A Nursing Assistant's Online Journal

By the way, if by any chance you landed a job as nursing assistant, your primary task is to support the nursing staff in providing the basic care needs of the patients. As a nursing assistant, you will be required to lift the patient from time to time so that they won’t develop bedsores. You will also assist them in changing their clothing or getting to the bathroom. Apart from monitoring the vital signs of the patients using the different home medical equipment like blood pressure device and thermometer, it is also included in the tasks of certified nursing assistants to administer IV medications. With these tasks, you might probably say that CNAs job is really exhausting especially on times when the ratio of patient-to-nurse is particularly high. But if you really have the desire to help or improve other’s life, all these things are nothing. 

Getting the vital signs of the patient before is a little bit time consuming for nurses. Almost all instruments used monitoring the overall health condition of an individual are mechanically operated. But when advances in medical technology came, digital hospital and home medical equipments were invented.

Medical instruments play crucial roles in saving the lives of people. They are purposely designed to monitor health under difficult conditions. And with digital hospital and home medical equipments, these brought great convenience particularly for the part of nurses most especially on times when there are a lot of patients to attend to. These modern instruments are usually designed with high precision and fast response time. While for the part of the patient, modernize hospital and home medical equipments likewise offer them better comfort than traditional ones.

From a simple thermometer and blood pressure device, all these modern hospital and home medical equipments feature the basic systems of a digitally operated device. And that includes a power/battery management system, control and data processing unit, amplification, amplification and A/D conversion of the sensor input, display units and sensory element. No wonder why modern medical instruments are much better and safer to use.

By the way, I have hear some of the common hospital and home medical equipments that go digital:

Digital Thermometer

Digital Blood Pressure Device

Digital Pulse Monitor

Portable Glucose Meter

A group of researchers claimed recently that if people will only have a long term commitment to healthier food intake and/or exercise on the succeeding years, this will help bring down the risk of developing diabetes. Based on their study, taking an additional step at a time toward healthy lifestyle significantly lowered their risk of developing the said disease despite their family history of diabetes or of being overweight.

This new study, which was led by Jared Reis Ph. D., highlighted 5 healthy habits that were deemed to bring a significant effect on lowering the person’s risk fall to diabetes. These healthy habits include maintaining a normal weight, avoiding smoking, being physically active, drinking alcohol moderately or no to drinking, and opting for hale and hearty diet.  The research result revealed that individuals who follow at least one of those five stated healthy behaviors reduce their chances to suffer from this metabolic condition at about 30% percent.

Diabetes is the 7^th leading cause of death in the United States and this health condition allows the government to spend $174 billion every year, not to mention the $116 billion paid for direct medical expenses. Meanwhile in WHO data, diabetes ranks 9^th as the leading cause of death worldwide. Since 2000, the American Diabetes Association estimated that there are a total of 171 million people who are suffering from diabetes who have been diagnosed to have diabetes and this figure is projected to increase up to 366 million in 2030.  This is exactly the reason why healthcare professionals who often comes wearing a white lab coat and uses stethoscope as among their primary medical instruments, keep on advising everyone to avoid unhealthy lifestyle behaviors to curb the risk of developing chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes.

With Pacman’s unconquerable career in boxing, many amateur boxers of today are trying to follow his footstep. Sadly, boxing is not an appropriate sport for young children or those who are under 19 years of age. This is what the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Canadian Paediatric Society is telling to the public, particularly to concerned parents. These two organizations of pediatricians do believe that boxing could compromise the health of the youngsters.

image obtained from Blitzsport

We all know that a boxer is being rewarded for dedicated and deliberate blows to the opponent’s head. And even if amateur boxers are equipped with the same protect safety gear being used by professional boxers, the group of medical doctors (who often come with a pediatric littman steth hanging on their neck) highly stressed that these safety gears particularly the head guard provides no evidence that it can actually reduce the incidence of concussions and lacerations. 

One of the common reasons why people become obese and at risk for high blood pressure is because of their unhealthy lifestyle. Unhealthy lifestyle simply means the person is smoking, drinking, has poor diet, and lack of physical activity. According to survey, these people with unhealthy lifestyle are three times more likely to die from diseases especially heart-related disorders and cancer. Hypertension is also another prevalent disorder that a person with poor lifestyle may experience.

Today, hypertension or high blood problem is becoming the number one health problem not just of Americans but of all individuals around the world. With more and more children below 18 years old who are becoming obese these days, hypertension is also getting more and more common as obesity is among the risk factors for high blood pressure.

So if you are one of those people with poor lifestyle choices, better think now. If you want to shorten your life span or put an end to it right away, then continue with your poor lifestyle. However, if you still want to live longer and witness your future generation, then start practicing a healthy behavior.

