A CNA certification in New York is an important requirement for those who would like to work as nurse aides in long-term care facilities and home care in New York. The state requires applicants to undergo state-approved certified nursing assistant training as well as pass a federal and state criminal background check and take the state examination. After passing these qualifications, one shall be entered into the state’s nurse aide registry.
One should take their school training in a facility which has been approved by the New York State Department of Health. The applicant should undergo at least 75 hours of training which shall include both classroom and practical training. Subjects that are covered n the training include basic care for patients, resident rights and independence, ethics at work, communication skills, and emergency procedures such as CPR. One should also submit to a criminal background check first before he can be admitted to do the training. One can apply for the state examinations within 2 years of completion of the training.
Nursing graduates can also apply for the CNA exam. They need to apply for an eligibility to take the test first of the state’s Department of Health first and submit an application form as well as a copy of their diploma. Those who have been trained in foreign countries as a nurse can also apply for certification by submitting their diploma, a copy of their nursing license, transcript, social security card, as well as the corresponding fees for the examinations. They are not required to undergo a state-approved training to apply for the nurse aide exams.
The CNA test is conducted by Prometric. It consists of both a clinical and a written exam. Candidates will be required to pass at least 5 basic nursing skills and an additional two skills. The results of the exam will be released within 5 days and once an applicant has passed, he will be sent a certificate and a wallet card. One can try the exam for three times and if he fails all of them, he shall be required to undergo training again. One should submit passport size photos, fingerprint cards and the corresponding fees before taking the exam.
The state accepts reciprocity for nurse aides, and to qualify they need to submit is a completed application form, a copy of their certification from another state, as well as the necessary fees. The applicant should also submit a proof of employment for the past 24 months if the license does not expire on that state. He must also have worked for at least 7 hours for pay within the last 2 years. The license is renewed every 2 years and the nurse assistants should have performed at least 7 hours of paid work in their occupation with a state-approved nursing facility or employer. It is also the policy of the state that it is the employer who should renew a nurse aide’s license and not the employee themselves. If the license expires or lapses, the applicant should undergo training again and then retake the examinations. You can contact the NY Nursing Assistant Registry to get further details about qualifications, licenses and to search the status of a worker.
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It is a well-known Federal regulation that every certified nursing assistant should be entered into a registry in order to determine their appropriateness for hiring by potential employers. This is a very strict requirement that everyone has to comply with if they wish to be employed as nursing assistants in the state. The state enforces a series of requirements which will have to be successfully accomplished by an applicant before he or she can be allowed to work on the state in the capacity of a caregiver or employee of a long-term care facility.
According to the law, for a nursing aide to work in a licensed health facility that is supported by Medicaid or Medicare, they must have a certificate. There are different ways of getting a certificate in the State of New York. These mainly involve in either being able to pass the competency evaluation exams or being directly entered into the NYSNAR.
There are several different ways for you to establish eligibility. One way is being able to complete a CNA training course that is approved by the NYDOH. This program takes 75 hours to complete and consists of lectures and practical skills training.
It will be the job of the healthcare facility or the home care agency to get the candidate’s fingerprints. The prints will then be sent to the Department of Criminal Justice Services where they will be checked to see if the candidate has committed any felonies within the state. Once the check is done by the DCJS, they will then forward the prints to the FBI so they can be compared with the national database.
To help with a successful examination, regulations and procedures when taking the license exams were developed to be followed for every testing site. This will ensure that each candidate is tested under the same favorable conditions. Please remember that failure to follow the regulations listed below may result in the disqualification of a candidate’s exam.
The criminal history record check or CHRC consists of a 10-point rolled fingerprint, which is submitted to the Division of Criminal Justice Services or DCJS. Once the DCJS is through with the background check, the prints will then be forwarded to the FBI, which will then be compared against the national database.
If a training program also wishes to conduct the license exams in their own facility, they will need to apply for in-facility testing first. This application form will be used as a cover page with the batch of candidates who wish to take the tests. The payments for the testing fess should also be included during the submission.
Before you can take the exams, you will need to apply for it. One of the requirements is that you must complete a state-certified nurse aide training course. The courses last 75 hours and must be approved by the Department of Health of New York. There are no age requirements to enroll in but before you do, you are required to undergo and pass the background investigation for criminal records.
