Chapter 2: The Nursing Assistant and the Care Team Flashcards
Licensed Practical Nurse or Licensed Vocational Nurse
LPN OR LVN
licensed professional who administers medications and gives treatments much like a registered nurse (RN).
May also supervise NA’s daily care of residents
Occupational Therapist
OT
Helps residents learn to compensate for disabilities.
Helps residents perform ADLs
often involves assistive or adaptive devics
Speech Language Pathologist
SLP
Helps with speech and swallowing problems
Registered dietitian
RD
Creates diets for residents with special needs.
Can improve health and help manage illness
Medical social worker
MSW
Determines residents needs and helps get them support services such as counseling.
May help obtain clothing and personal items or may book appts and transportation.
Activities director
Plans activities for residents to help them socialize and stay physically and mentally active
Resident and Residents family
Important member of care team. Has the right to make decisions and choices about his or her own care.
Residents family may also be involved in these decisions.
The Nursing Assistant’s Role
Perform delegated/ assigned nursing tasks such as taking a residents temp and blood pressure and personal care and also promoting independence and self care. Also writing down important info about resident called charting.
Others include:
Feeding residents, helping residents with toileting needs, assisting residents to move around safely, keeping residents living areas neat and clean, encouraging residents to eat and drink, caring for supplies and equipment, helping dress residents, making beds, giving backrubs, helping residents with mouth care.
- generally not allowed to give medications, insert/remove tubes, change sterile dressings, and give tube feedings.
Professionalism
How you behave on the job, including how you dress, words you use and things you talk about, also being on time, completing tasks.
For NA professionalism means following the care plan, making careful observations and reporting accurately and following policies and procedures
Nursing assistants must be:
- compassionate
- honest
- tactful
- conscientious
- dependable
- respectful
- unprejudiced
- tolerant
The chain of command
The line of authority
physician - charge nurse - RN/LPN - NA
Liability
A legal term that means someone can be held responsible for harming someone else
Scope of practice
The things you are allowed to do and how to do them correctly
Tasks outside the scope of practice of a NA
- administering medicine
- performing procedures that require sterile technique
- diagnosing or prescribing treatments
- telling the resident or family the diagnosis or treatment plan
Care plan
Created by nurse or doctor
Individualized for each resident
The resident assists with developing the care plan
Lists the steps and tasks the care team must perform and how often and how they should be carried out
** activities not listed on the care plan should not be performed
Factors considered when formulating a care plan
The residents :
- health and physical condition
- diagnosis and treatment
- goals or expectations
The nursing process
- Assessment: getting info about the residents status from various sources including medical history, physical assessment, environment.
- Diagnosis: identifying the health problems after looking at all the residents needs
- Planning: setting goals and creating a care plan tok meet the residents needs
- Implementation: putting the care plan into action
- Evaluation: a careful examination to see if the goals are being met.
The 5 rights of delegation
Right task - right circumstance - right person - right direction/communication - right supervision/evaluation
Ways to manage time
Plan ahead Prioritize Make a sched Combine activities Get help