Certified nursing assistants help people take care of their personal needs such as grooming, cleaning, transportation, and personal hygiene.
They work in hospitals, clinics, private homes, and aged care facilities. In general, the job of a CNA or Certified Nursing Assistant demands a high degree of professionalism.
Whether you want to or not, writing the skills on a CNA resume is the best resume-building decision you can make.
Your skills are what define you as a nursing assistant. If a hiring manager does not know about them, there is no point in possessing these skills.
As a matter of fact, employers pay special attention to the CNA skills section to determine which job seeker should move on to the next step of the hiring process.
In order to write CNA skills in an impressive and meaningful manner, one needs to write short bullet statements using power verbs and adjectives.
See the following common CNA skills to get ideas on what to write in your resume.
Use 5-6 of these statements in your resume depending on the situation.
Personal Care
- Providing assistance in the activities of daily living and personal hygiene
- Cooking and serving meals, helping patients eat, ambulating, and repositioning
- Assisting patients in using the toilet and shower
- Repositioning patients to avoid bedsores
- Providing patients with companionship
- Maintaining patients’ confidentiality
- Transporting patients
- Cleaning the patients’ room
- Handling emergencies situations with tact
Clinical and Lab
- Checking and recording vital signs including temperature, pulse, blood pressure, and weights
- Drawing and collecting blood and urine specimens for lab testing
- Assessing patients’ conditions
- Conducting glucose checks, as well as charting the patient’s progress
- Observing and monitoring patients’ status and documenting patient care on charts
- Transferring the specimen to the lab immediately
- Assisting nurses and doctors during procedures
- Sterilizing surgical and medical equipment
- Administering IVs
- Cannula passing, catheter care and enema
Technical
- Operating medical equipment such as ECG machines, X-Ray equipment, USG systems, and pulse monitors
- Using a computerized database in order to record and update patients’ history
- Medical terminology and HIPAA Regulations
- Maintaining the inventory of supplies
- Analytical skills
- CPR and first-aid
Communication and Interpersonal
- Excellent communication with staff, patients, and families
- Functional listening capabilities aimed at ensuring exceptional patient care
- Knowledge of human behavior and how diseases and disabilities affect it
- Explaining the treatment process to patients
- Adept at communicating any changes in the patient’s condition
- Maintaining patient confidentiality, as well as dignity
- Exercising tact and diplomacy when handling sensitive situations
- Thinking out of the box, especially when handling patient issues
Hospital and Clinic
- Answering call signals
- Maintaining the ward in a neat and clean condition
- Changing linen and maintaining the patients’ room
- Transporting patients from one location to another
- Assisting patients in personal care tasks such as dressing, bathing, and feeding
- Replacing bedpans and catheter bags
- Making beds and maintaining patients’ rooms
- Assisting patients in activities of daily living
- Accurately collecting and recording information about conditions and treatment plans from caregivers and doctors
- Providing adjunct care such as administering enemas, douches, non-sterile dressings, and surgical preps
- Maintaining patient records
- Turning and transporting patients between beds and wheelchairs
- Educating patients and their families in order to provide them with information on in-home care and treatment
- Maintaining the continuity of patient home care
- Documenting irregularities and communicating them to RN and doctors
- Preparing patients for surgical or examination procedures
Aged Care
- Handling residents with age-related diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Dementia
- Dealing with residents’ and clients’ temper flares and unruly behavior with tact
- Educating clients on medical administration and physical exercise programs
- Counseling patients and families while answering their questions and concerns
- Handling medical emergencies by employing patience and a sense of urgency
Care for People with Disabilities
- Creating and maintaining a safe and secure environment for handicapped clients
- Providing good body alignment, positioning, and range of motion exercises for patients with ambulatory issues
- Monitoring patients closely and intervening promptly during emergency situations
- Identifying patients’ needs and ensuring they are fulfilled in keeping with the parameters of patient care plans
CNA Soft Skills
- Effective problem solver
- Excellent observation
- Compassionate
- Patient-centered approach
- Patience
- Communication
- Eager to learn new skills
- Sense of urgency
- Physically dexterous
- Sociable and tolerant
- Sensitive to the needs of others
- High energy level
- Ability to work beyond regular working hours