CNA Certification Classes & Training

Upcoming CNA Certification and Training Classes

A CNA (which is short for Certified Nursing Assistant) goes by many names including orderlies, nurses aides, or patient care technicians, State Tested Nurses Aides (STNA) and Home Healtcare Aides (HHA). A CNA works under the supervision of a Registered Nurse (RN) or a Licensed Practical Nurse LPN. The job will entail many duties in assisting these nurses in maintaining quality patient care.

The duties of a CNA will vary from the type of facility you work for. Hospitals, Doctors offices, retirement facilities, in home care, rehabilitation facilities and the like all carry with them different expectations of what a CNA will do. Some possible duties include basic physical therapy, turning people in their beds, one on one patient care (including social and emotional support), checking vitals, feeding, bathing and grooming patients are just a few of the duties a CNA should expect to encounter. CNA's also will perform more specialized duties like helping patients walk, communicate, sit upright, move to a chair and back to bed, operating and maintaining medical equipment , stool sample collection, urine sample collection, and first aide. All these duties will be learned through training programs. Although Certified Nurses Assistant will be under the supervision of qualified doctors and nurses. However these individuals may be too busy to have a true view of how the patients are doing. CNA's provide the eyes and ears for the doctor's and nurses since they are with the patients daily, helping them with their basic needs and care. CNA's provide valuable feedback to RN's and other care providers. They are a valuable entity in any patient care facility.

CNA's train for less than a year and their pay scale ranges from $20,000 to $30,000 a year starting out depending on geographic location. They are in high demand and are consistently in high demand no matter what the economy is like. Since there are always people who get sick in any economy so the need for CNA's continues in any economic climate. Therefore a Certified Nurses Assistant is a very stable job that pays well despite what is happening in other job fields. CNA's do not lose job security when other fields of work are losing theirs.

To obtain a job as a CNA you will need to go through a training program and recive a certification. CNA training can be obtained through serveral means including online training programs, through a community college, and through a vocational school. After the short training is complete you will need to take a certification test. Once passed you will receive a certification and officially become a Certified Nurses Assistant and therefore will be able to apply for a CNA job anywhere in the country that you choose. There is more specific help about training and the training programs in a separate article.