Why Be A Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA)

Being a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) allows you to help people in a medical capacity yet does not require a nursing degree or nursing diploma.

NIZ wants you to keep in mind that you can use the (CNA) position as the first step in starting the journey to becoming a registered nurse. 

The Certified Nursing Assistant position will allow you to start earning money within a few weeks to a month. The annual salary can vary between $23K to $34K depending on what part of the United States the position is located.

Within a short period of time, you will have a source of money to sustain you financially while attending a college or hospital based nursing school to pursue a nursing degree. Check out our CNA Training Sites web page.

What Does a Certified Nursing Assisant Do

The duties of a (CNA) involve helping a person complete the typical Activities of Daily Living (ADLs). The CNA also changes the bed linens, observes a patient's condition and acts as the eyes and ears of the registered nurses and doctors.

Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) include a person being able to feed, bathe, dress, groom, use the toilet and move around by themselves.  

You can perform this job as a self employed person who goes to the patient's house or as contracted help for nursing or other care facilities.

Nursing facilities, home and hospice care agencies, and other alternative residential care facilities such as board and care homes or assisted-living facilities are the typical places of employment for certified nursing assistants.

Many (CNA's) work as hourly workers at the nursing and care facilities listed above.

Certified nursing assistants in some states can also work as medication aides or activity coordinators.

What Kind of Training Is Required For A Certified Nursing Assistant

To receive the state credentials to work as a CNA, a person is required to:

• Depending on the state, receive a minimum of 75 hours of training. (Some states require a minimum of 120 hours of training.) 
• Sixteen(16) hours of supervised clinical training is required.
• A person is required to complete 12 hours of continued education annually. 

A certified nursing assistant will also be required to:

• Have the ability to learn, understand and calmly follow emergency procedures 
• Learn and apply CPR techniques
• Initiating a Code Blue as required

Becoming a Certified Nursing Assistant may be the ticket to getting your life back on track while allowing you to help people. 

Right now, there is more than 52,000 vacant nursing assistant positions in the United States.

The total number of Americans in need of long-term care is expected to grow to 27 million by the year 2050.

Check out our CNA Training Sites web page