CNA school can be a great first step for any healthcare career. Learning introductory skills in this field can prepare you to enter the healthcare field and perhaps go on to a variety of different career paths in the future with added training and experience. Some people who start with a CNA program go on to pursue additional education and become:
- Medical assistants
- Licensed practical nurses
- Registered nurses
- Emergency medical technicians
- And more!
CNA school is your opportunity to get started in your career in healthcare! It’s a great introductory option for people who want to learn more about the field and want to learn more about healthcare and career paths they can pursue.
Learn about Training Direct’s Nurse Aide program!
What is a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA)?
A CNA or certified nursing assistant (or certified nurse aide) plays a key role in patient care. In fact, sometimes a patient will spend more time with a CNA than they will with their doctor or nursing team! The CNA serves as a helpful guide and advocate for the patient in daily care, hygiene, transportation, and more.
In any given day, a CNA can:
- Help a patient with movement, feeding, bathing, or other personal care
- Take and record patients’ blood pressure, pulse, temperature, and other vital signs
- Keep a patient’s room safe and sanitary
- Communicate with patients and their families about treatment
- Accurately document care and patient records
- Support nurses and doctors on a patient’s medical team
- Prepare and clean equipment for treatments
- Help patients with rehabilitation exercises
- Provide specialized care, such as supporting patients with Alzheimer’s or those recovering from surgery
As a CNA, it’s important to gain the education you need to safely help patients. There’s a reason schools for CNAs exist for those who want to pursue this as a career! You wouldn’t want just anyone to treat you when you’re sick or in pain. Having the right training is crucial for keeping patients safe or preventing their condition from worsening. Through your CNA education, you can learn these concepts through coursework, hands-on training, and personal study. CNA school can be hard, but with proper dedication and practice you can be on your way to a new career as a certified nursing assistant in just a few months!
Where can you work once you finish CNA school?
- Hospitals
- Nursing homes
- Rehabilitation centers
- Home healthcare services
- Assisted living facilities
- Private homes
Benefits of Choosing CNA School as Your First Step
If your goal is to become a PCT or RN or something else in healthcare, why should you start with CNA training school? Because you can:
- Learn skills and processes that you’ll find throughout the healthcare field, giving you a baseline knowledge of how to work and communicate in the industry
- Start working as a CNA while furthering your education, getting you in the door in healthcare quicker with a shorter training time
- Gain a strong understanding of lifesaving measures and patient care techniques
- Gain a well-rounded knowledge of common health issues and their treatments
- Get a feel for the world of healthcare to help you decide if this is the right career field for your interests
- Learn about specializations and any education requirements needed for your chosen career path
- Begin networking and working in the field after finishing your CNA training program to help you widen the opportunities available to you
- Get to know patients and learn valuable ways to communicate with people in vulnerable situations
Being a nurse aide could be a gateway to other healthcare careers
With further education and experience, people who finish CNA training can go on to an exciting variety of healthcare careers. A bonus: they can further their education while working as a CNA. This gives them a valuable combination of gaining education while also working in the field you love!
The things you learn in CNA school (like preventing the spread of disease) are very important and used by people across the field. Because of this, you should learn as much as you can during your training! That’s why many people come into CNA school looking at it as the baseline for any healthcare career. It’s your chance to learn the basic skills you need to help patients, and to decide if there is further education you’d like to pursue.
Once you finish your CNA training, you can start working while continuing the education you need for your further career goals. A few different routes you can go in your healthcare career after finishing CNA school include:
- Medical Assistant (MA)
- Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN)
- Patient Care Technician (PCT)
- Registered Nurse (RN)
- Phlebotomist
- Respiratory Therapist
- And more
As you can see, there are a wide variety of advancement opportunities available to CNA school graduates. You could go on to become a phlebotomist, focusing on drawing patient blood for donations and other life-saving measures. You could also pursue a career as a medical assistant, learning more advanced techniques like giving shots and performing EKGs. Or you could become an EMT, providing life-saving measures on the go in emergency situations.
In some cases, you may need to enroll in another program to further your learning before you can get a job in your chosen specialization. For example, if you wanted to become a medical assistant, you could finish your CNA training and then spend 9 months to two years in a medical assistant program.1 Working as an emergency medical technician also requires additional education of 1-2 years.2
Starting out with a CNA school could be an opportunity to introduce yourself to the different careers available and to gain a baseline understanding of what it’s like to care for others.
Getting started as a CNA
A final note to keep in mind is that the requirements for working as a CNA depend on where you live. In the United States, different states have different requirements before you can legally start working as a CNA. 3 For example, some states require a criminal background check and others require you to join a state CNA registry. If you’ve gotten this far and you’re feeling interested in pursuing your CNA education, it’s important to start by researching the requirements for working as a CNA in your state. From there, it’s time to pick a CNA school program!
Here are some questions to ask yourself as you research different schools for your CNA:
- How long does the CNA program last? Does the schedule fit with your availability?
- Does the CNA school include an in-person component or practicum?
- Who teaches the courses? Are they qualified in their work?
- Is the program approved by the state?
- Does the curriculum include a well-rounded balance of coursework in nursing care, patient safety, communication skills, and basic anatomy?
- Getting the answers to these questions can help you narrow down the best fit for your schedule and career goals.
Start your CNA career with Training Direct
If you’re ready to pursue your CNA education and become a CNA in Connecticut, Training Direct offers a robust Nurse Aide program designed to fulfill the educational requirements for working in the state, upon becoming certified. With hands-on training and flexible scheduling, you can learn exciting course subjects such as:
- Infection control
- Patient safety
- Taking and recording vital signs
- And more!
To learn more about this CNA training program in Connecticut, click the button below.
Training Direct has determined that its Nurse Aide program curriculum is sufficient to fulfill educational requirements for certification in the State of Connecticut only. No educational determinations have been made for any other state, district or US territory in regards to certification requirements.
- https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/medical-assistants.htm. Accessed 3 August 2024.
- https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/emts-and-paramedics.htm. Accessed 3 August 2024.
- https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/nursing-assistants.htm#tab-4. Accessed 3 August 2024.
