If you are interested to choose Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) as a career then you may be delighted to know that the American Red Cross provides nationally recognized CNA training in different part of the United States. The training covers a nationally recognized curriculum and uses the requirements of each state.

According to the American Red Cross rules, a CNA trainee must attend all classes for the successful completion of the course. You must also display good performance in skill and knowledge evaluation test. The trainings can be strenuous sometimes and might require extensive physical effort, so the participants must be physically fit as well as free of any communicable disease in order to fully participate in the training classes and drills. If you have any questions regarding the medical conditions, then you must discuss them in advance before the course starts. During the course, some of the skills that the trainee learn are measuring a patient’s blood pressure, temperature, and pulse, positioning the patient safely as well as ambulating them. They are also required to maintain all the documentations, charts and paperwork. And, in a Red Cross CNA course, students also learn to take CPR to better handle emergency circumstances.

Red Cross CNA training

After successful completion of the Red Cross CNA training course, you must sit for a CNA license exam which must be successfully completed before entering a medical facility. The exam consist of two parts: the Skills Test and the Written Test. The exam takes approximately five and a half hours for completion. The trainee should first pass the Skills Test before taking the Written Test. Upon successfully passing the examination, the trainee will receive a certification stating that he or she is legally permitted to work as a CNA.

The American Red Cross training program has its own set of requirements that the CNA participants must fulfill. These are:

• The participant must be 18 years or older
• The participant should not have been involved in any kind of felony or misdemeanor within last 7 years.
• The trainee cannot be pregnant.
• The trainee must be free of all communicable diseases.

During the course of study, all students are required to:

• Arrive on time
• Attend all classes (only 6 missed hours are permitted; all the missed hours must be covered)
• Pass the final test with a score of 80% or higher

A Certified Nursing Assistant is a medical officer who works in a medical facility and takes into the complete account of a patient. A CNA is a widely respected job and is gaining popularity. If you wish to choose to become a Certified Nursing Assistant, you must get into the right path and meet the CNA certification requirements to be certified.

To work as a CNA, you must be at least 18 years or above. Also you are required to have at least a high school diploma or qualification equivalent to GED. The CNA training course is a 75 to 120 hours course which consists of both theoretical and clinical sessions. After completing the training course, you are eligible to sit for the CNA certification examination.

CNA certification requirements

To sit for the CNA certification examination, a student must have completed both the theoretical and the clinical sessions. Unless and until you don’t complete both the class sessions, you won’t be eligible to appear the certification examination. The CNA certification exam is conducted in order to test the knowledge and skills of the students and to ensure that they have sufficient knowledge to start a career in this field. To sit in the certification examination, all the students are required to pay the Exam fee. Also students should arrive at the exam center well on time.

The certification exam consists of two sections. They are the written section and the practical section. The written part of the exam consists of multiple choice questions. The written part of the exam is aimed at checking the knowledge required to work in the medical field as a Certified Nursing Assistant. The written exam is generally straight forward. The sample questions for the written examination can be found on the internet. However, the format of the written exam may vary from state to state. After the written part of the certification examination is completed, the students are required to give the clinical part.

The clinical part is the test of technical skills aimed at checking the skills of the students to work in healthcare facilities. To take the clinical examination, you may be required to take a volunteer to the examination center. Using the volunteer, you are needed to demonstrate the clinical skill that the examiner asks you. A state examiner is there to examine what you learned and how you apply them in your real life situations. Before you start the practical examination, you are required to wash the hands carefully and follow the procedures appropriately. The examiners examine your performed skills closely, so it is very important to perform well on this part of the examination.

After you successfully pass the CNA certification examination, you are granted the CNA license and you are legally permitted to work as a Certified Nursing Assistant.