A foreign registered nurse may also become a nursing assistant in New York if he wishes to change his profession. Becoming a nursing assistant is one of the fastest ways to gain entry into the medical field of the U.S. Like other nursing assistant candidates, a foreign registered nurse will need to become a part of the NYNAR before he is allowed to work in a nursing facility.
One of the routes in the application form (Route 6) is for those individuals who already completed a NYSDOH-approved CNA program on or after July 1, 1989 but whose certification has expired. A certification is considered expired if the holder has failed to work as a nursing aide for at least 7 hours within the last 24 consecutive months at an approved healthcare facility.
A notice is sent to your mailing address on the Registry 45 days before the expiration date of your license. That is why it is important to notify the Registry if you ever change your address. Keep in mind that the notice only serves as a reminder to renew your license and is not needed in the recertification process.
Routes 1, 3, 5, 6, and seven are required to take the competency exams before they are allowed to work as a nursing assistant in a nursing home. These individuals include those who had no prior experiences in health care, nursing graduates, foreign nurses, and CNAs who had their licenses expired. A license expires if the holder is unable to work as a paid nursing assistant for at least one day within the last 24 months thus was unable to renew it.
To undergo the proper training, the candidate will need to enroll in a training program that is approved by the state’s Department of Health. Upon enrollment, the candidate will be asked to provide the results of his criminal background check. Aside from the training and testing requirements, it is also important that the candidates have good records with the state.
If the candidate chooses the first route, he will need to complete a state-certified CNA training program and pass the evaluation exams afterwards. The program must be approved by the NYDOH, to be eligible to apply for the exams. These programs take 75 hours to complete and consist of lectures and practical skills training. The candidate must apply and take the exams within 2 years from the date he completed his training.
If an individual is employed by a New York state-approved nursing facility prior to enrolling in the program, the individual may not be charged for any expenses incurred during training. These expenses may include, but are not limited to, costs for textbooks and other materials that will be used during the course of the training and for the payment of the exam fees. A nursing aide who was able to find work in an approved nursing aide employer within 12 months from the date that he passed the exam, the nursing aide will still be eligible for reimbursement for both the training and the testing fees.
A notification that serves as a reminder will be mailed to you 45 days before its expiration date. The notice will be sent to the address that is found on the Registry; that is why it is important to notify the Registry and update your records if you moved to a different address. Remember that the notice serves only as a reminder and is not a part or necessary in the recertification process.
One way of becoming eligible to complete a nursing aide training course. The course needs to be approved by the New York State Department of Health. These programs offer 75 hours of training, which consists of lectures on the concepts of the Fundamentals of Nursing and on-the-job skills training, which means handling and taking care of actual patients.
By completing a state-certified program, you will gain eligibility to take on the competency evaluation exams. These exams consists of a written/oral exam and a clinical skills tests. They are given by Prometric, which is an independent-testing company. To take the exams, you will need to apply for it by filling out the application form (https://www.prometric.com/en-us/clients/Nurseaide/Documents/New%20York/NYNARegistryApp20111006.pdf) and send them along with other documents and the payment for the testing fees. To contact the Examination and Scheduling Services, you can call them at (800) 805-90128.
After completing the training, you will then become eligible to apply for the license exams, which care conducted by Prometric. The exams will consist of both written/oral exam and skills evaluation to determine your competency in knowledge and skills to take care of the patients. If you are able to pass all the tests, your CNA certificate and a wallet card will be sent to the mailing address that you placed on the application form.
To avoid any additional stress when taking the exams, it is best to come prepared. Nursing assistant candidates are highly reminded that they bring the following items to the exam:
The individual as well as the training program will be responsible for:
Hiring facilities are also required to check the nurse aide’s certificate before they hire them. There are several different ways to do this. These methods include:
Nursing graduates are also allowed to take the nurse aide competency exams. Since they already took up the Fundamentals of Nursing, they will no longer be required to undergo any additional training. Before they apply, they will need to get the eligibility approval from the NYSDOH first. The application forms and the documents must be sent to:
The process of reciprocity is only available to those who are currently a registered nursing assistant in a different state. Aside from being currently registered, a good standing with his state is also a requirement. Before a nursing facility is able to hire a nursing assistant from a different state, it must verify that the applicant has applied to the New York Nurse Aide Registry. The facility may employ the nursing assistant so long as the nursing facility keeps a copy of the application form that was sent to the NY NAR and that the Registry verifications came back with positive results. NAR verifications are available 24 hours every day and can be done through:
After completing the training. The next step is to apply for the license exams. When applying, you will need to provide proof that you were able to complete the necessary training, along with your application form. You can download a copy of the application form at https://www.prometric.com/en-us/clients/Nurseaide/Documents/New%20York/NYNARegistryApp20111006.pdf or you can get one from the training facility that you enrolled in.
