Have you noticed the helping staff in any hospital which makes your bed and monitor the health of the patients? These are the regular duties of a nursing assistant, who is an integral part of any hospital. It is his/ her duty to look after the patients and keep a check on their health in every possible way in the absence of the doctors. A nursing assistant has to perform various duties for which he/she has to undergo certain training. However, there is no particular academic qualification is required for this job, but some special training classes may help them in learning the proper ways to perform their duties without any hassle.

A nursing assistant has to be careful as well as very sincere in the tasks which are assigned to him/her in form of the duties. The commitment towards the duty is another factor which should be essentially present in a person to become a nursing assistant. The essential tasks of a nursing assistant includes-

1. Attend all the calls from the patients and answer them in the most appropriate way so that they may feel satisfied.

2. Prepare the patients for any surgical or medical examination or procedure.

3. Cleaning of rooms and changing of bed linens are in the responsibilities of a nursing assistant.

4. Provide assistance to the patients who need wheelchair or stretcher.

5. A nursing assistance should clean the wounds and do proper dressing for injured patients.

6. Help the patients in taking bath and changing the clothes.

7. It is also among the responsibilities of a nursing assistant to feed the patients with suitable food.

8. Help the patients in turning over in case they can’t move by themselves. This would prevent any bedsores.

Apart from all these duties, a nursing assistant can do various other tasks. With expertise in the nursing duties and with certain experience, a nursing assistant can be promoted to an upper level where he/ she can help in providing the similar services as nurses. This includes the assistance during surgical procedures, various medical procedures, collecting the essential health information about the patients so that the medical practitioner may not take much time in diagnosis.

Career in this field is very promising as every hospital needs such nursing assistants who are committed and are capable of learning new things with the course of time. Various short term courses can help in boosting your knowledge and help in getting promotions from time to time. It would be better to get certification from the board to become Certified Nursing Assistant to get eligible for a job in any private or government hospital. This would also help you in getting a better pay in comparison to the non certified nursing staff.