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What Are the Continued Education Requirements for a CNA?

Author: Emily Warren
Category: Nursing
Continuing education for a healthcare professional ensures the professionals are current on the ever-evolving medical industry. This is no different for certified nursing assistants. While you should always be seeking out ways to further your education and general knowledge of this industry, your state likely features minimum continuing education credit hours in order to renew your certification. For example, in California, certified nursing assistants must complete a minimum of 48 hours of continued education hours every two years in order to renew their certification. While your state may feature unique requirements, the following information is considered universal throughout the United States.

CNA Continuing Education Information
As mentioned earlier, every state feature a unique requirement when it comes to continuing education. It’s your responsibility as a healthcare professional to ensure you meet these minimum requirements. When you first began your certified nursing assistant training you were taught the basics to perform this job. However, continuing education delves far deeper into specific subject matters.

Because of this, many certified nursing assistants choose their continuing education based upon the specialty they wish to work in. Therefore, when it comes time to selecting your mandated continuing education courses, you’ll have a wide array of options. Regardless of your interest, there’s guaranteed to be several options available to you.

While the popularity of specific continuing education courses can widely vary, there are several common choices. Some examples of such coursework include:
 
  Patient Rights
  Elderly Patient Nursing Techniques
  Archiving and Record Keeping
  Ethics in Nursing
  Medical Procedures
 

For the majority of states, the board of nursing allows CNAs to complete their required continuing education coursework by attending conferences, online courses or traditional classroom/clinical setting. Of course, the type of course you wish to take will determine its online availability. For example, many hands-on continuing education courses are performed in an actual clinic while more theoretical topics, such as ethics in nursing, can be undertaken in a more lecture-oriented platform (such as online or at a conference).

If you’re unsure of where to begin this search, your local community college, nursing school or university will likely offer a variety of CNA specific continuing education coursework. There are also many free resources, such as Think CNA Online, which offer tips on selecting the right CNA program for you. Of course, you can always contact your state board of nursing for this information. Although availability will vary, the majority of nursing boards feature this information on their website. For even more options, consider visiting your local American Red Cross branch or visiting their website. This generally accepted continuing education provider primarily specializes in emergency preparedness courses as well as coursework focusing around CPR techniques.

Source:
www.thinkcnaonline.com