How to become a Nursing Assistant 2024

Nursing Assistant Provide or assist with basic care or support under the direction of onsite licensed nursing staff. Perform duties such as monitoring of health status, feeding, bathing, dressing, grooming, toileting, or ambulation of patients in a health or nursing facility. May include medication administration and other health-related tasks. Includes nursing care attendants, nursing aides, and nursing attendants.

Nursing Assistant is Also Know as

In different settings, Nursing Assistant is titled as

Certified Medication Aide (CMA)
Certified Nurse Aide (CNA)
Certified Nurses Aide (CNA)
Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA)
Licensed Nursing Assistant (LNA)
Nurses' Aide
Nursing Aide
Nursing Assistant
Patient Care Assistant (PCA)
State Tested Nursing Assistant (STNA)

Education and Training of Nursing Assistant

Nursing Assistant is categorized in Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed

Experience Required for Nursing Assistant

Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.

Education Required for Nursing Assistant

Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.

Degrees Related to Nursing Assistant

Training Required for Nursing Assistant

Employees in these occupations usually need one or two years of training involving both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.

Related Ocuupations

Some Ocuupations related to Nursing Assistant in different industries are

What Do Nursing Assistant do?

Administer medications or treatments, such as catheterizations, suppositories, irrigations, enemas, massages, or douches, as directed by a physician or nurse.
Answer patient call signals, signal lights, bells, or intercom systems to determine patients' needs.
Apply clean dressings, slings, stockings, or support bandages, under direction of nurse or physician.
Assist nurses or physicians in the operation of medical equipment or provision of patient care.
Change bed linens or make beds.
Clean and sanitize patient rooms, bathrooms, examination rooms, or other patient areas.
Collect specimens, such as urine, feces, or sputum.
Communicate with patients to ascertain feelings or need for assistance or social and emotional support.
Document or otherwise report observations of patient behavior, complaints, or physical symptoms to nurses.
Feed patients or assist patients to eat or drink.
Gather information from caregivers, nurses, or physicians about patient condition, treatment plans, or appropriate activities.
Measure and record food and liquid intake or urinary and fecal output, reporting changes to medical or nursing staff.
Observe or examine patients to detect symptoms that may require medical attention, such as bruises, open wounds, or blood in urine.
Position or hold patients in position for surgical preparation.
Prepare or serve food trays.
Provide physical support to assist patients to perform daily living activities, such as getting out of bed, bathing, dressing, using the toilet, standing, walking, or exercising.
Record height or weight of patients.
Record vital signs, such as temperature, blood pressure, pulse, or respiration rate, as directed by medical or nursing staff.
Remind patients to take medications or nutritional supplements.
Restock patient rooms with personal hygiene items, such as towels, washcloths, soap, or toilet paper.
Review patients' dietary restrictions, food allergies, and preferences to ensure patient receives appropriate diet.
Set up treating or testing equipment, such as oxygen tents, portable radiograph (x-ray) equipment, or overhead irrigation bottles, as directed by a physician or nurse.
Stock or issue medical supplies, such as dressing packs or treatment trays.
Supply, collect, or empty bedpans.
Transport patients to treatment units, testing units, operating rooms, or other areas, using wheelchairs, stretchers, or moveable beds.
Turn or reposition bedridden patients.
Undress, wash, and dress patients who are unable to do so for themselves.
Wash, groom, shave, or drape patients to prepare them for surgery, treatment, or examination.
Exercise patients who are comatose, paralyzed, or have restricted mobility.
Explain medical instructions to patients or family members.
Lift or assist others to lift patients to move them on or off beds, examination tables, surgical tables, or stretchers.
Provide information, such as directions, visiting hours, or patient status information to visitors or callers.
Transport specimens, laboratory items, or pharmacy items, ensuring proper documentation and delivery to authorized personnel.

Qualities of Good Nursing Assistant

Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.

Tools Used by Nursing Assistant

Adjustable hospital beds
Anti-embolism elastic stockings
Automated blood pressure cuffs
Automated external defibrillators AED
Bed cradles
Bladder ultrasounds
Blood glucometers
Clinical trapeze traction bars
Crutches
Desktop computers
Electronic patient thermometers
Electronic stethoscopes
Foot boards
Gait belts
Hospital bedpans
Hospital intercom equipment
Hydraulic patient lifts
Incentive spirometers
Laptop computers
Manual blood pressure equipment
Mechanical stethoscopes
Medical examination protective gloves
Medical gurneys
Medical scales
Multi-line telephone systems
Oral thermometers
Orthopedic splint sets
Oxygen masks
Oxygen nasal cannulas
Oxygen tanks
Oxygen tents
Oxygen therapy equipment
Patient arm slings
Patient bed scales
Patient limb restraints
Patient transfer boards
Patient transport wheelchairs
Patient walkers
Personal computers
Photocopying equipment
Protective patient restraints
Pulse oximeters
Rectal thermometers
Safety razors
Shower chairs
Specimen collection containers
Steam sterilizers
Therapeutic cold packs
Therapeutic hot packs
Tympanic thermometers
Urinals
Urinalysis test strips
Urinary catheters
Walking canes

Technology Skills required for Nursing Assistant

Apache Spark
Billing software
Epic Systems
FaceTime
GE Healthcare Centricity EMR
Health information database software
Medical condition coding software
Medical procedure coding software
Medical record charting software
MEDITECH software
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Office software
Microsoft Outlook
Microsoft Word
PointClickCare healthcare software
Telemetry software
Web browser software
YouTube

US Universities

How to become Nursing Assistant in 2024