Tuesday 12 July 2011

Today I have come to the realization that nursing is my career of choice! Being a nurse, means that everyday I get to make a difference, no matter how big or small, in someone's life. I am a CNA right now at the hospital in the town I live in, and everyday it amazes me just how big of an impact one person of the medical staff can have on some of the patients. CNAs have always been labled as "professional butt wipers", but we are so much more than that. Everyday I get to go into a patients room and talk to them about everything. I must become a personal friend of theirs and gain their trust, because I will be constantly invading their personal space and I want them to trust me and become comfortable. This English Composition class has actually helped me in my work place. It has helped me to understand and listen to my patients more, and this helps me to become better aquainted with them. I work on the Acute Care floor of my hospital. Most of our patients are there recovering from surgery, illness, or sadly, it is  where they spend their final moments of life. As a CNA, I have more of a personal relationship with the patient than the nurse. The patients spend most of there time in the hospital with me or other CNAs. Yes, we may be in there wiping their rears, but the whole time we are doing that we are establishing a bond with the patient, and ninety-nine percent of the time I am wiping their rears, they are spilling their guts to me. CNAs go by Maslows theory. We meet the patients basic needs to make them comfortable and to help them to become well again. The medical staff of my hospital are some of the patients only family members. They are with us so much that they begin to love us as if we were their relative. This achieves the level of love on the Maslow pyramid. As a CNA, we are constantly making the patient fill loved, because we are always with them, talking to them and helping them. They trust us enough to let us be in their personal space. CNAs help the nuse to know what is wrong with the patient, so that they will be able to give them the proper medical attention they need. The best reward I have ever gotten out of being a CNA is knowing that I made that patient fill loved and wanted for the small amount of time I got with them. So next time, before you label a CNA as a "professional butt wiper", remember this, that CNA cares enough about that patient's health and well being that they will wipe their rear to see them get well and get home. Just remember that if you ever become ill and are admitted to the hospital, and you can't move and need all the help you can get, there will be a caring "professional butt wiper" there to take care of you and show you that you can get better. I am very proud of my job and I admire all the CNAs out there that care  about people enough to wipe their butts.