This week marks the halfway point of my CNA program and boy the last month has just flown by. Time is a causality of my life; it’s either slipping away or putting a down payment on my future with a few moments of R+R here and there.
To give you a quick rundown, over the last month, on Monday-Thursday nights from 5:30pm-9:30pm, I’ve spent my time in the basement of Truman College hanging out with six bed-ridden and very sick dummies. Our CNA team cares for our dummy patients and often talks to them in what I’m now going to start calling CNA talk, which is something akin to Infant-Directed (baby) talk. It’s quiet and calm, and hopefully reassuring that we know what we are doing even when we don’t. We’ve covered 41 chapters over the last month and learned many, many procedures. I honestly have no idea how my classmates who are holding down grown-up jobs are keeping up, because between reading, studying, and homework, this one class has become a fulltime job for me. If I was asked to sum up the responsibilities of a CNA in one sentence I would say, “Our aim is to provide comfort and dignity for patients while helping them to live and function at their optimal level.” We accomplish this by focusing on three primary areas: infection control and patient safety, transportation, and personal care. Infection control and patient safety are really givens for all members of the health team, which also includes nurses, doctors, and other specialists who come to a patient’s aid. CNAs are however the heavy lifters, figuratively and often quite literally, when it comes to moving a patient from one place to another and helping individuals with their most basic needs. How this all comes together is through the ‘Care Plan’, which is a personalized agenda of care for each patient or resident. The ‘Care Plan’ is created primarily by the nurse using doctor’s orders, observations, and feedback from CNAs and other health team members. From there, nurses delegate tasks and assignments to other nurses and CNAs. We have learned some pretty cool things this semester. One of the first things we tackled was basic life support (BLS). BLS includes CPR, use of an automated external defibrillator (AED), and the Heimlich maneuver. These are basic skills used to aid people in dark moments they are fighting to stay alive. A lot of what we have learned is used to observe and report back to the nurse. We are trained to take vital signs (temperature, blood pressure, pulse and respiratory rate). We also have covered many disorders we may encounter and signs of illness we should chart and communicate to the nurse. This information is helpful to track patients’ progress as well as alert the nurse about important changes in a patients’ wellbeing. All of this helps the nurse outline future care to be given. The bread and butter of CNA work is direct patient interaction and assistance with what are called activities of daily living (ADLs). ADLs are things that you and I do independently each and every day but likely take our ability to do so for granted. This includes getting out of bed, grooming, personal hygiene, feeding ourselves, getting dressed, moving around, elimination, ect. There are many more examples I could give, and there is a procedure for everything that focuses on respecting a patient’s privacy, autonomy, and decency. Some cool things I now know how to do include changing linens and making a fresh bed with someone it, giving a bed bath, and how to turn patients in bed or help them walk safely from one place to another. While the skills we’ve learned are all very important, the bigger lesson I’ve taken away is that those of us with good mental and physical health should be grateful for our autonomy and personal freedoms. I am looking forward to moving to the clinical portion of the course and putting these skills into practice. I’m also looking forward to the opportunity to help empower individuals that may feel disenfranchised with their current situation. I love the fact that my attitude in clinicals and towards the work I will be performing will have a direct impact on the wellbeing of others. Healthcare provides an amazing and humbling environment that gives individuals daily opportunities to serve and help others feel better about themselves physically and mentally. I’m glad that one of my targeted nursing schools requires completion of a CNA program. I know it has helped reassure me that I am entering the correct career path by giving me a better glimpse of my future. If someone was uncomfortable with the work we do in lab and in the clinical setting, they could change plans before committing to nursing school. Having a CNA pre-requisite also weeds out people who might not be serious about patient care and simply looking for a fast track to a well paying job. It provides an extra roadblock to see who is willing to navigate that course. CNA courses also aren’t cheap, my program is on the low end and it cost about $1,000 with books and supplies. Most importantly, I’ve viewed this program and experience as foundational knowledge to help prepare me for the next level. I would like to find some study to see if people that take CNA programs are more successful at nursing school and passing the NCLEX (national nurse licensing exam). It wouldn’t be surprising to me. Many people after completing a CNA course will go on to work in a healthcare setting before and during nursing school and gain more skills and knowledge as a base of understanding. I knew when I embarked on this path it was going to be a long road. 2015 has some huge milestones in store for me though, and entering and completing the clinical portion of the CNA course will definitely be one. Passing the CNA licensing exam and securing a healthcare position will be the next couple after that. It should be a great year ahead!!
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Alexander McNaChronicles of my journey into the nursing profession. Archives
September 2018
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