CNAs can seek extra training to transition into medical assistant roles. They may process payments, organize patient files, and confirm insurance coverage. CNAs with enough patient care experience often make excellent employees in medical billing. Their familiarity with medical terminology and diagnoses gives them a head start in this field. If you are more interested in the business end of healthcare, this might be an ideal career for you.
Physical therapy assistants work alongside physical therapists to help patients with physical injuries regain their strength and perform regular physical activities. Higher-level nursing jobs are a natural choice for many CNAs. Once you begin as a CNA, advancing in your nursing career is just a matter of figuring out your next steps. While many similarities exist among these careers—with patient care being the main focus—there are also several differences.
LPNs are nurses. During their training, RNs can focus on a medical specialty such as geriatric, pediatric, neonatal, surgical, or emergency care. RNs are nurses. While the U. Other advantages include:. Hands-on patient care experience—like that gained as a CNA—can make you a more attractive applicant. Registered nurses are well-respected in the healthcare community and are vital to the patient care team in almost every medical setting. An RN career has many advantages:.
RNs make great money while typically enjoying an excellent quality of life. Jobs are flexible, and RNs are always in demand. RN jobs can be gratifying. These CNAs often interact with patients' families and friends. Some may even drive patients to doctor's appointments, run errands, and socialize with them. The federal government hires CNAs to work in:. Job duties vary depending on whether CNAs work in hospitals, clinics, or long-term care facilities. These CNAs assist licensed school nurses.
They perform the following:. Urgent and acute care clinics hire CNAs to help nurses and physicians prepare examination rooms, take patients' vital signs, and provide basic medical care. CNAs with additional training and certification may work in specialty clinics, where they carry out duties like drawing blood and administering electrocardiograms. Hospice CNAs work in a team, where they help hospice nurses and physicians care for terminally ill patients.
They provide palliative care in a patient's own home or in hospice or long-term care facilities. They also comfort and assist patients' family members. Traveling nursing assistant jobs may be ideal for nursing assistants interested in flexibility, variety, and competitive pay.
Becoming a CNA involves both formal training and passing a certification exam. You'll need to enroll in nursing assistant education, which can be completed in as little as two months depending on the pace of the individual student. Unlike training for medical office positions, which may be completed online, nursing assistant programs involve both classroom learning and hands-on practice to prepare you for face-to-face patient interactions.
Federal requirements mandate a minimum of 75 hours of training for nursing assistants; however, those requirements can vary by state —some states require hours or more. Most states also specify a minimum number of clinical hours, which can be gained through a clinical externship. This hands-on experience allows students to practice basic nursing assistant skills such as:.
In addition to completing nursing assistant coursework and clinical experience, many states require students to pass a certification exam and background check before working with patients. For example, to achieve the Florida Certified Nursing Assistant credential, graduates of a state-approved training program must also complete a background screening and fingerprinting and pass an examination.
Nursing assistants who successfully complete the background screening and both sections of the exam will earn the CNA designation. Work as a CNA involves carrying out a variety of basic nursing assistant duties. These responsibilities can include:. These are just some of the duties you may be expected to perform as a CNA. The job description and responsibilities will vary depending on your exact job, the patients you're working with, and where you're working.
You'll also need to be comfortable working closely with patients. You'll be interacting with them face-to-face and helping them function as normally as possible, even if they're bedridden. You may also be helping them with quite intimate tasks, such as bathing them or helping them use the toilet; so you need to be comfortable and discreet in doing this. Now that you have an idea of what the work entails, you may be wondering where exactly you might end up working.
Many people can eventually move into a paying position after they volunteer for a few months. This type of CNA position works with tenants who live on their own for the most part but may need some help with some activities of daily living from day to day.
These types of CNA clients are not acute care situations and will usually take less time than patients in other environments. They should be able to perform the majority of their daily tasks of living, with help only needed occasionally. Once you have gained at least a few years of experience as a CNA in one or more of the above areas, you may be able to move into a CNA administrative or managerial role.
This type of position will require you to have demonstrated leadership and organizational skills; some CNA managers improve their job prospects by taking management and health administration classes. For CNAs who like the higher level duties of being a manager or administrator, this position is a good way to eventually go back to school to become an RN.
Some CNAs may eventually transition out of direct patient care into related fields. Becoming a medical transcriptionist can be a good fit because you have a good knowledge of medical terminology. This is a vital part of putting together an accurate medical file for the patient and requires you to have a lot of knowledge of editing documents with many medical terms.
There is a growing need for CNAs who are able to travel in their home area, as some health agencies may have patients that are spread out over a wide area. Those calls can come at day or night — whenever you are on call. Becoming a CNA is a really good career option for many people who want to have plenty of work, good pay, and the opportunity to eventually move up in the nursing field.
Lynn H.
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