CNA Careers: A Day In The Life Of A CNA In The Acute Care Setting

CNA Careers: A Day In The Life Of A CNA In The Acute Care Setting
In a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) job, a CNA will start an eight hour shift at 7 am, 3 pm, or 11 pm. The twelve hour assistant usually starts at 6am or 7am for day shirts, and 6pm or 7pm for the night shift. The responsibilities for each shift may differ, but most tasks are the same regardless of the shift you work.

The day shift assistants start by receiving an assignment and report on the patients in their care. In some institutions, the report is a fellow CNA, but in other facilities, they may sit in on the overall nursing report.

When reporting is completed, the first responsibility usually involves taking the vital signs on the assigned patients and assisting clients with breakfast. Both of these responsibilities involve direct patient contact and documentation. The vital signs need to be recorded, regardless of the practice of your institution. Some facilities allow the CNA to document directly in the chart or in the computer chart, and some just want it written on a flow sheet for the nurse to transcribe. The intake and output sheet for a patient can be taped to the bathroom door, the patient room, or in the chart. This is where the assistant will record what the patient drank for breakfast and how much the patient ate.

In the acute care setting, linens are changed every day. The CNA is responsible for assisting the patient with a bath, shaving, oral care, and changing the bed. Any assistance needed to use the bathroom or bedpan, ambulating, or being taken in a wheelchair for x-rays during the course of the shift falls to the CNA.

Nurses give the medications, treatments, and conduct full assessments. Nurses may also assist the CNA with turning and positioning patients or transferring the patient to a chair.

Other CNA Job Responsibilities

Other tasks the certified nursing assistant is responsible for during the course of the day in an acute care setting are as follows:

* Answering the patient call lights

* Providing each patient with fresh ice water and glasses

* Delivering freshly washed clothes and towels if needed

* Assisting the nurses with errands or bringing equipment

* Picking up dirty eating trays when breakfast or lunch is finished

* May be asked to feed patients who are not able to feed themselves

* May be asked to collect urine or stool samples from a collection pan when the patient voids or stools

* May be asked to change diapers of pediatric patients or incontinent adult patients

* May need to change linen more than once if a patient has vomited, bled, or soiled the linens throughout the shift

The shift for a certified nursing assistant goes quickly, and the activities are centered on patient care and assisting the nurses during the shift. CNAs do not answer the phone, take physician orders, or do patient treatments or dressing changes. Their role is non-technical, yet hands on. It is one of the most important parts of direct patient care in the overall hospital stay. Most CNAs find providing direct patient care can also be the most satisfying part of the job.


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