You think you have the calling to serve the humanity? Do you have a tendency to be compassionate and always ready to help other people? Do you always have a listening ear for the woes and hopes of the sick? If your mind tells you that indeed all of this speaks all about you, then you are fit to be a certified nurse assistant.
A Certified Nurse Assistant or CNA is a person employed by the hospital in answer to the nursing shortage problem. They are tasked to assist the nurses and the Licensed Practical Nurse or LPN in bathing, feeding, grooming their patient and to help them ambulate. They help lessen the task done by the nurses and act as their bridge in giving holistic care to their patent. But to be a Certified Nursing Assistant, one has to undergo a series of test and exams just to earn this certificate. There are requisites for CNA registration that a person needs to take for him to have his own certificate.
Not just everyone can be a CNA or in a spur of the moment, they can call themselves that. You ought to have the following:
- One has to have a high school diploma before undergoing or taking a CNA course or program. If you are a high school graduate and have no money to go to college or to take a 4 year course, you could then take an online course or a school that offers CNA certification. But you have to make sure that this online course is being provided by an accredited school. Otherwise, you don’t want to have all your efforts gone to waste.
- Undergo Training. An online CNA program would usually last for 12 weeks and composed of 50 hours of theory educations and 100 hours of training where you can apply everything that you have learned. The knowledge aspect will teach you all the basic knowledge that you need to learn all about nutrition, anatomy and physiology, infection control, medical terminologies and of course, client rights. In terms of applying your knowledge, you are required then to undergo a clinically supervised training where you are exposed to the activities being done in a clinical setting. You need to pass this all before you are allowed to take a competency exam or the National Nurse Aid Assessment Program or NNAAP.
- Take a competency exam or National Nurse Aid Assessment Program or NNAAP. This should be state regulated and it is composed of a written examination as well as a skill evaluation exam where you need to successfully perform 5 selected skills that any Nursing Aide should know. If you’ll be able to do this and be able to pass, then you are now a Certified Nursing Assistant.
These are all the requisites for you to gain a certificate. It means that all people who want to be a Nursing Aide need to pass and experience this all. So do your best to pass and be the most compassionate and understanding Nursing Aides that you dream to become.