Becoming a nursing assistant

Nursing assistant, or NA, is someone who is trained to help clients with their healthcare needs and activities of daily living under the supervision of a licensed nurse.

Nursing assistants have been around for a long time and are well-trained and valuable members of the healthcare team.Alright, there are many different healthcare facilities where nursing assistants can work.

In fact, wherever there’s a need for healthcare, nursing assistants can lend a hand. Such places include hospitals, nursing homes, home care, assisted living facilities, hospice organizations, long-term care facilities, correctional institutions, and skilled-nursing facilities.

In these various settings, nursing assistants provide physical and emotional care for people who are sick, disabled, or injured.

They help people who require assistance with activities of daily living. This ranges from personal hygiene, turning and repositioning bed-ridden clients, to helping clients eat.

As part of the healthcare staff, nursing assistants also help to observe the wellness of the clients by measuring their vital signs, weight, and pain level, which they document and report to the rest of the staff.Now, the minimum training and competency requirements to become a nursing assistant are established by a federal law known as the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987, or simply OBRA.

The OBRA-required minimum training period for a nursing assistant program is 75 hours, among which 16 must be clinical training supervised by a registered nurse who has a minimum of 2 years of experience.

75 hours of training is just the minimum set by OBRA, but indeed, the period of training varies among states, and it may go up to 180 hours.

So it’s important to get familiar with your state’s program requirements. Upon completion of the training program, candidates must take and pass the competency exam in the state they were trained.

The exam includes a written or oral component, plus a practical session to test your skills. OBRA requires that, after the exam, states keep records of the successful candidates in the state’s nurse aide registry, or NAR, for a period of at least 5 years.

The information that's recorded in each nursing assistant registry includes their full name; the last known home address, registry number, and its date of expiration; date of birth; date that the competency evaluation was passed; the last known employer; and dates of employment.

The registry also includes any information about misconduct such as client abuse, neglect, or dishonest use of the property; and it includes supporting pieces of evidence.If a legal hearing was held, the date and its outcome are included as well.

Nursing assistants have the right to include statements disputing the finding. In most states, your nursing assistant certification will last 2 years.

To renew it, you must send in a renewal form and the associated fees. You must also meet the criteria of your state, like a specific number of hours where you were employed as a nursing assistant and no history of misconduct.

Now, if you want to work as a CNA in a state other than the one where you were trained and certified—since the requirements vary from state to state—the first step is to contact the agency responsible for the NAR in the state where you want to work.

They can provide you with the specific requirements of that particular state. Contacts, including emails of all the NARs in all states, can be found on the National Council of State Boards of Nursing, or NCSBN website.

Some states share reciprocity, meaning a CNA certificate issued in one state is also valid in another state. So, contact that state’s NAR first and inquire about reciprocity, the process for applying for it, and if any training or testing is required in addition.Alright, as a quick recap, the minimum requirements and the length of the training period required for a nursing assistant are established by the federal law OBRA.

However, this varies greatly from state to state, so it is important to contact the NAR in your state asking them to provide you with up-to-date information about its own specific requirements and the length of the training period.

In order to work in a state other than the one you were trained in, connect with that state’s NAR on the NCSBN website and