Covenant Health

Certified Nursing Assistant, Surgery Unit

Full Time, 72 Hours Per Pay Period, Day Shift

2 weekends per 6 weeks schedule.

At Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center, we have board certified surgeons that use the most advanced technologies to provide care for their patients.  Some patients may require an overnight or longer visit in the hospital to provide more intensive monitoring and care that cannot be provided in a home setting. We care for a multitude of patients who have had Urological, Vascular, Wound, or General Surgeries. 

The Surgery Unit (3 North) at Fort Sanders is a 31-bed unit providing patient centered care for our medical surgical patients.  We are committed to providing a healing and safe environment for all our patients.  Our multidisciplinary team works together with patients and their families to design a personalized plan of care to achieve excellent outcomes! 

Our staff consists of RNs, LPNs, CNA/PCAs, and HUCs who work together to provide exceptional patient care.  We have a supportive and family-like environment and welcome all new staff to our team with open arms!! We are very proud of our orientation process which will be tailored to your needs.  This too is a team process in which we closely follow your orientation process to ensure you are getting the best tools and knowledge to make you successful at your job and to keep our patients safe.

If you are passionate about caring for medical surgical patients with a specialization in post-surgery patients and would like to work in a great environment, please apply!

Position Summary: 

Functions as a direct patient caregiver performing tasks to assist registered nurses. Performs hands-on care, assistance with ADL’s and specified technical tasks for a group of patients under the supervision of the Team Leader.

Recruiter: Jennifer Gordon || jgordon2@covhlth.com || 865-374-8107

• Take and record temperature, pulse, respiration rates, blood pressures, weights, heights, and intake-output measurements.
• Encourage patients to turn, cough, and take deep breaths and to use incentive spirometry as specified by Plan of Care.
• Ambulate, and assist patients in and out of bed, into wheelchairs and transport when necessary.
• Attends to nutritional needs of patient which may include distributing meal trays, feeding, filling and passing out water pitchers,
• Provides morning or evening care, which may include bed bath, oral hygiene, combing hair, back care, dressing patient, changing bed linen, cleaning over-bed table and bedside stand, straightening room, and other supportive care as needed.
• Empty drains, canisters, urine bags, bedpans and emesis basins and record intake and output.
• Assists in maintaining a safe environment, which may include reporting equipment that is out of order, appropriate handling of linen and storing of supplies.
• Provides general care such as positioning, lifting or turning patients; assisting in use of bedpan, urinal or commode; preoperative supportive care; and application/removal of abdominal binders or anti-embolism stockings and sequential compression devices.
• Empty & clean ostomy bag, per procedure.
• Collect urine, stool and sputum specimen as ordered.
• Perform tasks such as ROM, assist with ambulatory devices as specified by the patients' plan of care.
• Perform phlebotomy (requires additional training). To include correct labeling using two patient identifiers, maintenance of lab-draw supplies, rotating and restocking.
• Perform EKG (requires special training).
• Promptly answer patient call lights and respond to patient requests.
• Report significant changes in patients' condition to RN.
• Help to maintain clean and orderly patient and work environment.
• Employ all established infection control policies including standard precautions, transmission-based isolation precautions, OSHA standards, safety measures and proper body mechanics in performance of job.
• Document/maintain patient record as appropriate.
• Gathers equipment for O2 set up. Checks O2 for connection and proper placement.
• Checks for proper functioning of equipment at patient bedside
• Ambulate patients with oxygen.
• Set up suction equipment and check for proper function.
• Demonstrates knowledge and competency in providing for age-specific needs of the population served.
• Demonstrates ability to perform skills on the Nursing Assistant checklist.
• Follows policies, procedures, and safety standards. Completes required education assignments annually. Works toward achieving goals and objectives, and participates in quality improvement initiatives as requested.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Minimum Education:

None specified; however, must be sufficient to meet the standards for achievement of the below indicated license and/or certification as required by the issuing authority.

Minimum Experience:

Hospital experience preferred. Medical terminology a plus. Must be able to operate computer and possess excellent interpersonal skills. Must be able to read with comprehension, write legibly, and perform basic arithmetic computation. Must have understanding and knowledge of patient care which may be appropriately delegated to nursing assistants.

Licensure Requirement:

CNA Licensure from the State of Tennessee is required upon hire.  Out of State hires must have the Tennessee CNA License “in process” as reflected on the state web site upon hire. CPR required.