Home Health Aide Competency Testing Essays

Home Health Aide Competency Testing Essays Home Health Aide Competency Testing Essay Home Health Aide Competency Testing Essay 17   1  W   Su   er  or  St   ee   73   . S   pe  io   tr   et   1   31  W. up   ri   r  S  re   t   Du  ut   ,  M   55   06   ul   th   N   58   6   D   lu  h,  MN   5   80   Ph   ne  21    ­7   1 ­Ã‚   73   Fa   21    ­7   3 ­Ã‚   49   ho   e  2   8 ­Ã‚   21  47   2  F   x 18  73    ­0   99   P   on   18  72    ­4   32   ax  2   8 ­Ã‚   33  04   9 Procedure: Home  Health  Aide  Competency  Testing ____________________________________________________________ ___________   Purpose:   To  ensure  that  all  employed  Home  Health  Aides  (HHA)  meet  minimum   standards  in  their  ability  to  perform  client  care  in  accordance  with  state  and   federal  guidelines. Registered  Nurses  with  two  (2)  years  of  experience,  one  (1)  year  of  which   is  in  home  care. Applies  To: Related  Procedures:   None   Equipment/Supplies:      Transfer  belt      Bed/equivalent      Wheelchair/equivalent      Thermometer      Stethoscope      BP  cuff      Personal  hygiene  supplies/equivalent      Bedpan/urinal      NLN  Home  Health  Aide  Skills  Assessment  Test      Home  Health  Aide  Competency  Evaluation  Record/Forms Process:   1. 2. 3. 4. Introduce  yourself  and  explain  the  purpose  of  competency  testing,  state  and  federal  laws   affecting  home  care,  and  the  forms  to  be  utilized. Have  participants  complete  Skills  Assessment  Test  (form  to  be  completed in  one  (1)  hour). After  completion  of  written  test,  test  scores  are  evaluated  and  pass/fail  determination  made   according  to  agency  guidelines. Review  agency  policies  which  include  but  not  limited  to:   a. b. Home  Care  Bill  of  Rights   Grievance  procedure  and  customer  feedback 17   1  W   Su   er  or  St   ee   73   . S   pe  io   tr   et   1   31  W. up   ri   r  S  re   t   Du  ut   ,  M   55   06   ul   th   N   58   6   D   lu  h,  MN   5   80   Ph   ne  21    ­7   1 ­Ã‚   73   Fa   21    ­7   3 ­Ã‚   49   ho   e  2   8 ­Ã‚   21  47   2  F   x 18  73    ­0   99   P   on   18  72    ­4   32   ax  2   8 ­Ã‚   33  04   9 . d. e . f. g. Emergency  policies  of  the  agency  ­ how  to  access  emergency  information  and  use   services   DNR/DNI  policies/advance  directives   Reporting  maltreatment  of  vulnerable  adults  or  minors   Inservice  requirements  (agency  and  employee  responsibilities)   Agency  policies  on  observations,  reporting  and  documentation. (Have  the   Participants  give  direct  examples  of  when  they  would  call  supervising  nurse,  and   appropriate  charting  examples)   Basic  infection  control  procedures. Have  the  participants  demonstrate  proper   hand  washing  technique,  explain  the  universal  precautions,  and  how  to  maintain   clean,  safe  environment. Confidentiality  principles   Medication  administration,  per  agency  policy   Individual  agency  competencies. h. i. j. k. 5. 6. During  the  participant’s  performance  of  all  skills,  assess  hand  washing  techniques,  body   mechanic  practices,  respect  for  the  client’s  privacy,  and  safety  awareness/intervention. Do  direct  observation  of  the  participant’s  techniques  in  performing  the  following  skills  in  a   laboratory  setting  or  in  the  client’s  home:   a. Reading  and  recording  temperature  (using  a  mercury  thermometer)   1. Wash  hands   2. Read  mercury  level  and  if  97. 6,  shake  thermometer  until  mercury  reads 96. 0  degrees  F   3. Place  thermometer  under  tongue  in  posterior  sublingual  pocket   4. Have  the  client  hold  the  thermometer  with  lips  closed   5. Maintain  thermometer  position  for  two  to  three  minutes  (five  minutes   6. for  axillary)   7. Remove  thermometer  and  read  at  eye  level   8. Wash  thermometer  in  tepid  soapy  water  or  use  antiseptic  solution   9. Record  temperature  on  flow  sheet   10. Report  abnormal  findings. Assess  participant’s  knowledge  of  normal  range,  how  and  where  to  document   findings,  and  how  long  to  leave  thermometer  in  place. b. Taking  a  radial  pulse:   1. Wash  hands 17   1  W   Su   er  or  St   ee   73   . S   pe  io   tr   et   1   31  W. up   ri   r  S  re   t   Du  ut   ,  M   55   06   ul   th   N   58   6   D   lu  h,  MN   5   80   Ph   ne  21    ­7   1 ­Ã‚   73   Fa   21    ­7   3 ­Ã‚   49   ho   e  2   8 ­Ã‚   21  47   2  F   x 18  73    ­0   99   P   on   18  72    ­4   32   ax  2   8 ­Ã‚   33  04   9 2. Place  tips  of  first  two  or  three  middle  fingers  over  groove  along  radial  side   of  inner  wrist   3. Lightly  compress  against  radius  and  then  relax  pressure  so  pulse  easily   palpable   4. When  pulse  felt  regularly,  use  watch  with  second  hand  to  count  rate  for  15   seconds  and  multiply  times  four   5. If  pulse  irregular,  count  for  a  full  minute   6. Document  findings   Assess  participant’s  knowledge  of  normal  values,  when  and  what  to  report  and   how  long  to  count. c. Checking  respiratory  rate:   1. Wash  hands   2. Position  the  client  for  comfort  with  visibility  of  the  client’s  chest  or  place   hand  on  upper  abdomen  or  lower  chest   3. Count  respiration’s  for  30  seconds  and  multiply  times  two   4. If  irregular,  slow  or  fast,  count  for  a  full  minute   5. Document  findings   Assess  the  participant’s  knowledge  of  normal  range  and  when  and  what  to  report. d. Bathing  a  client  in  bed:   1. Gather  equipment  and  wash  hands   2. Remove  clothing  and  cover  the  client  with  a  blanket  or  towel  for  privacy   3. Fill  basin  with  water  and  check  temperature  using  inner  wrist  (warm  not  hot)

