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Certified nursing assistants (CNAs) spend countless hours tending to the nitty-gritty of patient care, especially in this age of healthcare, when paperwork and other duties pull nurses away from the bedside. Several states, including Florida, Delaware and California, require CNAs to earn continuing education credits each year. These courses will take your patient care to the next level!
1. Patient Identification
Great patient care begins with identifying patients correctly. When you check patient ID, even when you know the patient by sight, the patient and family know you are paying attention to safety, a huge issue in healthcare! No armband? No problem. This course will help you identify alternative methods of identification.
2. Ergonomics and Back Safety
Do you go home from every shift thinking, “Oooo, my aching back”? Attention to back safety is so important, even when we don’t think we’re using our backs. Even routine slouching or standing on one foot can cause back damage over time. Add back safety to ergonomics and you have a winning combination for increased productivity and less fatigue!
3. Cultural Competency
Can you name the top three “cultures” here in the USA, and how each views illness and healthcare? Even if you don’t speak a patient’s language, understanding their fears and expectations about healthcare ahead of time can improve patient comfort and cooperation.
4. Pressure Ulcer Prevention
Skin care is one of the most important, but most often sidelined, patient issues. Pressure ulcers are serious and may even lead to patient death. Managing patient positioning and skin care to prevent pressure ulcers may be one of the best things you ever do for a patient.
5. Infection Control for Hospital Workers
The handwashing signs are posted ad nauseum around your facility, right? Well, that takes care of one link in the chain of infection. Are you aware of the other links in the chain? Do you know how to interrupt the chain at multiple points to reduce transmission of illnesses? Wash those hands again, and keep reading the invaluable information in this course!
Can you think of other courses that have benefited your CNA practice? Let us know in the comments, and share this article with your coworkers!
