Are you wondering what is a certified nursing assistant or CNA? If you are interested in becoming a registered nurse, then you may have heard about nursing assistants. Some people will say that you will need to a certified nursing assistant before you can advance in your nursing career. A certified nursing assistant is a person who acts like a bridge or middle man from the patient or clients to the nurse. This nurse can be a registered nurse or RN or a licensed practical nurse or LPN. The role of the assistant is to be there in times that the nurse cannot help the patients. In other areas, they are also called as nursing assistants, a state tested nurse aid or a patient care assistant.

However, even if they are just assistants, they should not be taken lightly. Certified nursing assistants have gone through extensive training and have a high level of experience and ability when it comes to medical aid. While some procedures are prohibited for CNAs, they are still able to perform measures that can immediately help the patients. Simply put, CNAs allow a person to help other people without the heavy responsibilities of a doctor or a registered nurse.

The responsibilities of certified nursing assistants can vary. Some nursing assistants have to work in settings other than the hospital. There are also some nursing assistants in nursing homes or in assisted living facilities. There are even some in day care centers and houses. But even though they practice in different places, they still have one goal and that is to be a bridge to the RN or LPN. They are like the assistant of the RN or LPN. After all, nurses also have other duties. Nursing assistants allow these nurses to perform their duties while they personally attend to the patients.

Being a nursing assistant is great because you get to engage with your patients. In fact, nursing assistants can attest that this is indeed a very rewarding job. For one, you are the one who will look after the welfare of the patients. However, you are not there to solve them like a puzzle like doctors do and you do not need to follow the doctor’s orders. Instead, your only goal is to care for the patients and tell the nurse about your observations. This means that you get to be in contact with people without the heavy responsibility of solving their problems.

With this, compassion and passion are two very important things for this job. You will need to be compassionate because this job will require that you authentically care for other people. Meanwhile, you will need some passion so you can overcome the challenges. There will be times where you will meet some patients that are hard to handle. Passion is the only thing that can help you bridge that.

So do you want to be a certified nursing assistant? You can do that by engaging in some training and testing programs. You can look for an accredited training program in a health facility near you while you can get yourself tested in your local area. Be sure to check the requirements so that your application will not be wasted.

Visit this page for CNA classes in your state and city.