Health Careers

1. Health Careers Mortuary, Nursing, and Nutrition and Dietary

2. Mortuary Careers • Mortician (Funeral Director or Undertaker) • Embalmer • Mortuary Assistand

3. Mortician • Provide support to the survivors • Interview the family of the deceased to establish details of the funeral ceremonies • Review arrangements to deceased person requested prior to death • Prepare the body following legal requirements • Secure the body following legal requirements • Secure information for legal documents • File death certificates

4. Mortician continued • Arrange and direct all the details of the wake and services • Make arrangements for burial or cremations • Direct all business activities of the funeral home • Help surviving individuals adapt to the death by providing post-death counseling and support group activities • Most funeral directors are also licensed embalmers

5. Embalmers • Prepare the body for interment • Was the body with germicidal soap • Replace the blood with embalming fluid to preserve the body • Reshape and restructure disfigured bodies • Apply cosmetics to create a natural appearance • Dress the body • Position the body in a casket • Maintain embalming reports • Itemize lists of clothing or valuables

6. Nursing Careers • Provide care for patients as directed by physicians • Care focuses on the mental, emotional, and physical needs of the patient

7. Nursing Careers • Registered Nurse (RN) • Licensed Practical/Vocational nurse (LPN, LVN) • Certified Nurse Assistant (CNA)

8. Registered Nurse • Master’s or Doctorate degree • Bachelor’s degree • Diploma program • Associate’s degree

9. Registered Nurses (RNs) • Work under the direction of physicians • Provide total care to patients • Observe patients • Assess patients’ needs • Report to other health care personnel • Administer prescribed medications and treatments • Teach health care • Supervise other nursing personnel

10. Nurse Practitioners (CRNP or NP) • Take health histories, perform basic physical examinations, order laboratory tests and other procedures, refer patients to physicians, help establish treatment plans, treat common illnesses and teach and promote optimal health

11. Nurse Midwives (CNM) • Provide total care for normal pregnancies, examine the pregnant woman at regular intervals, perform routine tests, teach childbirth and childcare classes, monitor the infant and mother during childbirth, deliver the infant, and refer any problems to a physician

12. Nurse Educators • Teach in HOE programs, schools of nursing, colleges and universities, wellness centers, and health care facilities

13. Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) • Administer anesthesia, monitor patients during surgery, and assist anesthesiologists (who are physicians)

14. Clinical Nurse Specialists • Registered nurses with advanced degrees who specialize in specific nursing areas such as intensive care, trauma or emergency care, psychiatry, pediatrics (infants and children), gerontology (elderly), or neonatology (care of premature infants)

15. Licensed Practical/Vocational nurse (LPN, LVN) • Work under the supervision of physicians or RNs • Provide patient care requiring technical knowledge but not the level of education required of RNs • Care provided is determined by state laws regulating the extent of duties

16. Certified Nurse Assistant (CNA) • aka Patient care technicians, nurse aides • Required under federal law to complete a mandatory, state-approved training program and pass a written and/or competency exam to obtain certification or registration • Work under the supervision of RNs or LPNs • Provide patient care such as baths, bedmaking, and feeding • Assist in transfer and ambulation • Administer basic treatments • Take and record vital signs • Observe and report changes in a patient’s condition

17. Geriatric Aides/Assistants • Acquire additional education to provide care for the elderly • Perform the same duties as nurse assistants

18. Home Health Care Assistants • Receive special training to work in the patient’s home • Perform the same duties as nurse assistants • May perform homemaking duties such as meal preparation or cleaning

19. Medication Aides • Receive special training such as a 40 hour or more state-approved medication aide course to administer medications to patients or residents in long-term facilities or patients receiving home health care • Most states require that the aide be on the state-approved list for nurse or geriatric assistants before taking the medication aide course • Many states require a competency test

20. Surgical Technologist/Technician • Operating room technician • Work under the supervision of RNs or physicians • Prepare patients for surgery • Set up instruments, equipment, and sterile supplies in the operating room • Assist during surgery by passing instruments and supplies to the surgeon

21. Nutrition and Dietary Services • Workers recognize the importance of proper nutrition to good health • Promote wellness and optimum health by providing dietary guidelines used to treat various diseases, teaching proper nutrition, and preparing foods for health care facilities

22. Nutrition/Dietary services • Dietician • Dietetic Technician • Dietetic Assistant

23. Dietician/Nutritionists • Manage good service systems • Assess patients’/residents’ nutritional needs • Plan menus • Teach others proper nutrition and special diets • Purchase food and equipment • Enforce sanitary and safety rules • Supervise and/or train other personnel • Research nutritional needs and develop recommendations base on result of research • Some dietitians specialize in the care of pediatric, renal, or diabetic patients or in weight management

24. Dietetic Technician • Work under the supervision of dietitians • Plan menus • Order foods • Standardize and test recipes • Assist with food preparation • Provide basic dietary instruction • Teach classes on good nutrition

25. Dietetic Assistant • Food service workers • Work under the supervision of dietitians • Assist with food preparation and service • Help patients select menus • Clean work areas • Assist other dietary workers