This characteristic can go a long way toward promoting quality of life.
The No. 1 behavioral indicator of a CNA's success isn't what the person made on her certification exam.
It's whether the person "fusses over people," says Clint Maun, a nursing home management expert in Omaha, NE. The phrase is a Southern one connoting "attachment," he explains. CNAs who "fuss over" residents are the ones who talk to residents about their lives, he says. They are the ones who "pretty up" residents' hair, dress them up, arrange the sheets at night so they are covered comfortably. "We teach that [concept] all over the country and once we explain it, people recognize what we are talking about."