CNA (Module ABC)

Flashcards for reviewing lecture notes on basic nursing skills and safety in healthcare settings.

Activities of Daily Living (ADL)

Everyday things that a resident routinely does

• hygiene

• grooming

• dressing

• eating

• toileting

• transferring.

Basic Nursing Skills

Essential skills required of nurse aides to deliver competent care to residents in health care settings.

• Taking and recording vital signs

• Caring for the resident’s

  environment

• Recognizing changes in a

  resident and reporting to nurse

• Caring for residents when death

  is imminent

• Privacy is key when providing

  basic nursing skills

Cognition

How the brain takes in information from the five senses, remembers it, and uses it later to think clearly and logically.

Delegation

Assigning part of one’s responsibility to another qualified person while retaining accountability for the outcome.

Grooming

Tasks done to maintain the person’s appearance, such as caring for fingernails and hair.

Hygiene

Tasks done to keep bodies clean and healthy, such as bathing and brushing teeth.

Interpersonal Skills

A health care provider’s ability to get along with others while getting the job done.

North Carolina Board of Nursing (NCBON)

Regulatory body that issues the list of tasks to include in a Nurse Aide I training program in North Carolina.

North Carolina Nurse Aide I Registry

A registry of all people who meet state and federal training and testing requirements to perform Nurse Aide I tasks in North Carolina.

OBRA (Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act) of 1987

Federal Law enacted to improve the quality of life of residents living in a nursing home environment.

Work Ethic

Behavior in the workplace that includes appearance, communication skills, treatment of others, choices, judgment, and teamwork.

Aerobic

Requires oxygen to survive.

Anaerobic

Does not need oxygen to survive.

Aseptic

Clean.

Bloodborne Pathogens

Harmful germs found in human blood that can cause infection and disease.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

An agency of the federal government that oversees the control and prevention of disease in our country.

Chain of Infection

Way to explain how infection is passed around from one host to another.

Direct Contact

Mutual touching of two things, people, or organisms which may cause the spread of harmful germs.

Droplets

Particles of liquids that are sprayed from the nose or mouth when a person sneezes, coughs, sings, talks, or laughs.

Health care-associated infection (HAI)

An infection that a resident gets while staying or living in a health care setting.

Host

An animal or a person.

Indirect Contact

Harmful germs spread by an object that has touched body fluids from an infected person.

Infection

A disease or condition of the body that occurs when harmful germs get into the body and grow in number.

Infectious Agent

A harmful germ that causes an infection.

Localized Infection

An infection found in one part of the body with symptoms noted at that one part of the body.

Medical Asepsis (clean technique)

Practice used to remove or destroy germs and to prevent their spread from one person or place to another person or place.

Portal of Entry

A body opening of a person that allows harmful germs to enter the body.

Portal of Exit

Any way that harmful germs escape from reservoir.

Reservoir

Place where harmful germs live, grow, and increase in numbers.

Sharps

Items that have corners, edges, or projections that can cut or pierce the skin.

Sputum

Mucous coughed up from lungs.

Standard Precautions

The basic tasks that health care workers must do to prevent and control spread of infection.

Susceptible Host

Person who does not have an infection now, but is at risk for becoming infected from harmful germs.

Systemic Infection

An infection that affects an entire body part, or entire body system.

Cerebrovascular Accident (CVA or Stroke)

Occurs when blood supply to a part of the brain is blocked or a blood vessel leaks/breaks in a part of the brain.

Elopement

When a resident leaves a health care facility without the staff’s knowledge.

Fall

Unintentionally coming to rest on the ground, floor, or other lower level.

Hazard

Anything in the resident’s environment that may cause illness or injury.

Seizure

Involuntary contractions of muscles involving small area or entire body; caused by abnormal electrical activity in the brain.

Wandering

Walking aimlessly without direction or purpose.

Personal Care skills

Tasks dealing with person’s body, appearance, and hygiene

• encourage independence

• be professional and provide privacy

• Observe resident’s skin, mobility, comfort, and cognition