Certified nursing assistants are front line patient care professionals who perform vital care responsibilities for patients. Typically, nursing assistants work in hospitals, retirement communities, physician offices, community care centers and nursing care facilities. Some are employed by family members for their loved one, making in-home visits to provide companionship and physical care for their patients.

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The core duties of CNAs include:

• Ensuring high-degree personal hygiene for patients by helping with baths and showers, assisting with movement to bathrooms and toilets, and giving shampoos, shaves, back rubs, urinals, bedpans and baths.

• Providing daily living activities such as feeding patients, serving meals, ambulating, positioning and turning patients, and providing nourishment and freshwater between meals.

• Maintaining patient stability through prompt checking of vitals and weight, recording intake and output volumes, and testing urine.

• Ensuring patient comfort by applying appropriate materials and resources, transporting patients, answering patient calls, and reporting observations and changes to nursing supervisors.

• Documenting activities by completing forms, logs, records and reports.

In terms of job security – Amidst the economic turmoil, the healthcare field is the least affected since healthcare is an indispensable component of the economy.