Tag: Medical Professionals

Duties of a Nursing Assistant

Most of us are familiar with Nursing Assistants, but we dont really know all that is required for them to complete their work efficiently and of the best quality. Time restraints can often make it difficult to decide to do a job better or to get more done. Thus, having an outstanding work ethic is of the utmost importance.

Nursing Assistants must also have excellent communication skills. They are required to have interactions with patients, family members, Nurses, and a variety of other medical professionals. It is imperative that they are able to effectively reply and communication that needs to take place with these various types of individuals.

It is widely known that Nursing Assistants provide basic are for patients including feeding, bathing, and dressing. However, this is just the tip of the iceberg when you take a look at all the various duties involved in being an effective Nurse Assistant. While the specific duties will vary according to the medical facility you work for, there are some that are found in most every one.

Bathing is generally either a shower or a bed bath depending on the level of care the patient requires. Personal hygiene including combing hair, brushing teeth, applying makeup, cleaning dentures all needs to be done for each individual patient. Shaving is also to be taken into consideration, and completed as needed.

Taking patients vital signs are a daily requirement of Nursing Assistants. Taking vital signs includes temperature, pulse, respiration, and blood pressure. This information that is recorded on the patients chart, and reviewed by the Nursing staff and other medical professionals.

For patients requiring assistance with eating, the routine can take 20-60 minutes depending on the abilities of the patient and how much food they consume. The Nursing Assistant needs to document the type of food and drink consumed and the quantities of each on the patients chart. Some patients will need to take vitamins and other nutritional supplements, also the duty of the Nursing Assistant to administer.

It is also the duty of the Nursing Assistant in many medical facilities to be responsible for getting those who can feed themselves ready to be taken to the dining area. This may just be having their grooming done or helping to lift them into a wheelchair and take them to the dining area.

Nursing assistants will need to change any bedding or other soiled materials if found on the patient. This is a case by case basis and will vary each day. While interacting with the patient, you will need to document their behaviors. It is important that you notify the Nurse on duty if you see any changes that are unexpected or not generally seen. You will be trained in what to look for.

Keeping a sharp eye for details will assist any Nursing Assistant with successfully performing all duties. Caring for people changes because their needs change as well as those you are caring for changes. How quickly you are caring for new patients depends on the type of medical facility you work for.

In addition to performing all of these essential duties, Nursing Assistants are responsible for providing emotional support to patients and their families. This can be helping patients feel comfortable with their surroundings, hanging a photo on the wall for them, or helping them compose a letter. Family members may want you to certain things for a patient such as braid their hair daily or keep their fingernails short.

Disadvantages of Being a Nursing Assistant

Being a Nursing Assistant can be a very rewarding career for those who are compassionate, hardworking, and who enjoy helping others. They are a necessary part of the medical field. Often, their work goes unappreciated by others in the medical profession. There are disadvantages to being a Nursing Assistant that can lead to someone no longer enjoying their job. The Nursing Assistant profession has one of the highest turn over rates in the medical field.

Most people who become certified as a Nursing Assistant dont do it for the pay. They are interested as a way of helping others and working with other medical professionals. The low cost of the program as well as the short amount of time it takes to complete it are also big motivators to enroll in such a program.

We all like to feel appreciated, both professionally and personally. Nursing Assistants who dont feel respected and appreciated by the other medical staff quickly come to dislike their job. It can lead to feelings of inadequacy and resentment. In some cases, it can result in not performing duties to the best of your ability. In others, it can result in simply not performing the duties you dont enjoy doing.

While Nursing Assistants help keep things running smooth for everyone including patients, families, and other medical staff, they are often not paid very well. This type of position is considered entry level. The starting pay is generally a few dollars above minimum wage, but when compared to the earnings of Nursing staff, the pay is still considered to be very low.

Being a Nursing Assistant exposes you to a wide variety of patients. Meeting their needs including feeding, bathing, and dressing can often be difficult. Nursing Assistants are also required to be able to assist the Nursing staff with anything that arises during their shift. Nursing Assistants often find themselves running short on time to complete everything on the agenda for a given day.

One of the most difficult things for Nursing Assistants to deal with is the behaviors of patients. While most appreciate the help being offered, others become very angry and mean towards the Nursing Assistant. The risk of both physical and emotional abuse is very high in this profession. This can definitely take a toll of anyone.

As with any area of the medical field, Nursing Assistants are exposed to death and dying. There are times when feelings of hopelessness are felt by the Nursing Assistant as they see patients that they arent able to help as much as they would like to. While they understand that is part of the medical profession, it can still be very difficult to take.

Even the most dedicated and responsible Nursing Assistants can start to feel burnout in association with their job. This is when your job becomes so overwhelming that you lose interest in it, as well as other activities. It can be the result of working too many hours, working short staff, or a combination of other factors. Watch for the warning signs.

The decision to pursue employment as a Nursing Assistant lead to a wonderful career for you. However, it is important that you are fully aware of the disadvantages of the career choice as well. This way you can make an informed decision. You will need to ask yourself if the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. It will also help you prepare for signs of such disadvantages that you can overcome.

