NAR/CNA Wound Care

mvm2 · Jun 3, 2013

I have done dressing changes, and delt with cuts and put on ointment as an aide/cna, but I am in Home Care and I just put on the band aide and ointment on because it is me who is responsible for them, and I am their care taker. With the dressing change it was in the care plan for me to do so, and the nurse gave me and showed me how to do it. If you are working in an LTC or retirment home then I would ask the nurse about it before doing anything. If they give you permision to do it then go ahead and do so.

Skayda · Jun 4, 2013

I have done dressing changes and delt with cuts and put on ointment as an aide/cna, but I am in Home Care and I just put on the band aide and ointment on because it is me who is responsible for them, and I am their care taker. With the dressing change it was in the care plan for me to do so, and the nurse gave me and showed me how to do it. If you are working in an LTC or retirment home then I would ask the nurse about it before doing anything. If they give you permision to do it then go ahead and do so.[/quote']
OK thanks! This is what I pretty much thought. I've worked at two different places and one place they told me that only the resident can put a bandage/ointment on themselves, not me, and the place I'm at now my boss expects me to do it so I do when needed. Oh, and there's no nurse at my work. It's in a house that a married couple with no nursing background has opened up as an home for elderly. An Adult Family Home like Home Care like you probably do but not in their own private homes. There's an RN who comes in once every three months or so but other than that it's just myself, my boss (the wife of the couple since the husband doesn't come around much), and the other three caregivers we all rotate 8 to 24 hour shifts and sleepovers. Anyway, I thought what you wrote was the correct answer. Anyway, my boss just said "The first aide stuff is in the locked cupboard, make sure you clean the broken skin, put ointment on and a bandage." I didn't have a nurse come show me. So, that's what I did. We have residents who tend to pick and scratch at themselves a lot.

mvm2 · Jun 4, 2013

that sounds fine. For minor cuts and scratches like that you just care for it like you would if your own child got a cut no big deal. The dressing change I was shown because it was after a surgery type deal so it was not as minor. There were stitches extra to have to worry about. As for the nurse, even though they do not come around, are they avaliable to you whenever you need them? Some of our clients do not always get seen by the nurse every week either, while there are others that do because they either need more nursing attention, or sometimes if there is not a family member avaliable to do it it is up to the nurses to fill their weekly pill trays. We as aides/CNAs are not allowed to touch prescriptions other then if they are in those weekly trays. they are also there for us 24/7, and we need to call the nurse whenever we have a problem, or think there is a change in our clients. We have to have our eyes and ears open at all times to these things because we are the ones to see them everyday, and if we do not talk to the nurses about things, serious things can happen to them.

GarrettLeonard · Jun 4, 2013

Depends on the state, and it depends on your capacity, and legal job description.

If you are licensed/certified for medication dispensing, then you, as a CNA can even perform injections. There are CNAs who're qualified to perform IV Therapy, even. As far as wound treatment, etc. it completely depends upon your scope and your legal description and certifications. I know of a CNA personally who is qualified to perform Surgical Cricothyrotomy legally, but then again, said CNA is also an NREMT-P. Who works as a CNA on-call for extra cash.

Everything that a CNA/HHA-C, can do, is determined by state law, additional educational courses, and so on. There is no single "This persons job is limited to this period" blanket. Every state has different controls and allowances on what an Nursing Assistant/Orderly/HHA-C/PCT can do and can't do. There are way too many variables within those laws as well, that determine if that scope can be expanded, and what has to be done in order to be allowed for it to be expanded.

Make sense?