Approval
NAST 1100-Patient Care Fundamentals, is approved by the Georgia Medical Foundation (GMCF), 1455 Lincoln Parkway, Suite 800, Atlanta, Georgia, 30346, to provide training and preparation to become a certified nurse assistant.
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Mission Statement
The mission of the Patient Care Assisting program is to educate students to become qualified Certified Nurse Assistants who are compassionate, competent, ethical, professional, and who respond to the needs of the patient and the needs of the organization.
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Work Environment
The work of CNAs can be physically demanding. They spend many hours standing and walking, and they often face heavy workloads. CNAs must guard against back injury because they may have to move patients into and out of bed or help them stand or walk. It is important for CNAs to be trained to follow the proper procedures for lifting and moving patients. CNAs also may face hazards from minor infections and major diseases such as hepatitis, but they can avoid infections by following proper procedures. They also perform tasks that some may consider unpleasant, including emptying bedpans and changing soiled bed linens. The patients they care for may be disoriented, irritable, or uncooperative. Most full-time CNAs work about 40 hours per week, but because patients need care 24 hours a day, some aides work evenings, nights, weekends, and holidays. In 2008 about 24 percent of CNAs worked part time.
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Nature of the Work
Certified nurse assistants (CNAs) help care for physically or mentally ill, injured, disabled, or infirm individuals in hospitals, nursing care facilities, and mental health settings. This occupation is among those occupations commonly referred to as direct care workers due to the CNA's role in working with patients who need long-term care.
CNAs, also known as nurse aides, nursing assistants, geriatric aides, unlicensed assisstive personnel, orderlies, or hospital attendants, provide hands-on care and perform routine tasks under the supervision of nursing and medical staff. Specific tasks vary, with CNAs handling many aspects of a patient's care. They often help patients eat, dress, and bathe. They also answer calls for help, deliver messages, serve meals, make beds, and tidy up rooms. CNAs sometimes are responsible for taking a patient's temperature, pulse rate, respiration rate, and blood pressure. They also may provide care to patients by helping them get out of bed and walk, escorting them to operating and examining rooms, and providing skin care. Some CNAs help other medical staff by setting up equipment, storing and moving supplies, and assisting with some procedures. CNAs also observe patients' physical, mental, and emotional conditions and report any changes to the nursing or medical staff.
CNAs employed in nursing care facilities often are the principle caregivers and have more contact with residents than do other members of the staff. Because some residents may stay in a nursing care facility for months or even years, CNAs develop positive, caring relationships with their patients.
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Employment
Certified nurse assistants work for private providers, assisted living facilities, nursing homes, clinics, and hospitals. They held approximately 1.5 million jobs nationally in 2008. About 41 percent of CNAs worked in nursing care facilities and another 29 percent worked in hospitals. Employment for CNAs will grow 19 percent between 2008 and 2018. More than 500,000 additional employees will be needed during this time frame; therefore, excellent employment opportunities exist for CNAs across the nation.
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Earnings
The media expected salary nationally for a typical Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) is $25,420. The middle half of the occupation earned between $22,586 and $28,998. The top 10 percent of CNAs earned more than $32,256, and the bottom 10 percent earned less than $25,792.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-2011 Edition (http://www.bls.gov/oco/)
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Student Learning Outcomes
Graduates of the technical certificate in Patient Care Assisting will be able to complete the following tasks:
- Perform as a competent member of a healthcare team
- Communicate effectively with patients and other members of the healthcare team
- Use critical thinking and problem solving skills to assess and treat patients
- Demonstrate the personal and professional ethics and interpersonal skills that are expected in the workplace
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Essential Functions
The purpose of the essential functions list is to allow prospective students who are considering a career to be informed of the physical, emotional, and psychological demands related to training and employment in a field of study. These lists are provided to allow prospective students to make informed career choices by providing them with a summary of the physical abilities and personality traits that are generally required for the successful completion of a curriculum and result in employment in their field of study after graduation.
