Nursing Assistant Career

Job Description: Provide or assist with basic care or support under the direction of onsite licensed nursing staff. Perform duties such as monitoring of health status, feeding, bathing, dressing, grooming, toileting, or ambulation of patients in a health or nursing facility. May include medication administration and other health-related tasks. Includes nursing care attendants, nursing aides, and nursing attendants.


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Nursing Assistant Career

What skills are required for Nursing Assistants?

Importance Skills
  Service Orientation - Actively looking for ways to help people.
  Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
  Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
  Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
  Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
  Coordination - Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
  Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
  Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
  Active Learning - Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
  Judgment and Decision Making - Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
  Time Management - Managing one's own time and the time of others.
  Writing - Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
  Complex Problem Solving - Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
  Instructing - Teaching others how to do something.

What knowledge is needed to be a Nursing Assistant?

Importance Knowledge
  Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
  Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
  English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
  Public Safety and Security - Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
  Medicine and Dentistry - Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
  Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
  Therapy and Counseling - Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
  Psychology - Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
  Sociology and Anthropology - Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
  Personnel and Human Resources - Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
  Administrative - Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
  Law and Government - Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.

Work Styles

Importance Styles
  Concern for Others - Job requires being sensitive to others' needs and feelings and being understanding and helpful on the job.
  Dependability - Job requires being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations.
  Self-Control - Job requires maintaining composure, keeping emotions in check, controlling anger, and avoiding aggressive behavior, even in very difficult situations.
  Attention to Detail - Job requires being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks.
  Integrity - Job requires being honest and ethical.
  Stress Tolerance - Job requires accepting criticism and dealing calmly and effectively with high-stress situations.
  Cooperation - Job requires being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude.
  Adaptability/Flexibility - Job requires being open to change (positive or negative) and to considerable variety in the workplace.
  Social Orientation - Job requires preferring to work with others rather than alone, and being personally connected with others on the job.
  Initiative - Job requires a willingness to take on responsibilities and challenges.
  Independence - Job requires developing one's own ways of doing things, guiding oneself with little or no supervision, and depending on oneself to get things done.
  Persistence - Job requires persistence in the face of obstacles.
  Leadership - Job requires a willingness to lead, take charge, and offer opinions and direction.
  Achievement/Effort - Job requires establishing and maintaining personally challenging achievement goals and exerting effort toward mastering tasks.
  Innovation - Job requires creativity and alternative thinking to develop new ideas for and answers to work-related problems.
  Analytical Thinking - Job requires analyzing information and using logic to address work-related issues and problems.