Ashley Estrada

I love being a CNA because it allows me to provide hands on care and truly make a difference in my patients lives. I am very attentive and always notice even the smallest changes in my patients, whether it’s a change in their skin condition, behavior, or symptoms, and I understand how important it is to report those changes promptly. Working in the Neuro Trauma PCU, I am comfortable and confident caring for high-acuity patients and managing fast-paced, high-stress situations. I have experience taking over an entire floor while still maintaining high-quality patient care, including ambulation, obtaining vital signs, thorough documentation, and assisting with daily needs. No matter how busy the shift becomes, I stay focused, organized, and committed to ensuring my patients feel safe, supported, and well cared for

• Ashley is a great PCA for patients on this unit. She is very diligent, caring, and goes above and beyond to meet patient needs. She helps implement new ways to make patients comfortable and satisfied, and she ensures that she does not leave the room until they are comfortable.She also is good at evaluating if certain interventions are working, that either she or the nurses did, by following up and remaining organized if interventions were completed.This has happened with rechecking vital signs, reevaluating patient positioning, etc.Ashley shows great leadership as a PCA. She is always willing to help the newer or other PCA's that are not as experienced by asking if they need help or clarifying any questions they may have. She also shows great communication by using closed-loop communication to communicate with the nurses or other interdisciplinary team members. She also shows great collaboration and quality practice. During a RR, she was able to help me by being proactive to get vital signs, help comfort the patient, and grab any supplies we may have needed. She took quick initiative to make sure the patient remained safe while helping our team work well all together.Ashley is very timely and efficient at her job. She does a great job at cluster care, especially at the beginning of the shift, making sure all of the vitals, sugar checks, and patients have been cleaned or turned. She also is a very safe PCA by asking lots of questions to help clarify the patient's care or get help when she knows she can't do a task safely on her own, such as transporting a patient to the bathroom. One strength of Ashley's is her time managment. She rarely is running behind on tasks or missing breaks, and if she is, she is willing to ask for help to make sure the patients are receiving the highest quality care. She remains organized with lists and notes to ensure all of her tasks get done or writes down new tasks that she needs to complete to help her remember. Another strength of Ashley's is her compassion for patients. She is very understanding and patient with them, making them feel specially cared for and attended to.An area of growth for Ashley would be to speak up a little more if she has ideas for patient care or how to better accommodate to patients. She is very good at connecting with patients and has great ideas, so this would allow her to grow in a little more leadership by taking initiative. I think Ashley would be a great preceptor as she is a great example of how all PCAs should provide care.