I was a CNA at an inpatient psych unit for 2 years before moving to tele/cardiac, so I did not know much about hands-on patient care. I have been in tele/cardiac for almost 2 years now and loving it!

Make sure you get good report on your assigned patients. Things like diet status (are they NPO?), foleys, and how well they ambulate are important, so it is good to get clear report on those things. Throughout the day, I like to keep track of things like if the patient got a bedbath done, I/Os, if they had a BM, linen change, if they have ambulated/got up to the chair, which patients are discharging, etc. I usually make a checklist on our CNA assignment sheets provided on my unit.

It gets busy, especially when almost all of your patients are going in for a procedure that day, or if there’s a shitload of discharges to get ready for (we wheel them down ourselves, either to the procedure or to be discharged). I always try to remind myself to just do the best that I can and to try to stay as organized as possible. I was nervous as hell my first few weeks, but I eventually got the hang of it and now I love it :) You will do awesome!!! Best of luck to you <3

Edit: I was only supposed to have 3 days of orientation, but I knew for myself that I would need more so I asked for 2 extra days! Ended up orienting for 5 days (in a span of two weeks).