Here in our nursing home facility, many of our clients are hypertensive. We don’t always give them beta-blockers unless the BP level is very high. And on this post, I will share to you our secrets to naturally lower one’s blood pressure or keep it stable at normal level (120.80 mmHg). If you are one those hypertensive people who still want to extend their life span, these tips are for surely beneficial for you.

Be physically active

Night time is meant for sleeping, which is a very important to every individual’s overall health and well-being. Sleeping is the ideal time for the body to repair cells that are often damaged by metabolic wastes. It also helps recharge the fuel that the brain burned or consumed during the all-day activity. But let’s admit it that not all people today can experience a good night sleep. Some are perhaps too busy in their work while others may be suffering from severe health condition that’s why their sleeping habits are the ones being compromised.

Let me share to you one of my clients who often have an interrupted night sleep. Her name was Jaimee and she’s 65 years of age. Just last week, I was assigned as her nursing assistant. Jaimee is still energetic compared to other residents who are also at her age. In fact, she can still perform her activities of daily living by herself so my main responsibility is just to supervise her to prevent potential accidents and injuries. But if there’s one thing Jaimee would always complain, that is the leg pain that suddenly makes her sleepless. Jaime has never incurred injuries for the past days so I am pretty sure that the ache she’s currently feeling has nothing to do with fractures. I conclude that what she is suffering right now is leg spasm or the sudden, involuntary contraction of muscles in her legs. So the moment she told me about the condition of her legs, I offer a therapeutic massage with my hope that this will help relieve the ache. Fortunately, it helped.

The next day, I asked Jaimee how’s her legs and she quickly replied, “They’re better now.” So when she told me about that, I was hoping that she will no longer experience the same pain on the following days. But I was disappointed because 3 days after Jaimee told me that her legs are already ok, she’s here again telling me the leg discomfort. And by this time she said the pain get worse and moving her legs is now more difficult. Thinking that that it’s only muscle spasm, I did the same first aid but sad to say, it didn’t help relieve the pain and the muscles remained in a contracted position. The legs are really hard, almost like concrete, and I can see in her facial expression the intensity of the pain. After failing in my first aid, which includes applying hot compress and then massaging the cramped muscles, I immediately ask assistance from my co-workers so I can bring Jaimee to someone who knows better in medicine at the same time is equipped with the right medical instruments for diagnosing. After the doctor’s thorough examination on Jaimee’s condition, here comes the physician’s findings. There it was stated that Jaimee is suffering a nocturnal leg cramps.

Up to now, healthcare professionals (who often come stethoscopes hanging on their neck) don’t know the exact cause yet for such condition. But some studies claim that leg cramps are a result of increased electrical activity in the affected muscles. Others associate nocturnal leg cramps to dehydration as well as potassium deficiency. Whether or not these studies are true, the good news is nocturnal leg cramps are preventable.

Anyone can experience nocturnal leg cramps. So here are some tips on how to prevent it from happening:

As we celebrate today the 4^th of July, let’s remember also the men who died just to give us the most important thing that every individual desires – independence!

Similar to other healthcare facilities, nursing homes are also equipped with a number of medical equipments that will help caregivers or nursing assistants like me to effectively carry out our every day duties to people who require constant nursing care and have significant deficiencies with activities of daily living. Below is a list of home medical equipment and products essential in my duty. By the way, I work in an assisted living type of nursing home care.

Sphygmomanometer – This serve as a blood pressure device in order for me to accurately monitor the BP reading of my client. Through this, I am able to save my patient from possible hypertension or hypotension. Blood pressure device comes in various types but I feel more comfortable the one with an analog manometer.

Heart Monitor – Portable heart monitor is another important home medical equipment for me when working in nursing homes. Through this, I become aware the heart condition of my patients.













Wheelchair – The wheelchair is among the important ambulatory devices for those who cannot walk. But aside from them, I also use wheelchair to safely and comfortably transport my patient from one place to another. Wheelchairs are available in two types – automatically operated and manually operated. From these two types of ambulatory device, I am at ease in using a manual wheelchair to my patient.






Crutches – This is another essential mobility device for my patients who have mobility impairment or an injury that limits his or her walking ability.
















Gloves – They are part of the personal protective equipment required for every healthcare workers like me. Gloves help protect my hands from being exposed to harmful germs and bodily fluids, which often causes cross-contamination.













Disinfectants – Preventing the spread of infection is always the first priority in healthcare facility. This is the reason why every healthcare worker should have with them a disinfectant like hand sanitizer, antibacterial soap, antibacterial wipes, and sterilizer solution in order to keep ourselves, the facility, and the equipments clean.









Forceps – This handheld, hinged instrument is intended for grasping and holding objects. Its functionality is something that a healthcare professional truly appreciate because without this device, it is very difficult too large fingers to grasp small objects or to hold several objects at one time yet the other hand is busy performing other tasks. The forceps also help in preventing cross-contamination.














