Certified Nurse Aide Training: A Fast Growing Industry

New healthcare laws and an aging population may drive the need for public and privately held organizations to hire more people who have medical training. The nursing field is an area that may experience several years of growth. Concerning nurse’s aides, orderlies and attendant career fields, the United States Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics expects these careers to grow by about 20 percent from 2010 through 2020. A first step toward preparing to work as a nurse’s aide is to get certified.

Preparing for Growing Nurse Aide Careersr
Although employers may have provided workers who desired to assist children and adults as they recovered from an illness or injury with on-the-job training years ago, that trend has shifted. Today employers often want nurse’s aides to already have received post-secondary training at an accredited institution before they hire them. For example, employers may want nurse’s aides to have classroom training and hands-on experience working in a long term care facility.

Some post-secondary schools offer certified nurse aide training programs students can complete in about 90 hours. For instance, in New Jersey, the Healthcare Training Institute offers a 90-hour certified nurse aide training program that is approved by the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services. Depending on the specific school’s curriculum, students may be required to complete about 50 hours of classroom coursework and another 40 hours of supervised hands-on training at a local medical facility to graduate from the programs.

Top programs are also designed with curriculums that meet federal regulation requirements. Courses students might be required to take as they complete a certified nurse aide training program include psychosocial needs of patients or residents, physical needs of patients or residents, caring for patients at long term care facilities and assessing and addressing spiritual needs of patients or residents. Other courses may focus on helping students develop interpersonal skills, understand and implement safety and emergency procedures and infectious disease control methods.

Components of Accredited Certified Nurse Aide Training Programsr
By signing up for part-time training programs, students may be able to work jobs and enjoy more work/life balance as they pursue their certified nurse aide training. Furthermore, before registering for one of the training programs, students are encouraged to do their research. For example, students can compare tuition costs, curriculum offerings, syllabus’ and days and hours the training programs are offered on at different schools before they enroll in a particular certified nurse aide training program.

It is also important that students confirm that post-secondary schools they take the programs from are accredited by accrediting organizations recognized by the United States Department of Education. This way, students may increase their chances of having credits they earn at the post-secondary schools being accepted by other nationally recognized colleges and universities. Some hiring managers may also give preference to students who receive their certified nurse aide training from accredited institutions.
In regards to how much nurse’s aides can earn, the statistics bureau reports that, as of May 2011, nurse’s aides, orderlies and attendants earned a median annual salary of $24,190. Aides, orderlies and attendants whose salaries were in the bottom 10 percent were paid $18,060 or less. Salaries in the top 10 percent were at $35,170 or higher.