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10 Traits of a Successful CNA

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The job of a certified nursing assistant isn’t fun and games all of the time. In fact, there are often tons of tough times for CNAs in the workplace, often contingent on the patients’ behavior and the things that are going on around them. But that only proves that nurses are some of the strongest people in the world, since they are constantly adapting to the workplace depending on what’s needed of them. Besides their caring and hard-working nature, there are a couple of other traits that we believe define a successful CNA. What are they? We’ll cover the top 10 traits of a successful CNA right now.

10 Traits of a Successful CNA

#1. Detail-oriented

Some primary duties of a CNA are to measure patients’ vital signs and also record behavior and details as accurately as possible, since this is very important for assessing the health of a patient. With that in mind, it is very important to be a detail-oriented person who takes into account the smaller things of a larger task. As well as measuring vital signs and recording information, you will also be responsible for serving meals and giving out medications, so you will have to pay attention to special diets and dispensing the right amount of medication to patients.

#2. Excellent communication skills As a certified nursing assistant, not only will you be working as part of a team, but it is necessary to communicate to patients and family members as well. Excellent communication skills are therefore a must if you choose this line of work, and being able to freely express your thoughts and concerns is important. You must be able to understand others perfectly as well as be clear and assertive for others to understand you.

#3. Empathy 10 Traits of a Successful CNA

Some things can’t be taught from training programs and empathy happens to be one of them. To be a successful CNA, you will have to have lots of empathy, being able to understand other people’s problems, pain, and feelings. As a CNA, you will work alongside the elderly and disabled who don’t have the best lives out there. They might be suffering from frustration, anxiety, loneliness, or depression. And in being able to empathize with people, you will be able to help others in need by making a huge difference in their lives.

#4. Extreme patience

Being a nurse requires lots of patience as well, since your job relies primarily on helping residents and people in need. Some tasks will be straight to the point but there will also be times where you might get a little confused, worried, or frustrated with what you have to do. Some patients might treat you badly or might not want to cooperate. It’s in those moments that you will have to exercise your virtue of patience in order to get through to the other side.

#5. Professionalism

Working in a healthcare environment, you will have to act like a professional nursing assistant. Healthcare facilities have patients of all ages and conditions, and professionalism entails that you understand privacy rights, ethical behavior, and diligent work. You must be respectful, reserved, and concerned about patients and their issues while also keeping personal conflicts out of the workplace.

#6. Tolerant and accepting

Healthcare facilities houses patients of all creeds, cultures, and ages, which means that you need to be accepting of other people. You should hold no biases of other patients or treat others differently for any reason whatsoever. If you are the type of person that gets along with everyone (which we hope you are), then that means you shouldn’t have any problems with tolerating other people.

#7. Tremendous emotional stability

A key aspect needed in the careers of nursing assistants is emotional stability in order to handle tough situations that might come your way. You can bet that there will be tough times as well, whether it’s the death of a patient that you’ve gotten to know, handling frustrating situations where patients do not wish to cooperate with you, or learning about the difficult lives that patients have and the problems they are going through. This again ties in with professionalism and patience, and you won’t be able to exercise either if you can’t handle your emotions well.

#8. Ability to adapt quickly

The workplace of a CNA will be constantly changing depending on what kind of patients you get and what your tasks for the day are. As you may know, patients can be suffering from a variety of different problems, patients can be different ages, or they might behave differently from one another. In addition, your day-to-day tasks won’t always remain the same and can vary greatly depending on what the workplace needs. Thus, CNAs must constantly adapt to these changes quickly by providing patients with the proper attention, getting used to the tendencies of specific people, adapting to different tasks that you must do, and remaining flexible throughout it all.

#9. Exercises critical thinking

Oftentimes in the workplace, you may be put in the position where you must make quick and logical decisions in order to resolve problems. In events such as emergencies, you will have to exercise critical thinking in order to decide what’s best for the patient and what course of action is best to follow. That’s something that CNA training programs often teach you about in the knowledge as well as the clinical portion of the training: to understand the best procedures to take in certain situations.

#10. Carries a positive attitude everywhere 10 Traits of a Successful CNA

Again, the jobs of CNAs are not easy, there is a lot of hard work involved in order to keep the workplace going. Whether it’s difficult patients, the hustle and bustle your work requires, or the emotional toll the job puts on you, it is always best to remain positive no matter how bleak things may look. And successful nurses are very good at staying positive even in the hardest situations, they believe there is always something they can help with and that there is always a brighter tomorrow. To see whether you may be fit to become a successful CNA, try out our short quiz to find out.