Your Career as a Nursing Assistant

Nursing assistants play a central role in the health care field. Nursing assistants participate in caring for the most important aspects of a patient’s life. They maintain the patient’s appearance by assisting with bathing, dressing, and grooming needs, with nutritional needs by monitoring and assisting with the intake of foods and fluids, and they help the patient to remain functional by assisting with mobility. No one is more central in the patient’s health care team than the nursing assistant as they are the person that spends the most time at the bedside.

Nursing Assistant Schools

If you have been considering a career as a nursing assistant then there are several options that you will want to consider for obtaining the education that you require to obtain success and happiness in your career choice. Many community and state colleges offer training programs for nursing assistants, however, another very popular option that you need to consider is vocational and career training schools. In addition, some nursing and rehabilitation facilities also sponsor their own programs, so the choices are varied.

Your education is an expense that you need to plan for carefully as costs of different programs can vary widely. College programs tend to be the most expensive, followed by vocational and career schools. Sometimes the programs sponsored by the individual facilities will give you free training and education in return for a commitment to work in their facility for a specified number of years.

What to Look for in Nursing Assistant Education

Another thing that you want to bear in mind when considering educational programs is whether the credits and educational experience that you receive will apply to college credit later should you decide to advance your degree with additional studies or choose to go into a related career such as nursing at a later time.Credits transfer more easily from college based programs and vocational schools, while educational training from a facility based program may not transfer at all.

There are basically two portions to any nurse assistant educational program, the textbook learning and the actual hands-on learning. For the textbook learning component of the course, you can expect to receive instruction on anatomy, medical terminology, and communication skills, both written and spoken. For the hands on portion of the learning experience or clinicals, you will take what you have learned in the textbook and apply it to real situations and patients under carefully controlled and supervised conditions.

Online CNA Classes

For people on a restricted schedule due to work or family obligations, there are even online nursing assistant programs available. With online nursing assistant degrees you can work at your own pace, studying when it is convenient for you. Investigate any online nursing assistant program that you plan to take thoroughly and make sure that it is accredited. Also, check with your state nursing assistant board to make sure that the program will meet their requirements for licensure.

The many educational options available to those looking for a better future make nursing assistant careers very appealing. For those seeking a career in the medical field, a nursing assistant degree offers the means by which you can achieve satisfaction and increased financial security.