I know I already covered all this but just some reminders on what not to do.
These are of course all things you can/will lose your certification for.
Remember: Be nice and wash your hands!
These are acts that can cost them their job, license, and even call for legal action. Here some legal ethics a CNA must keep in mind:
Abuse of patient
It can be infliction of physical injury. However, mere verbal threat can pass for abuse. Not only physical but bringing mental harm to a patient is against legal ethics. This is something CNAs should guard against even though some patients can be abusive or hard to handle.
Tolerating
Even if you are not the person who caused the mental of physical abuse, you are still liable to the law if you witnessed the abuse being done on the patient and you did nothing to act on it. This is called abetting.
Unlawful imprisonment
It is true that some patients need to be isolated to prevent communicable diseases from spreading. However, there is correct procedure to this. Confining a patient against his/her will is unlawful.
Privacy Invasion
Even though a patient is under your care which includes taking care of his/her personal hygiene like bathing and toileting, you need to do so with his/her permission. You should also be careful not to expose the patient’s body parts to others. Protecting the privacy of patients also includes keeping their personal affairs private. For example, you need to keep out of their personal belongings and let them speak privately with loved ones.
Neglect
It is the main duty of the CNA to take care of the daily needs of patients and residents under his/her care. If any of these responsibilities are neglected, it is a violation of the legal ethics of CNAs. And it does not matter whether the neglect is intentional or accidental. Especially if it led to putting the condition of the patient in danger, it will be an even more serious case.
Abuse of patient
Negligence
Carelessness is also against the legal ethics of CNAs. This includes not performing the procedure in the way that you were taught. So if you are doing shortcuts and not following the standard operating procedures, you are committing negligence.
Theft
Of course, this should be common sense and it would not be legal wherever and to whomever this is done. Taking whatever is not yours is definitely a criminal act. This can be quite common considering how exposed CNAs are to the patient’s valuables.
Always a good reminder. It can be so easy to fall in to bad habits, especially if you see other's doing the same things. It's important to remember what you were taught in training and also remember not to be a sheep and just follow, or turn your eyes away from what everyone else is doing. If you feel uncomfortable with something don't do it and tell someone in charge what it is and why. That's the single most important thing I'm learning from being in a job now. A point I want to add is that as a CNA you have rights too. You don't need to endure abuse from those you care for either. It's not abusive or wrong to say stop, and let someone know what's happened to you.
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