Nursing assistants work under medical staff supervision, assisting patients with daily activities and basic medical tasks. They can be certified through state-approved training and are in high demand due to an aging population. The average salary is $25,000 annually with a high turnover rate.
A nursing assistant works under the supervision of a nurse or other medical staff. They may work in a variety of settings, such as a hospital, nursing home, mental health facility or private residences. Typically, they assist patients or clients with their activities of daily living (ADL) and complete other bedside and nursing tasks. The duties of a nursing assistant are usually practical and routine.
A nursing assistant can help clients with many different ADLs. They can assist patients in and out of bed and help them in different areas, such as an exam room or in the bathroom. Simple activities such as getting dressed can be difficult for some patients. As a result, nursing assistants can help their patients change clothes or complete other grooming tasks such as hair washing, shaving, and bathing. Caregivers might also serve food to patients and help feed them if needed.
In addition to helping with ADLs, nursing assistants also perform basic medical tasks to measure vital signs, such as taking temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, respiratory rate, and answering any patient calls. They may collect samples such as urine or blood samples. Routine tidying tasks may also be performed, such as straightening and cleaning a patient’s room, changing bedding, cleaning and preparing equipment, and preparing dressing packages and treatment trays.
Nursing assistants can be invaluable to the medical care process because they can monitor a patient’s daily activities and report any abnormalities to their physician. A nursing assistant also records physical details, such as how much the patient is eating and how often. They can also report on a patient’s mental state, due to the close relationship they can develop with the patient that the doctor or nurses just don’t have time for.
A nursing assistant is often certified as a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA). In the United States, to become a nursing assistant you must complete 75 hours of state-approved training and pass a proficiency exam. This training can be completed through a series of programs, usually at community colleges or medical facilities, usually lasting from six to twelve weeks. There may also be some state-imposed requirements that vary by state. Requirements between countries also vary.
The demand for Nursing Assistants is very high and will likely continue to remain high. One factor affecting this demand in the United States is a growing aging population, which is constantly creating jobs in the field of gerontology. Also, as costs continue to shrink in the field of medicine, lower tier healthcare professionals are often hired in greater numbers than top tier physicians.
In the United States, the average salary for a nursing assistant is approximately $25,000 US Dollars (USD) annually, but this is heavily influenced by experience, facility type, and location. Due to low pay and high job demands, there is generally a high turnover rate for employees. This high turnover rate, however, may also be influenced by the many people who work as a nursing assistant to help them decide if they want to pursue a career as a healthcare professional.
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