CNAs Guide To Understanding Patient Rights

CAREGIVER & CNA JOBS, TRAINING, & SCHOLARSHIPS - LEARN MORE @ myCNAjobs.com

Hi, and welcome to our career training series. I’m Nick and I’m one of the team members here at myCNAjobs. Today we’re going to be covering patient rights. Patient rights can be confusing at times, but they’re very important for Caregivers and CNAs to be familiar with. These include both basic rights, as well as more specialized rights for patients receiving care. We’ll go over some of the rights you should be aware of when working as a Caregiver or CNA.

The Basic Rights
The basic rights afforded to patients are that of respect and dignity. This means as their Caregiver you’ll treat them with kindness and respect. You’ll give them your undivided attention and treat them as adults and other human beings.

These basic rights also apply to comfort and cleanliness. As a Caregiver or CNA it will be your job to maintain these for your patients. That may mean helping an incontinent patient clean up in a timely manner, or even something as simple as trimming fingernails. This also applies to privacy for your patients. Do your best to maintain their modesty before, during and after bathing or procedures.

On top of the basic rights of respect, dignity, comfort, and cleanliness, there are more complex rights your patients also have. Those are the right to privacy and confidentiality, monetary control, being informed, freedom from abuse and freedom from fear.

Privacy and Confidentiality
When caring for a patient, there are a lot of confidential, personal, and sensitive things discussed. Because of this the patient as a right to their privacy and confidentiality. You should never discuss a patient outside of work or with anyone not directly involved in caring for them. In order for patients to feel comfortable sharing information with you as their Caregiver, they need to feel safe and trust you. There could also be severe legal consequences for revealing patient information that should be kept confidential.

Freedom from Abuse
Patients have the right to be free from abuse. This includes physical, mental and emotional abuse. Caregiver and CNA work can be trying at times, but it is never okay to harm a patient in any way. This includes ignoring or belittling a patient. If a patient requires care, it is your job to provide it in a respectful and timely manner.

Monetary Control
Part of your patients always being treated as adults means they get to have complete control over their money and finances. Though it may be tempting at times to advise a patient on how to handle their money or to try and convince them not to spend it on something, they get to make those decisions by themselves.

Being Informed
Patients have the right to know their status as a patient and how they’re illness or health is  progressing. It may be tempting to want to keep information from patients, especially bad news, but patients have the right to be fully informed of their situation. This allows them to make educated decisions by having all the facts in place.

Freedom From Fear
Lastly, patients have the right to be free from fear of any negative repercussions for expressing their dissatisfaction. Patients have the right to file complaints regarding their care without any consequences. Due to the many complex factors that go into care, sometimes this will happen. While hopefully this isn’t necessary - it’s important that the patient feels free to do so.

These rights should be applied to all patients you work with, in addition to others your workplace informs you of. Above all remember to treat your patient with kindness and respect, and keep providing top notch care.

Thanks for joining our lesson today. If you’re interested in finding Caregiver or CNA jobs, you can visit www.myCNAjobs.com to find work near you. Or, if it’s easier you can call a recruiter directly.

CAREGIVER & CNA JOBS, TRAINING, & SCHOLARSHIPS - LEARN MORE @ myCNAjobs.com

Additional Video Topics include
Caregiver Training: How to Become A Caregiver
Caregiver Training: How to Become A CNA
Home Care Training - Caregivers & CNAs At Work
Senior Living Training - Caregivers & CNAs At Work