Scissors – This is one of the medical instruments for cutting. Scissors comes in different types and the bandage scissors is the one that I commonly used. The said cutting instrument features an ergonomically designed blunt tip at the bottom blade to prevent accidental injury when cutting bandages.

It has been a norm in the United States and other developed countries that once a person becomes old or is incapable for taking care of himself due to mental or physical problems, the family will immediately send him to nursing homes – a type of facility that provide long term care for elderly beings. It is housed with experienced therapists, caregivers, and other nursing staffs who will provide continuous nursing care or 24-hour supervision to less active or frail elderly people.  

With the great number of people being sent in nursing facility every year, I can say that caregiving or nursing aide will always be one of the careers where you can find employment, even in a slow economy. So for those who have a dedication of helping others but do not have enough money to obtain a degree in medicine, caregiving is an ideal option.

I’ve worked as a resident caregiver in one of the private institutions based in Georgia before I become a nursing assistant. And based on my experiences, I can say that caring someone who badly needs your help is really overwhelming and fulfilling to the heart. The salary is not bad especially for someone who has no working experience yet as it ranges from $8.91-$12.70 per hour.  Working beyond your schedule is also paid fairly. Moreover, if your client comes from a well-off or generous family; expect to receive a higher bonus especially if they are impressed with the service you provide to their loved ones.  

Just like any other professions, there are also some qualifications required for caregiving jobs. The applicant should be at least 18 years of age and possesses that caring personality. It is also important for a caregiver applicant to have a license since he or she is expected to promote a healthy living for adult by assisting in their activities of daily living such as eating, bathing, toileting, shopping, cooking, cleaning the house and managing schedules appointments. Helping in taking the medicines and monitoring the vital signs of elders depending on the recommendation of their attending physician is likewise included in the day-to-day tasks of a caregiver. When taking the vital signs, some procedures will require the use of basic hospital medical equipment like thermometer and sphygmomanometer thus, it is necessary for a caregiver to be adept in using such instruments.  Furthermore, the ability of a caregiver to speak English clearly and record plan updates are essential. 

I have already worked in facilities wherein most of the patients are in chronic health condition. From that, I can say the benefits of healthcare insurance to these ill individuals are undeniable. The difference on hospitalization expenses for patients with health insurance is absolutely amplified compared to those who have none. Patients with no health insurance are expected to pay all the services provided to them, from the medical or surgical instruments used to the medicines to the doctor’s fee and other miscellaneous fees.

But for the past few months, U.S. President Barrack Obama’s Health Care Act has been the talk of the town. The adjustments and added provisions on the House and Bills that have been passed by the Congressional Democrats are among the top reasons that make this health care law controversial. One of the adjustments made is the provision that mandates every American to buy health insurance by 2014 and failure to do so means paying for a penalty.

The opponents of Obama administration regarding the said issue is requesting to repeal the law because they believe that this Health Care Act violates a fundamental right of the citizens. They added that the Congress has no right to require individuals to enter a marketplace and purchase a particular product or goods.

In your opinion, do you think this Affordable Health Care Act of President Obama is beneficial to everyone?

Monitoring your blood pressure regularly provides a number of benefits. First, it lets you make early diagnosis of abnormal blood pressure level.   From the BP monitoring result, you and your doctor are able to determine what is the best care or treatment for your condition. Another advantage of checking your blood pressure is that it makes you become more responsible at the same time boosts your self-control. Being at risk of hypotension or hypertension likewise enables you learn how to avoid those things that will aggravate your condition. And with that, you gain a stronger sense of responsibility. Moreover, maintaining your BP reading within normal level definitely reduces your healthcare expenditure.  

Checking your BP level is not possible without the aid of a blood pressure device called sphygmomanometer. It is one of the most important medical instruments that should always be found in every home. The sphygmomanometers, just like any other hospital and home medical instruments, have also undergone series of improvements. The first type of BP monitoring device was invented by Samuel Siegfried Karl Ritter von Basch and this instrument is universally known as mercury sphygmomanometer. After this, a BP device with manometer or an aneroid sphygmomanometer is then discovered. When electronic devices become popular, digital or electronic blood pressure devices are also introduced in the market.  This latter version of sphygmomanometer is offered with manual or automatic inflation.

Although more innovative and user-friendly blood pressure devices are now offered in the market, many healthcare professionals, including myself, still prefer to use mercury sphygmomanometer for some reasons. First of all, this medical instrument cannot be decalibrated so you do not have to clean or repair it regularly. In terms of reliability, you can expect that this type of blood pressure device will always give you a consistently accurate result. Additionally, the mercury sphygmomanometer is cheaper than the modern styles.