If you are interested to choose Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) as a career then you may be delighted to know that the American Red Cross provides nationally recognized CNA training in different part of the United States. The training covers a nationally recognized curriculum and uses the requirements of each state.

According to the American Red Cross rules, a CNA trainee must attend all classes for the successful completion of the course. You must also display good performance in skill and knowledge evaluation test. The trainings can be strenuous sometimes and might require extensive physical effort, so the participants must be physically fit as well as free of any communicable disease in order to fully participate in the training classes and drills. If you have any questions regarding the medical conditions, then you must discuss them in advance before the course starts. During the course, some of the skills that the trainee learn are measuring a patient’s blood pressure, temperature, and pulse, positioning the patient safely as well as ambulating them. They are also required to maintain all the documentations, charts and paperwork. And, in a Red Cross CNA course, students also learn to take CPR to better handle emergency circumstances.

Red Cross CNA training

After successful completion of the Red Cross CNA training course, you must sit for a CNA license exam which must be successfully completed before entering a medical facility. The exam consist of two parts: the Skills Test and the Written Test. The exam takes approximately five and a half hours for completion. The trainee should first pass the Skills Test before taking the Written Test. Upon successfully passing the examination, the trainee will receive a certification stating that he or she is legally permitted to work as a CNA.

The American Red Cross training program has its own set of requirements that the CNA participants must fulfill. These are:

• The participant must be 18 years or older
• The participant should not have been involved in any kind of felony or misdemeanor within last 7 years.
• The trainee cannot be pregnant.
• The trainee must be free of all communicable diseases.

During the course of study, all students are required to:

• Arrive on time
• Attend all classes (only 6 missed hours are permitted; all the missed hours must be covered)
• Pass the final test with a score of 80% or higher

The concept of good health and hygiene is getting more intense day by day. This can be one great booster for all those who want to become a CNA and make a career into it. Let’s discuss upon how to become a CNA and make a good start into the same.

What is a CNA?

A CNA is not a professional and just assistance to the registered nurse in a hospital or a nursing home. A certified nursing assistant does all the direct care taking of the patients like helping the patients to bath, exercise, and dress up and, even serve meals and make beds at times. Likewise they have to take care for the vital physical signs of the patients like the temperature, blood pressure respiration etc. in broader sense and CNA has to take both the physical and emotional well being of the patients and not all can do this.

CNA requisites

The first thing a CNA achiever has to do is to get his/her GED or the high school diploma. Next is to get a Certified Nursing Assistant certificate program which is a 6-12 weeks of course and is offered by a university, community colleges and also the online courses. This program includes at least 75 hours of theoretical education followed by 16 hours of medical practice in hospitals and health care institutes. Most states take an exam to provide a certification like this.

Scope as a CNA

For those who are still searching on how to become a CNA must know that the job of a CNA can give you both the emotional and financial satisfaction. Needless to say, the job of personnel as a medical practitioner is more secure that any other jobs these days. The statistic suggests that the employment of the nursing assistants has been increasing by 18% since 2006.

What are you offered for a service as a CNA?

A CNA job can generate an income ranging from $25000 to $30000 initially to as much as $50000. As a CNA, you are serving the society as well. This is one thing that other jobs cannot compete.