Reading Skills for Healthcare Workers

There are many different kinds of teams.  One type of team is a sports team.  Sports are popular with many people.  Some favorite team sports include baseball, football, and soccer, but not all teams are sports teams.  

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Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs) are part of a very important team: the health care team.  As members of a health care team, nursing assistants work together with the person receiving care and other professionals such as registered nurses (RNs), doctors, social workers, dietitians, and psychologists. The main goal of the health care team is to provide the best possible care to meet the emotional, physical, and social needs of the resident or patient.

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Nursing Assistants perform many tasks to help patients or residents and to assist the RNs, who assist the doctors.  But there is a lot more to the health and well-being of a person than physical or medical care.  Ill or injured people have social and emotional needs as well, including needs for love, help, and empathy from family members.  Therefore, family members can also be an important part of the health care team with other professionals and the person receiving care.

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Residents or patients might need a spouse to help make important decisions about medical care such as decisions about surgery, treatments, or medication.  They might need someone to talk to when feeling lonely or sad.  They enjoy conversation and a cup of tea with an adult son or daughter or a visit from their grandchildren to brighten their day and make them smile.

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As a nursing assistant, part of your job will be to cooperate with other members of the health care team.  In addition to directly taking care of the residents themselves, being a part of this team is very important and can be an interesting and fulfilling part of your work.