Florida Health Care Association is pleased to recognize Maletide Mirtil, Certified Nursing Assistant at Medicana Nursing and Rehab Center, as the 2018 second-place winner of FHCA’s CNA Essay Contest. This year’s contest focused on the theme, “CNAs: Creating a Community of Caring” where participants were given six topics around which to write their essay – Dignity, Respect, Compassion, Listening, Communication or Standards of Care – and write about how these words translated into their daily practice of caring for residents. Maletide has been a CNA for 5 years and focused on “communication” as the key to quality care for her residents. Read her submission below.
Communication is defined as means of connection between people or places in particular. Communication is one of the most important skills you need to succeed in the workplace. Good communication is essential in achieving productivity and maintaining strong relationships at all level of organization. Communication can be verbal or nonverbal. An example of verbally communicating is walking round in the nursing workplace between the current shift and the oncoming shift. An example of nonverbal communication is facial expression. You see someone shivering, rubbing their arms up and down is communicating non-verbally that they’re cold.
As a nurse assistant our job may not be on the top of the list, yet we are as valuable as the Physician making the orders. It’s a privilege being a nurse assistant and it take a special person to be caring, passionate and but limited to compassionate. Nursing is a team, and being the one in physical contact with the patients it is a must we know the proper ways to communicate with the rest of the team, like the nurse as it may be life in death at times.
Not only do I love my job, I love knowing my patients, their routine and their behavior. Knowing your patient may help you solve solutions and reporting effective information to the nurse. There was a time I came to work and after I made my rounds (checking on everyone) I noticed one of my particular residents who’s always joyful, saying “hi” to me was quiet. During refreshment I offered her some water, she refused, later during dinner she was not eating, I asked her why she wasn’t eating she said she “doesn’t feel good and her stomach was hurting”. I asked her if I could see. Upon looking at it, I notice it was slightly distended and hard, I then reported her signs and symptoms to the nurse. She later found out that the resident hasn’t had a bowel movement in a couple of days. She was in pain because of it and she had no room for food or water. The nurse was thankful that I said something and I’m glad I did.
Because I knew my resident and their behavior I was able to connect the dots, report my findings and reporting it to the charge nurse and she was able to get proper care and was able to go to the bathroom. Nurses rely on us to communicate with them effectively as we are the one who have direct contact with the patients, and I could not be more honored to make such a difference in the making someone’s day or week. My future goal is to be a Nurse so I can continue making a difference and making my patients smile.
FHCA’s CNA Essay Contest helps to raise awareness about the important role of Certified Nursing Assistants and their contributions toward the exceptional care and quality of life for
Florida’s long term care residents and patients. Maletide Mirtil earned a prize of $300 for her remarkable essay thanks to the Florida Health Care Education and Development Foundation. We also would like to recognize Carlyn Registe of Rehab and Health Care Center of Tampa, Jackie Spradley of Brynwood Health and Rehab Center and Robin Coker of Douglas T. Jacobson State Veterans Home as our first-place, third-place and honorable mention winners, respectively. For more information about FHCA’s CNA Essay Contest and to read these award-winning entries, click here.