Once we get the communication part down, we can provide successful care to these people.

You would expect the DON to be involved in every aspect of recruiting a CNA, and Judson is indeed involved. But, at the hour of decision, she silently steps aside and the residents take over.

A team of four to six residents, their homework done and ready to meet the applicant, stroll into the conference room. It is a meeting of the ages. On one side is arrayed the accumulated wisdom of the seniors who look benignly across the table at the eager young aspirant, Angelica Riviera, 19, idealistic but nervous. The dialogue across generations goes on for 45 minutes, with storytelling, jokes, and much laughter, as each side wonders how the other side will affect its future.

Isn’t this great? Imagine being a resident, and having some power in who is hired to work with you, to take of you, help you?

The DON is instrumental in this process:

“Seeing residents hire their caregivers is rewarding enough,” says Judson. “It has also elevated my understanding of what matters most to the residents. It has made me a better leader and a better person. It is an empowering and uniting experience for us all. Sitting on the sidelines, I listen to residents tell a budding caregiver what living in a facility is all about; at each session I learn something new.”

Read the whole article HERE.

Summary Report for:
31-1012.00 – Nursing Aides, Orderlies, and Attendants

Work Styles
Concern for Others — Job requires being sensitive to others’ needs and feelings and being understanding and helpful on the job.
Dependability — Job requires being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations.
Integrity — Job requires being honest and ethical.
Cooperation — Job requires being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude.
Self Control — Job requires maintaining composure, keeping emotions in check, controlling anger, and avoiding aggressive behavior, even in very difficult situations.
Stress Tolerance — Job requires accepting criticism and dealing calmly and effectively with high stress situations.
Attention to Detail — Job requires being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks.
Adaptability/Flexibility — Job requires being open to change (positive or negative) and to considerable variety in the workplace.
Social Orientation — Job requires preferring to work with others rather than alone, and being personally connected with others on the job.
Initiative — Job requires a willingness to take on responsibilities and challenges.

And far be it from me to speculate, but the following competencies are above the education and typical training offered to CNA’s:

Knowledge
Customer and Personal Service — Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
English Language — Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
Psychology — Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
Medicine and Dentistry — Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.

Regardless, it’s an interesting site with a lot of good info for those who are considering training to be a CNA.

Traits of A Successful CNA (PDF file)

The five most important foundational skills that a successful nursing assistant needs are:
Reading for information
Locating and using information
Observation skills
Applied mathematics
Writing

I agree. We do have a problem here, though. A lot of CNA’s cannot read and comprehend English very well, therefore they cannot report (verbally and in writing) the things they observe. I think more education is needed in order to carry out observations- I see problems every day with this. Math is a no brainer, but it goes with the language problem.

The characteristics of successful CNA’s:

cooperation, goodwill, optimism, order, savvy, and determination/striving

Good start. We have some articles that go into detail on these issues:

Observation Skills for CNA’s

Legal Issues for CNA’s

Professional Boundaries

Being Professional

CNA’s & Respect

Why Being Negative Can Really Hurt You

7 Habits of Highly Effective CNA’s

7 Habits of Highly INeffective CNA’s

State of the art technology is changing the way nursing homes operate.

Inside one Louisiana Alzheimer’s facility, each room is equipped with a fall prevention system.

“We have a ‘smart’ system, which is a computer system that will learn, actually learn patient movement and activity,” said Neal Rider, Guardian House CEO.

Each resident has an individual profile that determines their risk for potential falls. If they are categorized as a “fall risk,” the computer and motion sensor devices will monitor their every move in bed and alert the staff if anything is abnormal.

“The unauthorized bed exit is coming in and you can see an individual getting out of the bed. It identifies where the person is in the building and where other individuals and staff members are located throughout the building,” said Rider.

Does anyone have experience with these types of systems?

The article she linked to implores management to take action to become more employee-friendly. There are some issues that management might not be able to change. Health insurance for staff is a BIG issue. Affordable and practical insurance is needed.

SEIU’s Andy Stern is calling on US to help him advocate for this important need. He will be testifying before Congress and will be sharing worker stories about health insurance, the lack of or inability to afford.

When I think about what’s wrong with health care, I think of Jacqueline.

It’s one thing to talk about our broken health care system, but Jacqueline lives it every day. For 19 years, she’s worked as a nursing home CNA in Wisconsin. Short staffing in her unit means skipped treatments and longer waits for her patients. And a lack of equipment and supplies puts the strain on the entire facility when things get busy.

Unbelievably, while Jacqueline spends her life providing care for her patients, she can’t afford it for herself or her family. The coverage her employer offers costs too much on her salary.

