Nurse's Aide Job Description

Nurse aides: A role in personal care

Nurse aides are often used to perform basic, day-to-day nursing care and work under the supervision of a registered nurse. They're the ones who have the most contact with patients, so their observations are important to keep nurses and doctors up to date on patient condition. Basic personal care can be difficult for patients to do on their own, so nurse aides help.

They help patients with grooming tasks such as bathing themselves, going to the bathroom, putting on clothes, brushing their teeth and brushing their hair. They help patients eat and drink, and often feed them their meals in their rooms or help them walk to the dining room. They make patients' beds and tidy up their rooms by moving patients from their beds to chairs or wheelchairs.

Nurse aides can administer medication as ordered by the patient's doctor. They can't make changes to the medication, but they must alert the doctor nurse if a patient isn't responding well to it. Nurse aides can also apply or change dressings.

Nurse's Aide Candidates: Experience, Priorities and Challenge

Nurse's aides are trained to provide essential care services and nursing assistance in a variety of health care settings. Nurse's aides are not licensed nurses, but they are educated and certified, and provide valuable services to both their patients and other health care providers. Nurse's aides and nursing attendants follow directives from their nurse supervisors, and may be asked to assist with other care-giving duties.

In small clinics and rural health care facilities, aides may be responsible for setting appointments, checking in patients, handling insurance paperwork, and other administrative tasks. Nurse's aides and nursing assistants work in assisted living facilities. In urgent care centers, doctor's offices, community health centers and other medical settings, nursing attendants may work.

Hospices and home health care settings provide end-of-life and palliative care. When interviewing for a nurse's aide position, you should expect to be asked questions such as how you would act in an emergency situation, and how you feel about juggling priorities in a fast-paced environment. You may be asked to describe a time when you disagreed with a superior, encountered a difficult patient, or dealt with a stress situation.

A Certified Nursing Assistant is a person who is trained to provide nursing care to patients with injuries, illnesses or disabilities. Their duties include helping patients bathe and maintain proper hygiene, feeding patients or ensuring they take their medication and assessing their patients vital signs to notify staff of any changes. Certified nursing assistants are usually employed in hospitals, assisted living facilities, medical clinics and home aide services.

They work with other medical professionals to make sure their patients are comfortable. Both Certified Nursing Assistants and Registered Nurses work to make sure their patients are healthy and comfortable, but they differ in their education requirements, job responsibilities and seniority. A high school diploma or GED is required for Certified Nursing Assistants to complete a specialized training course.

Nurse's Aided Personnel Need Strength

Nurse's aides have close contact with their patients in nursing homes and residence facilities. Many states require graduates to pass an exam to be Certified Nursing Assistant. Their average wages were $25,420 in 2011.

Nurse's aides need many personal qualities. Good oral and written communication skills are required by nurse's aides. They need to be able to communicate with medical professionals.

They must tell patients what their doctors and nurses ordered in a way that encourages cooperation. They must record vital signs and relay it to other health professionals. The nursing aides need to care for the elderly and sick people.

A good relationship between the nursing home workers and the residents makes the tasks more pleasant for both of them. Nurse's aides need to be patient when bathing or feeding a person with a disability because it can take a long time. Nurse's aides must feed their patients carefully.

Nurse's aides must be careful with their work. They must follow the doctor's instructions for their diet and medication. They must wash and dry patients.