Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) – Career and Education Profile

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Certified nursing assistants play a vital role in patient care, ensuring that even the smallest tasks are completed to help every patient get the help he or she needs as quickly as possible.

Job Responsibilities

As a certified nursing assistant, or CNA, your role in a medical facility will be to serve in a “first responder” type of role. Your tasks could include things like recording vital signs, taking patient history notes, assisting with personal hygiene tasks, feeding patients, running errands for nurses, checking medical equipment to ensure it is working properly, cleaning patient rooms, and providing companionship. It is also your job to alert a doctor or nurse if a patient needs immediate attention.

Salary and Career Options

According to reports, certified nursing assistants make an average salary of between $24,729 and $29,887 annually, depending on where you work. You will also earn more money if you are experienced in the field or go through additional training classes. Becoming a certified nursing assistant is a great stepping stone for becoming an LPN or RN.

Educational Requirements

Training as a certified nursing assistant only takes six to twelve weeks, depending no your program of choice, making it one of the fastest ways to begin working in the nursing field. You’ll also receive hands-on training from your employer, as every facility is different. Some of the classes you’ll take include learning nursing assistant skills like triage, emergency first aid, CPR, nutrition, anatomy, and basic nursing skills. Once you go through these classes, you can take the certification exam, which is typically administered by your school in conjunction with the National Association for Home Care. Certification requirements vary from state to state, and you may have to take classes annually to remain certified as a nursing assistant.

LPN to RN College Programs

While several schools have online nursing degrees available, few offer LPN to RN programs. What's the good news? We have listed some accredited schools below that do offer the program in addition to schools with other bridge programs available. Find out more information and contact each school by using any of the links below.

Indiana State University—Indiana State University offers a robust online program designed for LPNs wanting to become registered nurses and earn their BSN degree. Since ISU's credits transfer to over 80 campus majors, this is an ideal program for people wanting to open opportunities for their career down the road.

The College Network—The College Network is a partnership with several universities and organizations like the National League for Nursing that focuses on online education and programs, with several courses for nurses or those interested in a nursing career. Specifically, TCN helps students prepare for their PN and RN licensures and move on to earn graduate degrees.

Other Nursing Degrees

Walden University—Walden University is typically a graduate school with several masters and doctoral programs available, but they do have BSN and RN to MSN bridge programs available. Walden is based out of Minneapolis and offers several options in transferring your previously earned credits to and from (or even within) the school.

Kaplan University—Kaplan University is one of the nation's largest and leading online educators and offers several bridge programs for registered nurses to earn their BSN or MSN degree. If you have previously earned credits, Kaplan makes it easy for you to transfer to any one of their undergraduate or graduate programs.

Herzing University—While Herzing University does not offer an undergraduate nursing degree, it is a great choice for working nurses wanting to pursue leadership positions in Nurse Education or Management. With over 10 campuses and 45 online programs available, Herzing has a massive network that makes it easy to transfer to or from the school.

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