The written exams are composed of 50 multiple-choice and 10 reading comprehension questions. At the Prometric website (https://www.prometric.com/en-us/clients/Nurseaide/Pages/NY.aspx) they have a reading assessment that you can take in order to determine if you are qualified to take the written exams. If not, then you may request to have an oral exam instead. During this exam, an evaluator will only read to you what is on the paper and will answer only questions regarding English.
When updating, a Service Request form needs to be fill out and sent to the Registry. The form can be downloaded from: https://www.prometric.com/en-us/clients/Nurseaide/Documents/New%20York/NYNAServiceRequestForm20110818.pdf. An individual may also send the request to update in a letter form, which can be faxed, emailed, or mailed to Prometric. A processing fee of $15 is charged if the nurse aide requests to have a new copy of his certificate with his updated information.
The first part of the exams is the written examination. The exam is consists of 60 questions that are all multiple-choice. Every candidate has a total of 90 minutes to answer all of the questions. All of the questions will be in multiple-choice format with only one correct answer. One can download a sample of a written exam at www.prometric.com/nurseaide. The questions on the sample test are formatted in the same way as of the actual exams. The practice exams however, only consist of 50 questions. Each practice exam costs $10 and can be paid online with the use of a credit or debit card.
Taking the competency exams is one of the ways to gain entry into NAR. In order to establish eligibility to apply for the exams, one can enroll in and complete a state-certified CNA training program. If a nurse aide candidate is currently employed in a NY nursing home may not be charged for any cost of nurse aide training, which includes the costs for books and other materials, or for the costs of Competency Exams. All the charges will be paid by the State of New York.
To qualify to take the CNA exam in the state of New York you first need to attend an approved training program. The program needs to teach a total of 75 hours of combined classroom instruction and experience in a clinical setting. In addition to enrolling in instruction, you also need to submit a completed application and a receive a state and federal background check before you can apply to take the nursing assistant test.
Before a certificate expires, the holder will receive a notice from the Registry. The notice serves as a reminder and is usually mailed about 45 days before its expiration date. The Registry will mail the notice on the mailing address that is on the nursing aide’s records. This notice however is not important in the recertification process.
Their exams are to be taken only in approved testing centers. A nursing assistant training facility that wishes to administer the exams will need to apply for in-facility testing. They will need to fill out the application form (https://www.prometric.com/en-us/clients/Nurseaide/Documents/New%20York/NYNARequestforInFacilityTesting20111104.pdf) and get approval before they are allowed to administer the exams. Other candidates, such as those who are not currently employed in a nursing home or is employed in one that is not allowed to give in-facility testing, may take the exams in Regional testing centers.
To become a nursing assistant in the state of New York, you must undergo a 75-hour training program. The program must be approved by the New York Department of Health to ensure that you will receive training that meets both the federal and state standards. Your training will consist of lectures and skills training both in the laboratory and the actual setting. You will be trained in the basics of nursing, ethics at work, therapeutic communication techniques, emergency procedures, and the resident’s rights and how to promote their independence.
The only individuals who are allowed to directly apply for the Registry are RNs, LPNs, and CNAs that are registered in a different state. When they apply, they will no longer be required to undergo any additional training or testing. All they have to do is to send the application forms along with documentations that show proof of their training and experience. For example, RNs are required to show their nursing license, while CNA’s are required to show a current out-of-state certificate.
These exams are only to be taken at approved testing sites. These sites may either be a regional testing site or a training facility. For those who are taking the exams at their training facilities, please make sure that the facility is approved by Prometric to conduct in-facility testing. If it isn’t, the facility must apply for approval before they are allowed to give the tests. Facilities can download a copy of the In-Facility Testing application form by following this link: https://www.prometric.com/en-us/clients/Nurseaide/Documents/New%20York/NYNARequestforInFacilityTesting20111104.pdf.
Certified Nursing Assistant Certification Requirements in New York