A hospice is a hospital where terminally ill or dying patients are
cared for. The place of treatment and care could also be the
patient's home since most people prefer to spend their last days with
their family. In both the places, the nursing services is provided by
certified nurse assistants who are called hospice CNA. These nurses
offer palliative care services, and try to make the remaining few
days comfortable for the patients. Caring for dying people is a
totally different experience where the nurses have to provide maximum
possible comfort and relaxation to the patients.
Hospice nurses offer varieties of services to terminally ill
patients. They have to offer medical and emotional care to both
patients and their families.
Hospice
CNA Job Description
Personal
Care
A hospice CNA, whether in a hospital or at patient's home will offer
all sorts of personal care ranging from changing bed linens and
clothing, brushing teeth, dressing wounds, controlling infection, and
bathing. The list to do things will go extending when she is taking
care of the patient undergoing a chemotherapy. She will also help the
family by instructing them how to care for the patient in her
absence.
Medical
Care
Taking vital signs, reading the pulse rate and heart beats are
important medical care the nurse has to perform. She will also help
registered nursed in need of administering IV and other medicines
given through an insertion into the vein. She will also administer
medications as prescribed by the physicians. If the patient is in
need of physiotherapy, she will do it herself by giving a massage.
Nutrition
She will monitor the nutritional needs to ensure the patient gets
appropriate liquid and solid foods. Since terminally ill patients
have a limited appetite, eating food becomes difficult for them.
However, she has to take care that the patient is eating at least
some meal to complement with the medications. She has to mince the
food and feed the patient in small offering. She will also offer
meals in frequent intervals to compensate for the required nutrition.
Other
Care
When caring the patient at homes, she will also help the family in
care-giving needs. She will offer emotional and physical support to
the family by helping in meal preparation, cleaning and sterilizing
the patient's room. She will also help in shifting the patient from
one place to another.
These hospice CNA job description is best handled if you want to help
dying patients in embracing the inevitable truth with dignity and
comfort. Your job will be to lessen the pain as much as possible by
offering nursing care of the highest quality.
