What to Know If You Want to Become a Certified Nursing Assistant

by: Karen Williams

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Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2010 Time: 6:55 PM - 0 comments

Certified nursing assistants, also known as CNA's are an essential part of any medical team and hence are very much in demand. Certified nursing assistants work under the directives of a supervising registered nurse or a licensed nurse or under a doctor. CNA's are specially educated in healthcare skills so that they can assist the doctors and nurses in a clinic, nursing home or a hospital. The main role of these nursing assistants is to help the patients in their everyday chores like bathing, dressing making beds and serving meals. Taking the patient's blood pressure, pulse rate, temperature and also gathering the basic the basic health information of the patient comes under the role of the nursing assistant. They are required to report all these observations to their supervising in charge. A CNA an also provide assistance in executing medical procedures, making report on a patient's status or escort to medical examination rooms. This is the reason that patients tend to be more in contact with the CNA's rather than any other member of the medical facility because it these nurses who help make their stay in the hospitable more comfortable.

CNA programs are typically run in most of the community colleges or even technical schools. These are short term courses and can be done in less than a year. The only pre-requisition for the degree is that you ought to have a high school diploma. The profession of nursing is a very challenging one and if you have chosen it, you must be determined to face the mental as well as physical demands of the job. The educational and the certification requirements usually are different in every state; however, the basic course structure includes study of the structure and functioning of humans, medical terminology, first aid, CPR, basic patient care, fundamental computer skills and clinical internship. Students are taught how to observe the vital signs, feed, bathe and dress a patient and also provide catheter care. Students learn these skills practically during their clinical internship that they do at a hospital or a nursing home. The complete internship is supervised and graded by a certified health care professional, either a doctor or a nurse. However, before you enroll in any school for the certified nursing assistant program, always ensure that it has been approved by the state agency that is authorized to approve CNA courses and issue program directives in the state.

If you want to become a certified nursing assistant, you will also be required to do seventy five hours of training and then complete a comprehensive examination on the course. There are some states that have some extra requirements for the course, so graduates should first get the details from their local registration board for the requirements. For certified nursing assistants to maintain their licenses, they also may be expected to enroll themselves in continuing education programs every one or two years. Furthermore, if after having been certified in one state, you move to another state, it is very much possible that you will be expected to enroll yourself again for certification in the new state.