Why is it so important to empower your nursing assistant team to have open communication with your direct care Nursing staff and your leadership team?

Nursing assistants in the long term care setting are often the first staff person that a resident will have interactions with at the start of the day.

They should be educated to let their charge nurses know how each of their residents are doing post their initial interactions. Why is this important?

The nursing assistant may notice that residents are having changes from the day before in functional level as well as experiencing symptoms that may lead to adverse health reactions and negative outcomes.

Symptoms that a nursing assistant may notice include:

A resident refusing to eat or having a decreased appetite which may lead to weight loss.

Swallowing difficulties noted when feeding them their breakfast leading to pain or weight loss.

Vomiting post breakfast which may be related to upper GI complication.

Inability to breathe without their HOB elevated or increase difficulty in breathing from yesterday which may be related to COPD exacerbation.

Increased swelling of limbs which may be s/s CHF.

Weakness and unsteady gait when transferring them OOB for the day which may indicate fall risk.

Changes in skin integrity when helping to provide showering of residents.

Changes in bowel habits either none or increase which may be related to small bowel obstruction vs c -difficile.

Changes in mood may be noticed while they are interacting with them during care. Often the residents will confide in them because they spend a great deal of their day with the aide and the resident trusts them.

Changes in cognition from the day before indicating the beginning of an infection.

This is just a small list of the many changes that a nursing assistant may notice. Nurses and the leadership team should empower their nursing assistant staff to share changes they notice. This open sharing of their knowledge may be the reason that residents do not experience negative outcomes.

This should be the why for long term care staff which is that our residents have the best possible positive outcome while in our care.

Please reach out if your facility is in need of education for Nursing staff that promote positive outcomes for your residents.

DEC 2022/Skilled Nursing Support/maria.messina@skillednursingsupport.com