The Caring Corner®
Home Care for Mom: Do You Need to Hire a CNA?
Making the decision of whether to hire a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) for home care for your mom can be difficult. With all of the available options, it’s important to understand what is required in order to make an informed choice. This blog post will provide you with an overview of the qualifications and benefits of hiring a CNA, as well as other possible alternatives.
What is a CNA and What Are Their Qualifications?
A Certified Nursing Assistant is a trained healthcare professional who assists elderly or disabled individuals with medical care and other daily activities. CNAs are usually certified by the state and must pass both written and practical examinations in order to become licensed. They are also subject to ongoing state regulations regarding continuing education coursework and must follow strict safety protocols when handling patients and managing their care.
Benefits of Hiring a CNA
CNAs provide invaluable assistance to those in need, providing support with basic needs such as dressing, bathing, eating, grooming, housekeeping, laundry services, and more. They also help monitor vital signs like blood pressure and temperature, take medication reminders, assist with mobility issues such as transferring from bed to wheelchair or vice versa, ensure proper nutrition through meal preparation or grocery shopping assistance, help manage appointments with doctors or specialists if necessary, handle errands such as picking up prescriptions or groceries when needed, provide transportation services when requested by family members or friends if they cannot attend doctor’s appointments themselves. Furthermore, CNAs can often serve as companionship for elderly patients who may not have anyone else around them on a regular basis.
Alternative Options
Although hiring a CNA has many advantages when it comes to caring for your mom at home there are other options available depending on her individual needs.
It is important to understand that many people have all the skills of a CNA without having the license. It is possible that they became a CNA and did not maintain the licensure because they started helping people privately and no longer worked directly under the supervision of a nurse so could not maintain the biannual license requirement. Their skills have not changed. Other people have worked on the job for years and have all the experience gained working in nursing homes and skilled nursing facilities. It is possible that they never had the time or money to pay for CNA training, but they have all the knowledge. Finally, nothing in the CNA skill set requires requires a licensed individual. They are not performing invasive procedures like injections.
All of the skills that CNA’s are responsible for can actually be provided by non-licensed people. And while a CNA test helps measure competency, it is unable to measure other factors like compassion, punctuality, and intelligence. Some of the best people we know are not CNAs.
If your loved one requires only occasional supervision due to mild cognitive impairments then an in-home companion might be suitable instead of hiring a more highly qualified nurse’s aide. Another possibility would be respite care which provides short-term relief from primary caregiver duties for family caregivers who need some time away from their responsibilities without having someone new come into their home full-time. Lastly if your mom does not require skilled medical attention then hiring personal care aides might be preferable since they do not have any medical training but are still able to offer basic levels of assistance such as helping her with getting dressed or bathing if necessary.
There are many factors that go into deciding whether or not you should hire a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) for home care for your mom. It’s important to consider her individual needs along with the qualifications that CNAs possess before making any decisions about hiring one for her care at home. The benefits can be great depending on the situation so it’s essential that you weigh all options carefully before making any commitment either way – there are other alternatives available such as in-home companionship services or respite care which may be more suitable depending on what type of assistance your mom requires at this time in her life! Ultimately whatever option you choose should ensure that she receives the best quality of care possible!
If you need caregivers to assist with home care or elder care in Durham or Chapel Hill, call us. Experienced caregivers and CNAs can provide simple companionship or may help people with dementia, Alzheimer’s, on hospice and bed bound patients. From a few hours per visit to 24/7 care.
