As part of my clinical experience at the Samarkand residence I had the
opportunity to shadow Julio. Julio was a very kind and efficient nursing
assistant and I feel fortunate to have had the chance to work with and learn
from him. Our day together seemed as though it was very typical for the
residence. Upon waking our residents we respected their privacy by always
knocking before we entered the room and asking permission to enter. We then
introduced ourselves and followed standard precautions by washing our hands
before starting any procedures. Many of our residents had to immediately use
the restrooms. We always made sure to use good body mechanics when transfering
to and from their beds and wheelchairs and again respected the residents by
allowing them privacy while using the facility. When getting the residents
dressed and ready for breakfast, we respected the residents rights by giving
them choices and we encouraged the residents to do as much as possible by
themselves. While the residents were eating breakfast we went back to the rooms
and made all the beds making sure to completely change all the sheets of any
residents who were getting a shower and again using good body mechanics by
raising the beds to an appropriate level before starting. After lunch we had
the opportunity to provide nail care to some of the residents. We followed
procedure by first placing a barrier down and making sure we were wearing
gloves. The residents were so pleased and the afternoon activity was extremely
personally rewarding as well. Julio and I had the chance to talk briefly about
his career as a CNA. He told me that he had been a CNA for six years and became
interested in the program through his friend who was a bass player in the same
band that Julio played acoustic guitar in. He told me that he would eventually
like to go back to school part time for his RN but that he...