Certified Nursing Assistant Essay

Many people say it takes a special person to go into the health field especially into nursing. There’s so many skills and values nurses have to use on a daily basis to maintain their roles and keep a smile on the patients faces. There are many different areas CNA’s are needed like the nursing homes, assisted living facilites, hospice centers, hospitals and many more. Being a Nursing Assistant you kind of get the dirty work, but we all have to start somewhere. You must be very compassionate and have the desire to help people. Its definitely not a easy job but its very rewarding. To become a Nursing Assistant, it takes a lot of hard undivided time put into studying and knowing how to act on the spot in certain situations. New and different things happen each day with the patients and knowing how to react properly is one of the most important things to know. I have encountered in a lot of situations when I have prevented residents from falling by being attentive to them while passing by their rooms, or just simply checking on them frequently. Sometimes they are halfway out of the bed even though I make sure their beds are down to the floor. I simply ask, â€Å"Do you have to use the bathroom?† If so, I assist them to use the bathroom and stay with them until they are finished. Also, I ask, â€Å"Would you like to take a little walk around the building to look at the flowers and get some fresh air?† Some patients have no reason for trying to get out of bed they’re just bored and want to do it themselves knowing they can’t. After help ing them, I have to remind them if they need help or want to move some place new to just press their button and I’ll be there in a jiffy! As a dedicated long term care and hospice Certified Nursing Assistant, I have to be very loving caring and respectful to all my patients. I try very hard each day to provide them with the care that I would want to receive of one of my own relatives. There is no other way to do a good job as a CNA  without love and understanding, patience, kindness, spiritual values, listening skills, alertness, communication, observation, respect, and privacy. While I was doing my long 12 hour shift clinicals to become a CNA, I had a specific patient in the nursing home that I will never forget. In room 112 my patients name was Rusty. Rusty could not remember his name, where he was, or why he was even there. I noticed he had the Nazi symbol tattooed on his butt because I had to change his depends every time he used the bathroom. I just kind of chuckled every time I saw it. Every 5 minutes he would push his button for me to come in there and he would ask â€Å"can I call my mom?† I would always say â€Å"of course Rusty, let me help you into the wheel chair and ill take you to the nurses station† with a simple sad reply of â€Å"ohhhhkay.† Rusty would call his mom about 20 times a day hoping she would call him back but she never did. A fellow nurse told me she passed away about 6 months ago and he doesn’t ever remember when we tell him. The head nurse copied her voice mail from her old cell phone and now when he wants to call his mom all we had to do was press #35790. Seeing him go through that pain on a day to day basis hurt so much, but knowing that us nurses were the only ones there for him, and he relied on us to do everything made it very rewarding to know we can help some one out when there is no one else. I learned building a relationship with each patient individually helps them feel more comfortable where they are and for them to know they’re not alone. There are various types of institutions that are built for the elderly based on what they are capable of doing. Hospice is a center for the elderly that are on their death bed, or for patient that are expected not to make it much longer due to fast coming disease. Currently I am working in a hospice center as a PRN position. The position basically means that I can accept or turn down the offer of a certain job during that day for specific hours. I jump back and forth between patients houses as an in home care nurse, assisted living facilites and nursing homes. Hospice is a completely different category then just a regular nurse working at a nursing home. Each day you go to work you are expecting a patient to die, or close to it. Of course its hard on the family because they’re by their side for their  last couple of days but its also hard on the nurse for a couple of different reasons. For one, seeing a traumatic experience is hard on yourself because death is always a touch y and hard subject for most people to go through. Seeing the patients family suffer because of their loved one is hard on you and you just feed off their vibes. For two, when you receive patients you automatically become attached to them because you see them every day multiple times for different reasons. Nurses get to know the patient for who they are, and just get to have that one on one time and listen to them. Building a relationship with the elderly and then losing them gets tough on a day to day basis. Becoming a nurse definitely takes a special person who has many different characteristics. Nurses have to be able to multitask, and accomplish different tasks at the same time. Sometimes when a tragic accident happens or something you weren’t expecting does, nurses have to be able to think quickly and be able to move on their toes. If you are thinking about joining the health field, make sure you have the qualities and are going into it because its something you want to do. Not because of the money of benefits certain jobs have to offer. Having different areas CNA’s are able to work helps people have a variety of fields they can join. If the elderly is not for you, maybe working with newborn babies is. Becoming a CNA takes a lot of hard work and dedication to knowing what you are trying to achieve for your final goal. Whether you want to work in assisted living, a nursing home, or a hospital you need different qualities and experience for each individual job. Learning a lternative ways in nursing doesn’t only benefit you in the work place but also you living daily. I would not change my career choice for anything. I love being a CNA, even though it is the ‘dirty work.’ You have to start somewhere and this is where I chose to start.