NA/Tech Duties In CVIMCU

dreamer30 · Jun 5, 2015

Never know with critical care but in a general hospital unit you could be responsible for the following: vitals, blood draws, I & O's, EKG, blood sugars, dressing changes, starting an IV and catheter. Basically u wld be an LPN with limited duties.

blackvans1234 · Jun 12, 2015

^^^ I have a serious disagreement with the above poster regarding putting in foleys/iv's and drawing blood.

I work cardiac stepdown (as a RN), likely to be very similar to your CVIMCU (unless your facility does open heart)

Anyways. Our NA's have anywhere from 9-14 patients each - RN's have 4-6.

Unfortunately with Q4H vital signs, these guys run all day long.

Basically on days, they do ekgs, routine vital signs, post cardiac cath VS, Blood transfusion VS. They get patients out of bed, walk patients to bathroom, answer call bells, take care of the total care patients (incontinence care, turn and position with the RN) Patients with foley catheters need to have shiftly peri washing (on the real, this never gets done), feed the total care patients. Additionally, they are expected to sign the bi-hourly rounding sheets in each room they are assigned. Oh yeah, fixing tele leads every second. They also get supplies for admissions (signing out a tele box, getting your other misc. admission items). Daily weights are taken in the AM, orthostatic bp's are occasionally done, Intake and output is something that is done, but unlikely to be accurate. If we have sitters, they will give the sitters their 1 hour break. They empty the foley catheters Q shift. The RN's will also delegate items as needed.

In my facility (and at least two others I have seen) Nursing assistants are not allowed to insert foley catheters, do not insert IV's. Only in the ED have I seen NA's draw blood. NA's are not to remove IV's either (per policy- but many nurses will ask them to, and they will often comply)

mirandaaa · Jun 12, 2015

Basically on days, they do ekgs, routine vital signs, post cardiac cath VS, Blood transfusion VS. They get patients out of bed, walk patients to bathroom, answer call bells, take care of the total care patients (incontinence care, turn and position with the RN) Patients with foley catheters need to have shiftly peri washing (on the real, this never gets done), feed the total care patients. Additionally, they are expected to sign the bi-hourly rounding sheets in each room they are assigned. Oh yeah, fixing tele leads every second. They also get supplies for admissions (signing out a tele box, getting your other misc. admission items). Daily weights are taken in the AM, orthostatic bp's are occasionally done, Intake and output is something that is done, but unlikely to be accurate. If we have sitters, they will give the sitters their 1 hour break. They empty the foley catheters Q shift. The RN's will also delegate items as needed.

In my facility (and at least two others I have seen) Nursing assistants are not allowed to insert foley catheters, do not insert IV's. Only in the ED have I seen NA's draw blood. NA's are not to remove IV's either (per policy- but many nurses will ask them to, and they will often comply)

That was very insightful. Thank you.

I actually was doubtful about the foley/iv/blood drawing. I suppose what you can do is dependent on the types of certifications you have, but with just a standard CNA certification, I was doubtful that would be allowed (although perhaps with my being in nursing school, I may be allowed to do more things).

In my CNA course, we were taught strictly not to do certain things, even when a nurse says to, because if something goes wrong then it is on us and we will likely lose our license over it.

dreamer30 · Jun 15, 2015

^^^ I have a serious disagreement with the above poster regarding putting in foleys/iv's and drawing blood.

I work cardiac stepdown (as a RN), likely to be very similar to your CVIMCU (unless your facility does open heart)
Anyways. Our NA's have anywhere from 9-14 patients each - RN's have 4-6.

Unfortunately with Q4H vital signs, these guys run all day long.

Basically on days, they do ekgs, routine vital signs, post cardiac cath VS, Blood transfusion VS. They get patients out of bed, walk patients to bathroom, answer call bells, take care of the total care patients (incontinence care, turn and position with the RN) Patients with foley catheters need to have shiftly peri washing (on the real, this never gets done), feed the total care patients. Additionally, they are expected to sign the bi-hourly rounding sheets in each room they are assigned. Oh yeah, fixing tele leads every second. They also get supplies for admissions (signing out a tele box, getting your other misc. admission items). Daily weights are taken in the AM, orthostatic bp's are occasionally done, Intake and output is something that is done, but unlikely to be accurate. If we have sitters, they will give the sitters their 1 hour break. They empty the foley catheters Q shift. The RN's will also delegate items as needed.

In my facility (and at least two others I have seen) Nursing assistants are not allowed to insert foley catheters, do not insert IV's. Only in the ED have I seen NA's draw blood. NA's are not to remove IV's either (per policy- but many nurses will ask them to, and they will often comply)

That's why I said "could" and "limited duties"