Why Laboratory-Grown Meat Is Not Vegan

Why Laboratory-Grown Meat Is Not Vegan On August 5, 2013, Dutch scientist Mark Post presented the worlds first laboratory-grown burger at a press conference, where he shared the patty with two food critics. Although the foodies found the flavor lacking, Post stated that the purpose of the exercise was to show that it could be done; flavor could be improved later. Laboratory-grown meat may seem at once a Frankenfoods nightmare, as well as a solution to the animal rights and environmental concerns regarding meat-eating. While some animal protection organizations applaud the idea, meat grown in a laboratory could never be called vegan, would still be environmentally wasteful, and would not be cruelty-free. Laboratory-Grown Meat Contains Animal Products Although the number of animals affected would be greatly reduced, laboratory-grown meat would still require the use of animals. When scientists created the first laboratory-grown meat, they started with muscle cells from a live pig. However, cell cultures and tissue cultures typically do not live and reproduce forever. To mass-produce laboratory-grown meat on an ongoing basis, scientists would need a constant supply of live pigs, cows, chickens and other animals from which to take cells. According to The Telegraph, Prof Post said the most efficient way of taking the process forward would still involve slaughter. He said: Eventually my vision is that you have a limited herd of donor animals in the world that you keep in stock and that you get your cells from there. Furthermore, these early experiments involved growing the cells â€Å"in a broth of other animal products,† which means that animals were used and perhaps killed in order to create the broth. This broth is either the food for the tissue culture, the matrix upon which the cells were grown, or both. Although the types of animal products used were not specified, the product could not be called vegan if the tissue culture was grown in animal products. Later, The Telegraph reported that pig stem cells were grown using a serum taken from a horse fetus, although it is unclear whether this serum is the same as the broth of animal products used in the earlier experiments. Posts final experiments involved shoulder muscle cells taken from two organically raised calves and grown in a broth containing vital nutrients and serum from a cow fetus. Its Still Considered Wasteful Scientists are hopeful that laboratory-grown meat will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but growing animal cells in a laboratory would still be a waste of resources, even if the cells were grown in a vegan medium. Traditional animal agriculture is wasteful because feeding grain to animals so that we can eat the animals is an inefficient use of resources. It takes 10 to 16 pounds of grain to produce one pound of feedlot beef. Similarly, feeding plant foods to a muscle tissue culture would be wasteful compared to feeding plant foods to people directly. Energy would also be required to â€Å"exercise† the muscle tissue, to create a texture similar to meat. Growing meat in a laboratory may be more efficient than feedlot beef because only the desired tissues would be fed and produced, but it cannot be more efficient than feeding plant foods directly to people. However, Pamela Martin, an associate professor of geophysical sciences at the University of Chicago, co-authored a paper on the increased greenhouse gas emissions of a meat-based diet over a plant-based diet, and questions whether laboratory-grown meat would be more efficient than traditional meat. Martin stated, â€Å"It sounds like an energy-intensive process to me.† As reported in the New York Times, Post replied to a question about whether vegetarians would like lab-grown meat, Vegetarians should remain vegetarian. That’s even better for the environment. Perpetuating Animal Use and Suffering Assuming that immortal cell lines from cows, pigs and chickens could be developed and no new animals would have to be killed to produce certain types of meat, the use of animals to develop new types of meat would still continue. Even today, with thousands of years of traditional animal agriculture behind us, scientists still try to breed new varieties of animals who grow larger and faster, whose flesh has certain health benefits, or who have certain disease resistance. In the future, if laboratory-grown meat becomes a commercially viable product, scientists will continue to breed new varieties of animals. They will continue to experiment with cells from different types and species of animals, and those animals will be bred, kept, confined, used and killed in the never-ending search for a better product. Also, because current research into laboratory-grown meat is using animals, it cannot be called cruelty-free  and purchasing the product would support animal suffering. While laboratory-grown meat would probably reduce animal suffering, it’s important to keep in mind that it is not vegan, it is not cruelty-free, its still wasteful, and animals will suffer for laboratory-grown meat.