• Provide post-mortem care as instructed.

Special Nursing Care Functions

• Observe and report the presence of red areas and skin breakdowns to prevent decubitus ulcers.
• Report injuries of an unknown source, including skin tears.
• Provide daily indwelling catheter care.
• Provide daily perineal care.
• Perform non-sterile (clean) vaginal irrigation/douches.
• Assist with the application of slings, elastic bandages, binders, etc.
• Give tepid sponge baths.
• Provide daily range of motion exercises and record data as instructed.
• Turn bedfast residents at least every two (2) hours.
• Perform diabetic urine testing, as directed.
• Observe disoriented and comatose residents. Record and report data as instructed.
• Turn all medications found in the resident's room over to the Medication Administration Manager.
• Watch for and report any change in room temperature, ventilation, lighting, etc. to the RN Team Leader.

Food Service Functions

• Prepare residents for meals (i.e., take to bathroom, wash hands, comb hair, raise bed, position tables, place clothing protectors, take to/from dining room, etc.)
• Serve food trays. Assist with feeding as indicated (i.e., cutting foods, feeding, assist in dining room supervision, etc.)
• Assist residents with identifying food arrangements (i.e. informing resident with sight problem of foods that are on his/her tray, where it is located, if it is hot/cold, etc.)
• Record the resident's food intake. Report changes in the resident's eating habits.
• Keep residents' water pitchers clean and filled with fresh water and within easy reach of the resident.
• Serve between meal and bedtime snacks.
• Perform after meal care (i.e. remove trays, clean resident's hands, face, clothing, take to bathroom, brush teeth, clean dentures, etc.)
• Check rooms for food articles (i.e. food in proper container, unauthorized food items, etc.)
• Maintain intake/output records as assigned.

Safety and Sanitation

Apply restraining device to residents in chair/bed as ordered.

Check residents with restraining device at least every thirty (30) minutes or as ordered.

Release restraining device at least every two (2) hours for range of motion exercises, taking to bathroom, etc.

Maintain a record of residents with a restraining device, the time devices were released, and how long the restraining device was released.

Participate in appropriate in-service training programs prior to performing tasks that involve potential exposure to blood/body fluids.

Wash hands before and after performing any