For students to be successful in the Patient Care Assistant program, they must be able to perform the following essential functions:
Essential Function: Observation
The ability to participate actively in all demonstrations, laboratory exercises, and clinical experiences in the professional program component and to assess and comprehend the condition of all patients assigned to him/her in order to provide optimum patient care; such observation and information usually requires functional use of visual, auditory, and somatic sensations
Examples
- Observe skill demonstrations
- Assess patients' vital signs
- Observe details about patient environment, including odors, colors, and sounds
- Read small gauges on oxygen regulators and blood pressure cuffs
Essential Function: Communication
The ability to communicate effectively in English using verbal, non-verbal, and written formats with faculty, other students, patients, families, and other members of the healthcare team
Examples
- Read patient charts, medication labels, clinical documentation, physician orders, legal forms, and e-mail
- Produce written communication with the healthcare team, including physicians, supervisors, and patients (may be done via charts, pre-hospital care forms, and/or narratives)
- Communicate verbally with healthcare team members, including physicians, supervisors, and patients
Essential Function: Motor
Sufficient motor ability and dexterity to execute the movement and skills required for safe and effective care
Examples
- Lift and move patients with and without assistance
- Assist with the ambulation of patients
- Possess manual dexterity to work around various types of medical equipment
Essential Function: Intellectual
The ability to collect, interpret, and integrate information and make decisions
Examples
- Recognize and adapt to changing patient conditions
- Assist with admitting, transferring, and discharging patients
Essential Function: Behavioral and Social Attributes
Possess the emotional health and stability required for full utilization of the student's intellectual abilities, the exercise of good judgment, the prompt completion of all academic and patient care responsibilities, and the development of mature, sensitive, and effective relationships with clients and other members of the healthcare team; possess the ability to tolerate taxing workloads, function effectively under stress, adapt to changing environments, display flexibility, and learn to function in the face of uncertainties inherent in clinical settings with patients; possess compassion, integrity, concern for others, and motivation; possess the ability to demonstrate professional behaviors and a strong work ethic
Examples
- Interact with people (such as patients and their families, healthcare team members, and members of the general public) from diverse socioeconomic, ethnic, educational, religious, moral, and cultural backgrounds in a professional and non-judgmental manner
- Manage routine tasks while maintaining a compassionate, caring, and professional demeanor
- Interact with people with learning, developmental, psychological, and/or behavioral disorders while maintaining a compassionate, caring, and professional demeanor
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Program Expenses
The Higher Education Act requires all colleges and universities to notify students and prospective students of all program costs for which they will be responsible. Students will be responsible for the following expenses each semester (unless otherwise noted):
- Tuition ($75 per credit hour)
- Registration fee ($39)
- Student activity fees ($30)
- Accident insurance fee ($6)
- Instructional and technology supply fee ($55)
- Criminal background check (Approximately $50 per required check)
- Drug screen (Approximately $50 per required screen)
- Georgia Nurse Aid certification examination ($107)
- Immunizations
- Hepatitis B series (Approximately $400)
- Tuberculosis Test (Approximately $100)
- Malpractice insurance ($11 per year)
- Physical examination (Approximately $300)
- Program supply fee (Varies - See course descriptions for exact costs)
- Royal blue scrubs (Approximately $30 per set)
- Textbooks (Approximately $600 for entire program)
These expenses are based on costs in effect at the time this catalog was published. Prices are subject to change.
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Admission Requirements
To ensure equal opportunity for all students seeking enrollment into the Patient Care Assisting program, the college utilizes a waiting list procedure. Students who are interested in completing the program will need to complete an Intent form (blank forms are available in the Admissions Office and online at www.athenstech.edu/oldcatalog/programsofstudy.cfm - select Selective Admissions Forms).
Students will be allowed to register for NAST 1100-Patient Care Fundamentals based on the completion of the Intent form and the completion of the prerequisite courses. Applicants who are on academic probation or are academically dismissed from the college as of the enrollment deadline are ineligible to enroll in NAST 1100.
Applicants not selected for enrollment into NAST 1100 will be considered the following term based upon the completion of all program requirements. Applicants must submit the required documentation to the Admissions Office by June 1 to be consider for NAST 1100 during Fall Semester, by December 1 to be considered for NAST 1100 during Spring Semester, and by April 1 to be consider for NAST 1000 during Summer Semester.
Applicants must submit the following information to the Admissions Office by the application deadline for the semester they are seeking admission to the program:
- Completed and signed application for admission and a $20 nonrefundable application fee
- Official birth certificates, passports, driver's licenses, or state-issued photo identification cards to document that they are at least 18 years of age
- Official high school or GED transcripts and/or official college transcripts from all colleges attended in the past (see General Admission Requirements)
- Valid COMPASS, ASSET, SAT, or ACT test scores that are less than five years old at the time of the application deadline (see COMPASS and ASSET Placement Tests)
- Verification of attendance at a Patient Care Assisting information session
- Completed and signed Intent form (blank forms are available in the Admissions Office and online at www.athenstech.edu/oldcatalog/programsofstudy.cfm - select Selective Admissions Forms).
Prior to the beginning of the clinical portion of NAST 1100-Patient Care Fundamentals, applicants must have the following current official documents on file with program faculty:
- A signed document acknowledging that they may be required to complete drug testing and/or background checks at their own expense prior to participating in internships, practicums, or clinical activities at certain host sites for these activities (see Drug Testing/Background Checks) (blank documents are available from the Admissions Office and online at www.athenstech.edu/oldcatalog/programsofstudy.cfm - select Selective Admissions Forms).
- Documentation of a recent medical examination
- Completed immunization form
- Completed background check
- Completed academic honesty form
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Readmission Policy
If students withdraw from the program for any reason, they must follow the steps detailed under Life Sciences Programs Readmission. In addition, students seeking readmission will abide by all policies and procedures in place at the time of their request for readmission.
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Residency Policy
Only in the event that the program slots cannot be filled with Georgia residents who meet the minimum admissions criteria can out-of-state students be admitted to the Patient Care Assisting program.
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