CNA: Certified Nursing Assistant Overview
The CNA plays a vital role in nursing care. They perform tasks that are important to help maintain patient care. The main jobs of the CNA include but are not limited to bathing, feeding, diapering, and monitoring patients vitals. The CNA often works under the supervision of the RN or LPN.
Because nurses can not spend a great deal of time at the patient’s bedside as the CNA, the CNA helps play a vital role in keeping the nurse informed of the patient’s status.
How to Become a CNA
In order to become a CNA, you can check at your local hospital to see if they offer training programs for the certification. In most states, the age requirement is 16 but check with your state’s age requirements.
In the program, the future CNA must complete a minimum of 120 hours of course work and 16 supervised hours of clinical work. Then every year to maintain their certification they must complete 12 hours of continued education.
The CNA can continue their education and expand the types of duties they are allowed to do by completing special certification programs. For example, depending on what program they complete, they can become certified to perform blood sugar tests, which a regular CNA can not do.
This job is great for teenagers who are still in high school that want to go to school in the future to become RNs or LPNs. It teaches you a lot about patient care and the basics of what nursing is about. In addition, it helps to build up your resume. However, this job is very demanding on your body and you must be able to work long hours on your feet.