Reading Skills for Healthcare Workers

In nursing assistant classes, you learn many skills about caring for patients. Some of the most important skills to learn are about how to be a professional caregiver. Being a professional caregiver means you treat others with respect. Treating others in the same way that you would like to be treated is important. Here are some examples of how to be respectful:

• Knock on the door before going into a patient’s room.

• Tell the patient who you are and why you are there.

• Keep all of a patient’s things in the same place.

• Do not make jokes about a patient.

• Listen carefully to patients when they have a problem.

• Always wash your hands before working with a patient.

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To be professional also means that you are honest and sincere. Here are some examples of how to be honest and sincere:

• Be cheerful at work.

• Ask for help when you need it.

• Do not lie when reporting an incident.

• Do not talk about patients or coworkers behind their backs.

• Do not take gifts from patients.

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Being a professional caregiver is to be considerate of others in the workplace. To be considerate is to think of all the patients or staff, not only yourself. It also means to work as a team. Here are some examples of how to be considerate:

• Close the door or curtains when changing or giving a bath to a patient.

• Help coworkers when they ask.

• Talk to patients when you are caring for them.

• Help new coworkers.

• Work as quickly as you can.

• Do not have favorite patients.

• Do not complain about patients.

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Being a professional caregiver is one of the most important parts of a nursing assistant’s job.  A professional caregiver works as a member of a healthcare team.  You can be a professional caregiver if you are respectful, sincere, and considerate.