Sleep Disorder Affecting Shift Workers

This is a fairly common form of sleeping disorder among medical professionals, police officers, and fireman. This is attributed mostly to people who change their work schedules and sleeping times around frequently. You’ll find this often in college students when they’re changing semesters and quarters when they get new schedules and can sometimes throw sleep patterns off.

Meaning if you were used to getting up early one semester and then you get to sleep late on another it can throw your sleeping patterns off, which can make you feel disoriented and confused which is the main cause for why people get up and retire late, and are late for their jobs and classes because they’re not giving themselves enough time to adjust between schedule changes.

This is why when a job or school schedules changes it’s ideal to give yourself adequate time to make the adjustment so that it doesn’t throw you off physically, so you’re able to wake up and retire at a reasonable time so you can make it to work and school on time.

This is why it’s not always wise to constantly change your schedule whenever possible because if you do it too much you’re going to confuse yourself on whether you’re coming or going. There are some people who’s jobs switch their schedules around so much that it can throw someone completely out of synch because the hours start to get rather conflicted when they’re coming and going and not making time for other things like having a life or maintaining their priorities outside of their job and school.

This also can happen if you’re running between more than one job and school because if you’re going to a job during the day and then running to another job at night it can throw you off as well. People are advised to give themselves so much time between things in order to make the full transition into the new schedule or time frame so they’re not feeling overwhelmed and stressed out since stress can play a huge thing in work related insomnia. The stress comes from having to make so many drastic changes too fast and at one time.

This is why people get burned out quickly and dealing with the physical things like indigestion and other things because they’re pushing themselves too hard and sometimes forcing themselves to do things that isn’t even normal and is considered unhealthy.

College students who are like this tending to gain or lose weight because of the stress they’re under to switch from one thing to another and not giving themselves a chance to really adjust fully to a schedule or lifestyle change. Even people who work as nurses and doctors occasionally go through this. Because hours are rather strange, and that can throw off the pattern your body has become custom to when to rise and sleep.

If you interfere with that, it can make you feel weird which can also affect appetite and mental focus and concentration which most people deal with the disorientation of switching things around too fast.

Midwest Center for Stress and Anxiety

The Midwest Center for Stress and Anxiety is a trademark of one of the most effective stress management companies today. It can help individuals improve their lives and manage their assortment of fears. With a staff of excellent psychologists and other medical professionals and a website that allows you to purchase anything you need to help you get better and interact with other people having similar problems, the Midwest Center for Stress and Anxiety is no doubt a one-stop-place for all your stress and anxiety-related problems.

Get Better Now Assessment
You can begin your treatment by answering the online form for the Get Better Now Assessment. It will allow you to determine how you are faring at present and how youre managing stress and anxiety.

Do You Really Need Help
The Midwest Center for Stress and Anxiety provides a list of traits most associated with stress burdened people and symptoms of anxiety and irrational fears to further help the individual become aware if he or she is truly in need of professional help.

Symptoms of Anxiety Nervousness, dizziness, diarrhea and other stomach problems
Irrational Fears Losing control, death, causing embarrassment to ones self, leaving the house (agoraphobia)

Personality Traits Emotionally sensitivity or tendency to overreact, obsessive thinking, having high expectations, low self-esteem and a tendency to over analyze things

The Lucinda Barrett Program
One of the stress management programs offered by the Midwest Center for Stress and Anxiety is the Lucinda Barrett Program. It was initially utilized to treat a woman who spent one whole decade finding an answer to her problems. She also spent a small fortune in order to find the best way to handle her burgeoning problems with stress and anxiety, not knowing that all it would take to solve her dilemma was talking with Dr. Fisher of the Midwest Center for Stress and Anxiety.

Now a full-fledged program thats open to anyone, it requires the patient to undergo 16 sessions that range from a complete discussion of the patients background, personal characteristics and fears to utilizing diet and exercise to get rid of negative emotions and the proper way to relax ones self.

Other Services Offered by the Midwest Center for Stress and Anxiety
Besides treating various types of anxiety disorders, the Midwest Center for Stress and Anxiety also offers its services to individuals suffering from obsessive-compulsive (OC) disorders, post-traumatic-stress disorders and provides cognitive behavior therapy.

Free Tips from the Midwest Center for Stress and Anxiety
Because the Midwest Center for Stress and Anxiety first and foremost is intent on helping people manage their stress and anxiety, they dedicated a portion of their website in providing free tips to manage negative emotions like anxiety and depression. Some of the tips are as follows:

Recognition and Acknowledgement of Negative Feelings The Midwest Center for Stress and Anxiety emphasizes how essential it is for individuals to acknowledge to themselves that they are indeed suffering from stress, anxiety and depression. Then and only then can they be cured.

Identifying Causes Knowing what caused you to feel stressed or anxious will also help you solve your problems better. Knowing the cause will always lead to the solution.

Give Yourself a Pat on the Back Its also important to give yourself positive reinforcement even for the smallest of accomplishments. This will encourage you to continue on your attempts to manage your problems without resorting to depression or panic.

Drop a Line
If youre uncertain about needing professional help, visit the website of the Midwest Center for Stress and Anxiety and join the online forum or send the staff an email about your concerns.