Basic Nursing Skills
What a CNA actually does
Basic nursing skills are the hands-on tasks you perform under a nurse's supervision plus the observations you report. You measure and record temperature, pulse, respirations, blood pressure, pulse oximetry, height, weight, intake and output, and pain rating. You practice standard precautions on every resident: hand hygiene for at least 20 seconds, gloves when you may contact blood, body fluids, broken skin, or mucous membranes, and extra PPE for isolation. You collect specimens, apply simple non-sterile dressings, position and transfer residents, keep the environment safe, and respond to emergencies within your scope.
Scope traps
Questions love to test what a CNA may not do: interpret a vital sign, decide about a medication, give a tube feeding, insert a catheter, perform a sterile dressing change, or tell a family member a diagnosis. Another classic trap is the "do it because you're in a hurry" answer - skipping hand hygiene, skipping the gait belt, or leaving the bed at working height. Gloves are never a substitute for handwashing.
Rule of thumb
If a finding is new, worse, or outside the range your instructor taught, report it - do not simply document it and move on.
Worked example
You take a blood pressure of 88/54 on a resident who says she feels dizzy. The wrong answer is "recheck in four hours." The right answer is to help her lie down safely, stay with her, and report the reading and symptoms to the charge nurse immediately - then document what you observed and whom you told.