If you are considering taking a CNA training class, discover a day in the life of a typical CNA.

2. Introduction If you are considering becoming taking a CNA training class to become a CNA and are wondering what to expect on the job, this article helps you discover a day in the life of a CNA named Marie. While the details below may not be typical as each workplace is different and the patients are different, this article shows a little bit of what goes on as a CNA and what is expected of the CNA.

3. Becoming a CNA Entering the certified nursing assistant (CNA) field which is a thriving field since there is always a need for certified nursing assistants especially now that the elderly population is expected to grow with more people living longer than ever before which means that medical expenses and the need for nursing home care is expected to grow vastly. For the right person, this can be a fulfilling career. Someone with great communication skills, who is patient, compassionate, gentle and has a great need to help others in need will excel in this position.

4. CNA Training Class In order to become a certified nursing assistant (CNA), one needs to take a CNA training class which may last anywhere from four weeks to up to twelve weeks. At the completion of the CNA training class, a nursing assistant will become certified after passing an exam. A CNA training class may be offered at a community college, high schools, nursing home, medical facilities, vocational technical centers, Red Cross chapters, etc. Many of the areas covered in the CNA training class include nutrition, body mechanics, infection control, developing effective communication skills, patient or resident rights, anatomy and physiology, bathing, feeding, grooming, lifting patients, changing bed linens, etc. A CNA should be willing to perform whatever is required since the job description will vary from one place of work to another.

5. A Day In The Life... The daily shift usually began quite early in the morning at about 7:00AM to 7:15AM. Each nursing assistant including Marie was usually assigned about eight patients. There was usually a daily briefing each morning going over information about each patient and the kind of night each patient had with one of the nurses who worked the night shift. During these briefings, each nursing assistant would have the patient's charts in their possession. To begin the workday Marie would get her patients ready for breakfast and then the breakfast trays would be brought into the patient's room. As is always the case, there will be patients that can feed themselves and those that cannot. Those that can feed themselves are handled first and then patients that need assistance to eat breakfast would be taken care of. Taking a CNA training class helped Marie learn how to assist a patient eat breakfast.

6. A Day In The Life cont. The next task after breakfast and the removal of the breakfast trays would be getting the patients bathed. Each patient's chart would designate whether a patient needed a full bath, partial bath, tub bath or shower. Of the patients that would be assigned to Marie, two or three would require full assistance which would mean getting them up, a full bath, dressing and grooming them, feeding them, etc, since they would be incapable of helping themselves. This group would also sometimes comprise of patients that needed very little help and would only need very little help since they could perform other tasks for themselves such as bathing, eating, etc. They may only need help with grooming or dressing. Other patients though not self reliant may only need partial help to get through the day. Taking a CNA testing class is a great way to learn how to perform these tasks properly.

7. A Day In The Life cont. After the bath, Marie would dress and otherwise groom her patients, get them ready and escort them to the lounge where they would remain until lunch. She may also escort patients to the examination room or testing room as required and set up the medical equipment. At lunch, the patients would be fed and when finished with lunch, Marie would then return the patients to their rooms for their afternoon naps. During the afternoon, Marie would check on the patients to ensure that they were clean and dry. She would also make sure that the patient rooms were clean and tidy. This would then be the end of her shift.

8. Conclusion Taking a CNA training class will ensure that you will not only excel at the duties that you will be assigned but that this will be a rewarding career choice for you. You can also use this first step of becoming a CNA to lead to additional training and education to enter other healthcare fields. Visit http://cnatrainingclass411.com to find out more about becoming a CNA.