Overworked and Under-Appreciated Certifed Nursing Aides

Overworked and Under-appreciated Certified Nursing Aides
Certified nursing aides have a lot of responsibilities of intimate care with residents/patients. In order to have a job as challenging as a certified nursing aide, the individual must be very special with being compassionate, loving, caring and patient. Being an aide takes time and aides need to have the ability to lift correctly. On top of having many responsibilities of intimacy, the aide must be physically able to do the required care. These duties may be strenuous on the aide’s bodies, and there may even be times where the aide’s bodies are extensively worn out from all the hard work. This kind of physical work may cause some aides to hurt themselves from all the pulling and lifting which can tear and strain on muscles and ligaments. One of the reasons why aides should be paid more is for all the wear and tear on their bodies. The aides are held responsible for giving showers and assisting with activities of daily living. These are just some of the described duties of a certified care giver. Working as an aide for eight years, I know that there are many times I have come across residents/patients who are combative, verbally abusive, and others who just do not want to cooperate with their care. Aides also risk themselves every day with diseases, disorders, and other harmful body fluids they come in contact with that they can possibly take home to their families. They are responsible for bed making or changing after getting someone up from out of bed. Tidying up the room and taking the dirty linens to the baskets is added to the list of things to do for them as well. There are so many duties of an aide, in some nursing homes and hospitals the aide is responsible for taking vital signs. The nurses have the duties of documenting on the residents. Often aides are given the duty for doing treatments that are ordered by a physician because it is a part of the care. In most cases the aide becomes