Does your employer provide a gait belt?

Kitsey · Aug 1, 2012

My facility provided gait belts if you didn't already have one, and it was part of your uniform. But then last year they decided we are NOT to carry gait belts, but rather each resident would have one assigned to them and kept in their room. Major pain in the butt I tell ya.

Chad Collins · Aug 1, 2012

In Tennessee the facilities have decided to have a gait belt for each patient as well to reduce the risk of spreading bacteria.

mstearns09 · Aug 1, 2012

My facility provides them for us and they keep them in residents' rooms. There are a number of people who carry his or her own, too.

chorkle · Aug 1, 2012

Our facility provided a few, but that meant a trip to the nursing station, and hoping one would be there.

Recommend carrying your own, always. Not expensive, & you always have it (unless you've loaned it out, & are hoping to get it back before you need it).

Point is, situations arise where you need one, and being prepared is better than having to go find one.

mstearns09 · Aug 2, 2012

I spoke too soon. I got to work yesterday and they had taken all the gait belts out of residents' rooms and are now requiring us to wear a gait belt on us at all times. No big deal to me; I've been doing that for months. We'll see how long that lasts, though. Our staff rebel AKA SuperAide didn't have one on all shift because she didn't feel the need to have it on. *eye-roll*

Glycerine82, LPN · Aug 5, 2012

Work in acute rehab and every patient gets their own. Most wear them all day. In Ltc I had my own I would stamp the same one onto all patients. Talk about cross contamination.... Ewww

Weatherly · Aug 5, 2012

I work in a hospital and have yet to see a gait belt to be honest. I haven't even tried to look for one really because if the patient can't get up on their own, we have someone else help out and it depends on what is needed... drawsheet, or be put on fall precautions and stay in bed during their hospital stay. We have wheelchairs and all, but I have never seen anyone use a belt at my work. If someone can't get up without being a self or self to assist, we don't let them get up due potential falls. I never practiced with a belt outside of my CNA class at a tech school here. I was worried like you were, but I did fine. If you want to put your mind at ease though, ask your instructor if you can visit his/her class right before you take your test so you can practice and get a refresher course over everything you just learned. My instructor said we could come by to her class and practice, but I never made it happen. I had clinical experience at the hospital I'm working at now, networked around, and got hired before I took the CNA test. That REALLY helped me get up to par for the real cna test. I passed the first time. My input is see your instructor to practice. Practice at your cna job place and practice time management. Don't pick up nasty bad shortcut habits that a lot of people make up just to avoid the extra work envolved in doing things correctly and safely. Have someone time you to see where you are with your pace. I know some stores sell the gait belt- I think CVS has it, maybe walmart, too. Amazon may have it... they're not that pricey, but anything is better that your mind going 90 miles per hour like mine did and you need to worry about practicing, keeping your mind at ease, and not stressing out so much like I did!

[: I know how you feel!

Weatherly · Aug 5, 2012

OH! I forgot something else that was a lifesaver!

When you get to your testing site on the day of the exam, get to know some of the others there that were there for the same reason you are. Ask if they would like to practice the skills stuff and make sure you all have that stuff down pat. That's what I did. It was the best thing ever. We were all there from 7ish in the morning til like 5 or 6 that night. LOOOOOONG and SLOW day. Use your time that day to practice and study with each other. We didn't have any equipment to practice with so we just verbally mentioned all the steps for each skill.

Remember, bed locked, hands washed, barrier between dirty objects and a clean surface,

provide privacy, call bell in place, eye contact, communicate...

If you mess up on a skill during the test, YOU CAN back up and tell the proctor you would like to correct yourself and tell them what you would have done right and ACTUALLY DEMONSTRATE it or you will get points off for that.[:

Good lock!