This has to stop. Congress needs to hear how this crisis is affecting real people. Share your story: http://action.seiu.org/page/s/memberstories

Next week, I’m going to Capitol Hill for a Senate roundtable on fixing health care. It’s one of three roundtables that Senator Max Baucus is holding to hammer out the final details of a health reform bill.

If you’ve got a story to tell, now is the time to do it. Do you have health insurance? If not, why not? Does your employer offer it? Is it too expensive for you to afford? Have you held back on seeing a doctor or other health care needs due to costs? Let Andy know.

The LTC industry is getting excited about this as well, but for a more sinister reason.
From McKnights LTC News:

A major development is afoot in the labor movement, and it could have interesting implications for long-term care.

I’m talking about American unions’ recent plans to unify. In case you haven’t heard, the leaders of the two major federations and the nation’s 12 largest unions have formed the National Labor Coordinating Committee. The interim body will help form the federation.

Naturally, the thought of one massive union, 16 million members strong, is enough to send shivers down a long-term care employer’s spine. But let’s think about this a minute.

Clearly, a single union could have an impact on unionization. This is the year of the card check, and if the Employee Free Choice Act passes, nursing homes could be facing a serious increase in union activity.

Sounds good huh? Never trust the LTC industry to do the right thing for YOU.

But there also may be at least one area in which nursing homes can benefit from a unified labor front. That is immigration reform. The AFL-CIO and Change to Win federations recently said they are joining forces to support the effort. That includes a path to citizenship for undocumented workers.

Why worry about immigration reform, in the broader picture here?

Read on:

The American Health Care Association, the largest association of nursing homes, if you will remember, was in favor of a guest worker program that would provide a temporary workforce of skilled and unskilled workers for employers in the future. Given the industry’s reliance on low-wage help, that is not surprising.

Read that last sentence. LOW WAGE HELP. The thinking here is simple: Bring in as many immigrants as possible, allow them to fill our shoes, at lower rates of pay…supported by the Unions of course…And read between the lines: Unskilled workers = low wages is NOT GOOD FOR US. These efforts will drive down our rates of pay. Why would any facility hire an American CNA who will expect a living wage- when hiring an immigrant who will work for cheap hourly rate is a viable option? We need to seriously think this out and speak up on it.

What is your opinion on this?

WASHINGTON (AP) – American workers – whose taxes pay for massive government health programs – are getting squeezed like no other group by private health insurance premiums that are rising much faster than their wages.

While just about all retirees are covered, and nearly 90 percent of children have health insurance, workers now are at significantly higher risk of being uninsured than in the 1990s, the last time lawmakers attempted a health care overhaul, according to a study to be released Tuesday.
[...]
The problem is cost. Total premiums for employer plans have risen six to eight times faster than wages, depending on whether individual or family coverage is picked, the study found.
[...]
For the Ramer family of Denver, Iowa, it’s already too late. Husband Jim, a truck driver for a road-building company, died of a heart attack in 2005 at the age of 59. He was uninsured and trying to cope with diabetes, a chronic disease that requires prescription drugs and follow-up medical care to keep under control.

His wife, Cindy, 58, works full time caring for mentally disabled people as a certified nursing assistant. But the nursing home that employs her canceled its medical coverage several years ago because it had become too expensive. Ramer is now uninsured and hasn’t had a regular checkup in about three years. Instead, she goes to health fairs for bone-density measurements and other screening tests.

“I don’t think it’s fair that I’m caring for people and helping them with their health care, and I don’t have adequate, affordable health care of my own,” said Ramer. “I’m not asking for a handout. I’m just asking for something I can afford, and won’t have all these restrictions that they’ll cover this and won’t cover that.” Ramer says she can afford to pay about $100 to $150 a month.

It’s sad. She wants to take care of herself so she can do her part to keep health care bills lower, but because she has no insurance she cannot afford preventative care. As mentioned in the article, her taxes pay the costs of health care for others. We need to fix this problem.

First off, look up to your right. You’ll see a sidebar topic titled: POPULAR CONTENT. The list of articles speak for themselves.

We have a new SITE MAP now. Check it out when you have time.

We have many articles full of advice for CNA’s:

Getting Paid. For every minute you work.

Tips & Timesavers for CNA’s

What Not To Wear to Work

Lifts & Transfers: Doing It Right

7 Habits of Highly Effective CNA’s

7 Habits of Highly INeffective CNA’s

And there’s many more HERE.

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We also have an extensive archive of educational articles, that can be used for in services and other trainings. CNA’s are, of course, welcome to read these articles for their own benefit.

The Nursing Process and The CNA

Observation Skills for CNA’s

Legal Issues for CNA’s

CNA’s & Respect

LTC Survey Scope & Severity Scales

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Would you like to connect with other CNA’s? Join the NursingAssistant Yahoo Group- it’s free and you can read the emails or messages on the web.