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Healthcare is a rewarding career with a lot of employment possibilities. If you’d like to enter the nursing field but don’t want to spend a lot of time in school, you may want to fast-track into a health career and become a certified nursing assistant.
Nursing assistants are also referred to as psychiatric assistants, orderlies, geriatric aides, or home health aides. They work in a variety of settings, and the demand for qualified nursing assistants is high. Because baby boomers are now retiring and will continue to retire over the next 20 years, there will be an increased demand for workers who can care for aging patients as well as other patient populations.
What is a Nursing Assistant?
http://www.realonlinedegrees.com/wp-admin/post-new.phpNursing assistants are an integral part of the healthcare team. They are responsible for providing health-related services such as giving medication, checking pulse rates, and taking temperatures. They may also help with the personal hygiene needs of their patients by bathing, grooming, and dressing them.
In hospital or residential treatment settings, health aides may watch television with patients and observe their emotional, behavioral, and mental status. They are often responsible for lifting and moving patients, as well as routine household tasks such as changing bed linens.
Nursing assistants and health aides provide necessary services that support the overall care that nurses, doctors, and other medical personnel provide for their patients.
What do CNAs Earn?
Nursing assistants work in a wide range of employment settings. According to the Occupational Outlook Handbook, CNAs earn wages that are typically lower than most healthcare occupations.
In 2006, wages ranged from about $8 an hour to a high of about $12 an hour. The highest 10 percent earned about $15 an hour. Nursing assistants, psychiatric aides, and home health workers engage directly with patients and often travel from facility to facility or from home to home.
Required Certification for Nursing Assistants
Nursing assistants and home health aides must often pass certification tests, especially a competency test, as required by the federal government. Some states require certification for health aides, as well.
How to Become a CNA Online
Depending on your state’s requirements, you will have to complete between 75 – 125 hours of training. Many community colleges offer online options for individuals who want to become certified nursing assistants.
Courses in basic nursing skills, infection control, psychosocial needs of patients, anatomy and physiology, and patient communication are a required part of the curriculum. Students must also complete supervised, hands-on clinical activities.
After you’ve completed your courses and supervised placement, you will have to pass the CNA certification exam.
Many certified nursing assistants will take additional courses throughout their careers to enhance their careers. Some nursing assistants, after gaining some experience, decide to advance their careers by going back to college to become nurses.
