HealthCenter21: Nursing Assistant
Online Curriculum Resources for Allied Health and Health Science Courses
This module gives students an overview of the role and responsibilities of health assistant occupations. Topics include: interdependence of teams, employment opportunities, educational requirements, professionalism, nursing process, scope of practice, confidentiality, informed consent, code of ethics, infection control, safety measures, and standard precautions.
The Infection Control module teaches the importance of protecting oneself and others from disease-causing microorganisms. Topics include: classes of microorganisms, asepsis, hand washing, basic equipment cleaning, autoclaving, personal protective equipment, sterile technique, and transmission-based precautions. Students practice donning and removing gloves, gowns, masks, eyewear, and transmission-based protective garments. And they demonstrate how to work in an isolation unit.
The Client Status module teaches about the importance of body measurements and vital signs. Students learn about measuring height and weight, and for infants, head circumference. Students also learn about the methods and equipment for taking temperature, pulse, respiration, and blood pressure. And they practice documenting vital signs after the measurements have been taken.
In this module, students learn the correct ways to move the body to prevent injuries to themselves and patients. Topics include: safe use of hospital beds, wheelchairs, and stretchers, pressure ulcers, and methods to turn, position, and transfer patients.
This module focuses on the care given by Patient Care Technicians or Nursing Assistants to patient population groups with unique concerns and needs. These groups are the elderly patient, the pediatric patient, the patient with disabilities, and the cognitively-challenged patient. Students identify illnesses and disorders common to these groups and discover ways to adapt care and establish positive relationships with patients. Other topics include: the aging process, appropriate communication techniques, signs of impending death, and postmortem care. Students also learn alternatives to patient restraints and the procedure to properly use restraints when needed.
This module introduces students to procedures related to personal patient care. Students learn both morning and evening care procedures and how to observe patients for abnormalities and document and report those findings. Topics include: bathing, oral care, hair care, dressing, making open, occupied, and unoccupied beds, and pain management.
In this module, students investigate how nutrition and elimination are related to each other and to the overall health of the patient. They learn how to assist patients with meals and meeting elimination needs, and they measure and record intake and output. Topics include: nutrients, types of diets, food customs, alternate methods of feeding, assisting with toileting, catheter and ostomy care, and bowel aids.
In this module, students learn how to promote patient independence. Students become skilled in teaching activities of daily living, such as getting dressed and eating, using assistive devices. Students learn to assist patients in using ambulation devices, such as canes, walkers, and crutches. Students learn about range of motion exercises and are introduced to heat and cold applications. Finally, the students explore the responsibilities of health assistants in applying a binder, assisting with deep breathing and coughing exercises, and applying elasticized stockings.
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