The Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) program is a good way to get a start in the medical services field if you don't have the time or money for a full degree program. The CNA course s are federally-mandated but state-controlled, so your certification will be for your state only. The course requirements are 50 hours of classroom instruction and 100 hours in a clinical setting, under the supervision of a Registered Nurse or Licensed Practical Nurse.

Nursing professions also require periodic continuing education in order to renew licenses. For a CNA, the requirement is 48 training hours every two years. Nursing assistants provide basic patient care, assisting them with exercises or moving place to place, and preparing them for treatment or examination. Nursing assistants also turn bedridden patients, change bed linens, and answer call signals. On the medical side, Nursing assistants are trained to take vital signs measurements and be observant of patient's condition and report to the supervising nurse.

The skills and duties of a CNA apply mostly to the care of elderly patients in long-term care facilities, but can also apply to short-term convalescence in a hospital setting, in conditions where the patients are stable. Although nursing assistants do not treat patients medically, they are trained to recognize emergency situations and respond appropriately, such as providing CPR and calling codes. Candidates for the CNA program must be able to work well under stress.

Basic clinical training for CNAs encompasses correct sterile procedures to prevent spread of infection and proper methods of applying and changing wound dressings as well as techniques for assisting patients with tasks they cannot do for themselves or do with difficulty. Many of the tasks are simple comfort-oriented services, but all must be done in a prescribed manner, requiring learned and practiced skill.

Routine medical skills like performing measurements of vital signs like temperature, pulse, and blood pressure are also performed by CNAs. The physical skills are learned in the clinical portion of the training, and the reasons for the procedures and interpretation of the results are taught in the classroom theory portion of the training. Continuing education not only provides a refresher for skills that are necessary but seldom used, but introduce new equipment and methods as they are developed and put into practice.

Certified Nursing Assistants fill a vital role in providing necessary patient services, enabling licensed nursing staff to care for more patients, thus helping relieve a critical shortage of medical care providers, a shortage that will become more acute as the population ages. If you are a young person anxious to start a career who can absorb classroom training, learn and follow exacting procedures, have a genuine interest in helping other people, and who can work with confidence under stress would do well to consider checking into a CNA training program. Within a few short months, you can be earning an average of twice the minimum wage and have the satisfaction of helping others and the pride of working as a member of a highly skilled and motivated team.