Basic Core Skills for Nursing Assistants
Nursing assistants support vocational and registered nurses and physicians by providing direct care to patients. The job is physical and demanding. There are different state and federal laws governing who can become a nursing assistant and what kind of training is involved, but the core skills you must know in order to become a nurse aide are the same across the country.
Hand Washing
Hand washing may seem like an elementary process, but performing it correctly is crucial for infection control. Nursing assistants work with many patients throughout the day and handle clothes, bedding, food and personal toiletries, as well as patients themselves. Demonstrating proper hand washing is often a mandatory part of state nursing-assistant competency exams, and students must show each step -- from turning on the water without cross contamination to drying their hands -- in order to pass. Hand washing is also required before performing many other patient-care skills.
Grooming Assistance
As a nursing assistant, you help perform a great deal of personal grooming for patients. You may assist a patient in brushing her teeth, dressing, bathing or showering, combing her hair or cleaning her nails, or you may have to perform these duties completely on your own. Grooming tasks generally need to be accomplished in a certain way to ensure hygiene and patient privacy, and these skills are tested for on state nurse-aid competency exams.
Ambulation
Some of the more physical skills a nursing assistant must perform involve transporting patients or aiding in ambulation. As a nursing assistant, you need to know properly use transfer belts and lifts to help patients walk and get into and out of beds and wheelchairs.
Positioning
Patients cannot stay in bed in one position for long without developing bedsores. Nursing assistants reposition patients who cannot move themselves on a regular basis. You must know the correct way to lift and reposition a patient on your own, safely, comfortably and with the least amount of disturbance.
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