Nursing Assistant Job Description, Skills, and Salary
Get to know about the duties, responsibilities, qualifications, and skills requirements of a nursing assistant. Feel free to use our job description template to produce your own. We also provide you with information about the salary you can earn as a nursing assistant.
Who is a Nursing Assistant?
A nursing assistant works under the supervision of a certified nurse (that is, a registered nurse (RN) or licensed practical nurse (LPN)) to give introductory nursing care to people who are ill, injured, or impaired. Nursing care seeks to watch for the whole person, meeting the person’s physical and emotional requirements. As a nursing assistant, numerous of your duties will have to do with helping the people in your care with activities of their daily living, similar as eating, bathing, dressing, grooming, using the restroom, and moving.
nursing assistants are also responsible for carrying routine measures ( similar as vital signs, height, and weight); aiding with admissions, transfers, and discharges; and maintaining a safe and clean terrain. In addition to helping to meet the physical requirements of the people in your care, you’ll help to meet their emotional requirements.
As a nursing assistant, you’ll have a great deal of diurnal contact with the people in your care and their family members. Getting to know the people in your care in person and taking a genuine interest in them are things you need to do to support them emotionally. A smile, a stroke on the shoulder, lets the person know that you care and that he or she isn’t alone.
Because of the quantum of time, you’ll spend with the people in your care, you may be the first to find out about a change in the person’s condition, or learn of a concern the person has. For illustration, you may notice that a person’s appetite has dropped, or a person may mention to you that she’s upset about a surgical procedure she’s listed to have the coming day. When you relate this type of information with the nurse, you promote quality care by helping to ensure that measures are taken to determine the cause of the change or to address the person’s troubles.
Nursing Assistant Job Description
Below are the nursing assistant job description examples you can use to develop your resume or write a job description for your employee. Employers can use it to sieve out job seekers when choosing candidates for interviews.
The job description needed for the role of a nursing assistant includes the following:
- Attend shift reports, organizes assignments, and make rounds on residents
- Deliver one on one care and emotional support to those under his or her care.
- Meet the needs of patients under his or her care.
- Provide care according to the occupant’s care plan in a manner that protects the occupant’s dignity and privacy.
- Assist patients to maintain or gain maximum independence.
- Work to make connections with patients and their family members that are warm, positive, and supportive.
- Report to the supervisor or charge nurse any observations or concerns about the patient’s status in a timely fashion.
- Document the care provided and observations promptly and accurately.
- Practice infection-control measures, including taking standard preventive measures in agreement with the facility and the occupant’s care plan.
- Keep the work area and patients’ terrain neat, clean, and orderly.
- Measure and direct reports and record vital signs, height, and weight.
- Observe and records intake and output; assist in serving meals, meal supplements, and fluids; assist patients with eating as necessary.
- Assist patients with repositioning, transferring, and exercising.
- Assist patients with toileting, bathing, and grooming.
- Assist with admissions, transfers, and discharges as necessary.
- Take action in the delivery of services — see what needs to be done and do it, within the scope of practice.
- Participate in providing end-of-life care to patients who are dying, and their family members.
- Know fire and disaster plans and particular duties in case of fire or disaster.
- Participate in patient care conferences.
- Attend all obligatory in-service training sessions.
- Report to work as listed and on time
Qualifications
Nursing assistants need to be literate and skilled with GCSEs in Mathematics and English or its equivalent, or A-levels. Candidates who have concluded their apprenticeships or higher education courses in health care and have hands-on expertise and relevant training are also considered for the role of a nursing assistant. Certification from the Royal College of Nursing, the Nursing and Midwifery Council or other relevant accreditation body is very important. To be included in part of the qualification for this role includes the following;
- First and foremost you must have gained a High School Diploma or General Education Development (GED). A High School Diploma or GED is the minimal demand to enroll in a professional Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) training program.
- Secondly, you must complete a state-approved CNA training program
CNAs are generally overseen by a state’s board of nursing or department of health. Find out the type of education and clinical training you will need to qualify for a CNA license in your state or country. - Thirdly, you must pass your state’s approved CNA competency examination. State-required CNA competency examinations are administered by third-party providers. Passing the test places your name on your state’s registry of CNAs, certified nursing assistants, nurses aides, or another title that your state uses for this position.
- Find a job
Certified CNAs are in demand. Consider your career goals, professional preferences, and lifestyle when determining where to start your job hunt. You will probably be suitable to choose between full-time and part-time options in both clinical and non-clinical settings. - Maintain your CNA certification
The conditions necessary to maintain your CNA instrument vary by state. You may have to prove you worked a specific number of hours as a CNA two times prior to your renewal date. Some countries also have continuing education conditions. - Consider additional education
You may find that earning your Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) license ignites your passion in other roles. Numerous CNAs use the position as a stepping stone to jobs in nursing similar to licensed practical nurse (LPN). Still, you can expand your skills with specialty certifications in areas such as hospice care, drug administration, medication, and rehabilitation if at all you prefer the CNA role.
Essential Skills
Nursing assistants need to be caring and compassionate. They work most times with patients who have significant care needs and so it is germane that they make their patients feel safe and comfortable as part of their professional requirements. Nursing assistants are actually on the frontline of healthcare, so they must ensure to be very much observant and have excellent communication skills when handling patients and as well as their own colleagues in the workplace. They also need to be calm under pressure and be flexible enough to handle a plethora of tasks and a quickly changing schedule. Below are other necessary skills needed to thrive in this position:
- Must have good communication skills and the capability to interact in a diplomatic and regardful manner with patients, family members, and visitors.
- Must have elementary and basic computer skills.
- Must be able to multitask in a fast-paced work terrain and prioritize duties.
- Must have the capability to understand and follow programs and procedures.
- Must have a valid nurse assistant certification in good standing with the state.
- Must have current cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) certificate.
- Must have passed the criminal background check.
- Must have completed a health screening test within 90 days of hire.
- Must be suitable to lift, push and pull up to 30 pounds of weight.
How to Become a Nursing Assistant
A person who wants to become a nursing assistant must complete a state-approved training course and pass the state’s certification examination. The Federal government specifies that a minimum of 75 hours of training is needed and that the training must include the following:
- Classroom literacy.
- Hands-on practice of skills in a skills lab.
- A clinical internship (that is, the occasion to gain supervised experience meeting direct care in an actual health care setting). Numerous countries bear further hours of training than the federally commanded 75 hours.
- In addition to completing the training course, a person who wants to work as a nursing assistant must pass the State’s Certification Evaluation. This is divided into two: a multiple-choice written test, and a skills test. During the skills test, the test taker needs to demonstrate a randomly selected nurse assistant skill and must perform each skill satisfactorily in order to pass the test.
- After completing the training course and passing the state’s certification evaluation, the person becomes licensed to work as a nursing assistant in that state. Depending on the state and the employer, a person who’s certified to work as a nursing assistant may be called by numerous different titles, certified nurse assistant or certified nursing assistant (CNA), nurse aide, or geriatric nursing assistant (GNA).
Where Nursing Assistants Work
As a certified nursing assistant, you can work in nursing care facilities, retirement communities, hospitals, and private homes.
Nursing Assistant Salary Scale
Experience in healthcare is a bonus to a nursing assistant candidate. However, this can be in an optional capacity or even a paid role. There is a numerous range of suitable apprenticeships in health and social care or health science that guarantees the chance to ascertain experience in the field through work placements. Although, any position where a candidate has amassed customer service expertise is an added bonus.
According to indeed salaries, the median annual salary of nursing assistants is $30,830 per annum. However, it is dependent on the setting in which they work and their level of experience on the job.