What You Might Learn as a STNA
When you first decided to become a State Tested Nursing Assistant, you might not have realized just how much there is to learn. Soon you’ll be learning about all of these topics and more.
About the Human Body
All of your patients have a body and you’ll be helping to take care of what that body needs. This means you’ll need to know anatomy, how that anatomy works, the aging process, and how the body moves. You’ll also learn how to make sure that the body you’re in charge of is doing well, which means you’ll take vital signs and assist with some tests.
About Patient Care
Beyond the body itself, your patients are all people. They have needs, especially in terms of their mental health, their nutritional needs, and taking care of personal tasks. There’s a lot that goes into the totality of patient care and some of it you might not have thought about just yet.
About Medical Terms and Procedures
If you’re new to the medical field, there are terms and procedures that might be extremely foreign to you. As you learn the terms, the procedures, and how everything fits together, it will all start to make a lot more sense to you. You’ll find that the more you learn, the easier it all gets to understand.
About Your Duties and Responsibilities
STNA’s offer a helping hand in so many different ways. You’ll be the primary point of contact for patients in whatever facility they’re in, so it’s really important that you understand what you’ll be doing and how that helps both the patients you’re helping to care for as well as the other medical professionals on your team. You’re an essential cog in that system.
About Patient Safety as Well as Your Own
Some patients may not be able to walk or to stand on their own, but you’ll still need to help them with certain tasks. If you’re helping them incorrectly, you might get hurt or you might accidentally cause your patient to be injured. That’s something that you can definitely avoid with the proper training.
Becoming an STNA is just the first step in the process. You might want to continue to be a State Tested Nursing Assistant for a long time or you might want to use that experience and knowledge to continue your path in the health care industry. Whatever you want to do is another step closer for you.
