Tag: Certified Patient Care Technician

Nurses at Patient Care Units

Patient care comes in a variety of forms. It has seen an expansion over the years to cater every possible need of every patient. Taking care of the sick is the only reason why patient care exists, although others have their own specialization, but their main concern remains the same, and that is, giving medical care to the sick.

There are also different types of nurses attending these said patient care units. When the development of patient care outlets started, the formation of adding specialized workforce was already in the works. And this paved the way for the inclusion of these type of nurses. These nurses, however, do have different roles to keep, but most often than not, their calling hasn’t changed. The following are types of nurses you would find in a patient care outlet.

Emergency or Trauma Nurses
They treat patients who are in the brink of death, such as in an accident or after suffering from a debilitating disease. They are usually situated on emergency rooms, getting ready to assist life-threatening situations with their patients.

Critical Care Nurses
It may sound like they have the same responsibility with Emergency Nurses, but a Critical Nurse’s sole responsibility is to treat those patients with pulmonary and cardio-vascular ailments.

Holistic Nurses
These type of nurses are into a different kind of patient treatment. They concern themselves with mental disorders as well as maintaining the spiritual health of their patients.

Infusion Nurses
Nurses who are more attuned to injections, particularly with blood transfusions and other diseases that have something to do with vein problems.

Home Health Care Nurses
They are the ones who provide care to their patients like that in a home. They extend help to those patients who have survived a major surgery or after giving birth, while providing assistance like that of a typical nurse.

Certified Patient Care Technician

The Certified Patient Care Technician assists nurses, doctors and other healthcare professionals in providing direct patient care in a variety of health care environments. As a CPCT, you may carry out different tasks as assigned by the healthcare management. One of your responsibilities is to provide a basic patient care including bathing, feeding, and assisting patients to the ambulance. They are also assigned to acquire and distribute patient care supplies. Change bed linens and process dirty linens properly. You can perform safety checks to keep patient rooms clean, maintain clear paths in hallways and return equipments that are no longer in use. You might not be as big as nurses and doctors, but are necessary to make the procedures move swiftly.

Patient care technicians, also known as nursing assistants or nurse aides, perform basic care procedures in clinics and hospitals homes. Their duties include monitoring patients, drawing blood, checking vital signs, and conducting electrocardiograms, in addition to assisting patients with bathing, feeding and transporting. Some formal education is required. Clinical training as well as state certification is generally needed to work as a patient care technician. You need to have a high school diploma before pursuing a profession as a patient care technician. The majority of the employers look for candidates who have completed a patient care technician certificate program and are state certified; on the other hand, some companies will sign up students presently signed up for patient care technician certificate programs and have completed a training program offered through a hospital, an elderly care facility or technical center.

Hospital training programs generally last 2-3 months and mix classroom instruction and hands-on training. Some hospital training programs may be available to high school students that are then prepared to enter the work force upon graduation; others require previous experience as a nursing aide. For all those looking to complete a formal training course, there are many community and technical colleges that offer patient care technician certificate programs. Most programs take one year or less to accomplish and will make preparations for students to take a state certification exam; some programs require applicants to carry a CPR or EMT certification before they apply.

The National Healthcareer Association (NHA) grants clinical certification for patient care technicians, associates and nurse technicians. Completing particular training programs and experience is needed for you to go ahead and take a national certifying examination. Though certification is optional, some states require certification to ensure that patient care technicians are prepared to operate in a specific environment,  like nursing homes or hospitals.