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The Responsibilities of a Nursing Assistant

admin — Tue, 26 May 2009 21:41:03 +0000

Among the most important responsibilities of a nursing assistant is to monitor a patient’s vital signs and record significant changes. Keeping an eye on a patient’s blood pressure, pulse, temperature, and respiration are important to realizing whether a patient is getting better or worse. As a result, nursing assistants are usually the first to know how well a patient is responding to a medicine or treatment method.

Nursing assistants are even responsible for maintaining a patient’s personal hygiene while they’re in the hospital, and/or medical facility. Some of these tasks include, but are not limited to assisting the patients to shave, take their baths, and clipping their nails. They might also assist in dressing and undressing patients who are unable to perform these tasks for themselves. Another separate, but closely related duty is to facilitate a patient’s restroom requirements. And the level of help required will depend on the patient’s situation, some will merely need to be walked to a restroom, others might require aid with emptying a catheter, and there might even be patients that are bed ridden and need more assistance.

Nursing assistants are also responsible for keeping a patient’s area clean. This is another group of tasks that will differ depending on your patient and the health care facility where you work. Some patients have relatives that do most of their cleaning, other patients require help. And, some health care organizations have other personnel to handle these tasks.

Setting up a patient’s food and nutritional supplements, feeding them, documenting what and how much they eat and their level of fluid intake is another duty of a nursing assistant. Though nursing assistants might not necessarily have to feed all of their patients, they must keep track of what their patients can eat, and what they’re allowed to have.

Giving a patient their medicine and ensuring that he or she actually takes it correctly is also a duty of a nursing assistant. Additionally they might be looked upon to double check the accuracy of orders or to inform physicians and/or nurses of any medication or substances that a patient might have already taken that could affect their treatment.

Although these are the majority of nursing assistant responsibilities, you might find that others exist and are special or for specific situations.

It’s important to note that if you decide to become a certified nursing assistant, you’ll perform most of the same tasks.

Registered Nursing – How Much Can You Earn?

admin — Thu, 14 May 2009 16:06:04 +0000

Nursing is a rewarding career option. Registered Nurses working in the United States get an average a median base salary of $41,642. There are several factors which determine the salary of a registered nurse. Salary of a registered nursing professional is determined by the requirements and capabilities of a community, the work schedule, and the training, expertise, and experience required.
The experience of the nurse has a direct relationship with the salary of a registered nurse. While freshers or nurses with less than one year experience earn 21 dollars in average per an working hour, nurses having experience over 10 years can easily earn 28 dollars per hour.
The qualification held by the professional also has a say in his/her salary. While a nurse with master’s degree and three years experience can earn an average salary of $59,600 annually, professionals having diploma/degree get $47,110 in average.
Travel Nurse are well paid- A myth or reality?

Compared to registered nurses, the professionals opting for travel nursing as a career are better paid. This is due to several factors. They are
1- Travel nursing is a short-term assignment which requires the professional to relocate. Hence, employers pay more to the professional to attract.
2- The scope is negotiation is wider in travel nursing compared to the registered nursing. If the professional has a good negotiation skill, he/she can easily get a higher package.
3- The expenditure of the travel nurse on meal, traveling and boarding can be reimbursed as tax free income.
4- In most of the case, the employer provides a free accommodation.

Ethics in the Field of Nursing

admin — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 22:53:26 +0000

from flickr

The first and most important provision of ethics in the field of nursing is to practice with the compassion and understanding that all individuals should be treated with dignity and respect regardless of their health issues, social status, race, religion, disability, financial status, or creed.

The second provision in the code of ethics for nurses is that a nurse’s primary commitment is to the patient. This section discusses how nurses should wade through conflicts where a nurse’s patient and others, typically family members, other loved ones, or employers, have differing opinions on care and treatment needed. In these situations a nurse must maintain the integrity of the nursing profession, by safeguarding the patient’s best interest. This provision also specifies the requirement for collaboration between nurses, other medical professionals, and any other person relevant to a patient’s care. The code of ethics describes the need for nurses to maintain professionalism in relationships with patients and colleagues in order to ensure their patients receive the best care possible.

Next provision discusses the requirement for nurses to take responsibility and to be held accountable for their actions. The actions of a nurse will affect a patient’s standard of care. Hence, nurses must ensure that they show sound judgment in treating patients and delegating tasks to other nurses.

Since nursing can be a thankless profession, the next provision mandates that nurses treat themselves with the care in which they treat their patients. This provision calls for the nurse to continue to grow and learn their craft; take time for him or herself; and, preserve their integrity and moral self-respect.

There are also provisions that outline a nurse’s responsibility to the public and the requirement for nurses to positively influence their working environment. Nurses have a responsibility to use their knowledge for the betterment of those around them.

Ethics in the field of nursing is as important as the profession itself. So to ensure uniformity the American Nurses Association created a Nursing Code of Ethics. However, it’s important to note that although this is the most popular code, there are others, specifically for various other countries. Yet, the heart of the ethical code for nurses is and will always be the health and welfare of their patients.