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Certified nurses' aide education requirements

Updated January 8, 2025
2 min read
Usually, certified nurses' aides don't need a college education. The most common degree for certified nurses' aides is high school diploma with 26% graduates, with only 25% certified nurses' aide graduates earning associate degree. Certified nurses' aides who decided to graduate from college often finish University of Phoenix or Central State University. Some good skills to have in this position include patients, vital signs and care plan.

Popular certified nurses' aide certifications include Certified Nurse Assistant (CNA), Medical Assistant, or AIDS Certified Registered Nurse (ACRN). To improve certified nurses' aide qualification and skills, we prepared some online courses to help in certified nurses' aide education paths.

What education do you need to become a certified nurses' aide?

What degree do you need to be a certified nurses' aide?

The most common degree for certified nurses' aides is high school diploma, with 26% of certified nurses' aides earning that degree. The second and third most common degree levels are associate degree degree at 25% and associate degree degree at 24%.
  • High School Diploma, 26%
  • Associate, 25%
  • Bachelor's, 24%
  • Diploma, 9%
  • Other Degrees, 16%

What should I major in to become a certified nurses' aide?

You should major in nursing to become a certified nurses' aide. 33% of certified nurses' aides major in nursing. Other common majors for a certified nurses' aide include business and general studies.

Best majors for certified nurses' aides

20 best online courses for certified nurses' aides

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1. Introduction to Integrative Nursing

coursera

This course is designed for nurses who are drawn to practice in a different way – nurses who value whole-person care and know that the essence of nursing practice is truly caring and healing. You will learn about the principles and practices of Integrative Nursing and how you can be a healing presence to all you serve. Then, you will do an integrative assessment and apply the principles of Integrative Nursing to improve symptom management and overall patient outcomes. Finally, you will explore...

2. Health After Cancer: Cancer Survivorship for Primary Care

coursera

This course presents basic principles of cancer survivorship to primary-care physicians. Developed by a team of experts in caring for cancer survivors, and narrated by a primary-care physician, this course provides practical tips and tools that can be easily integrated into medical practice. You will learn about the complex physical and psychosocial needs and concerns of the growing number of cancer survivors, along with the key role that primary care physicians have in guiding these patients...

3. Home Health Aide, Nurse Aide, Caregiver Certification Course

udemy
4.6
(1,178)

Become A Certified Home Health Aide, Personal Care Aide, Nurse Aide/ Caregiver At The End Of This Course. Enroll Now!!...

4. Pet First Aid (Advanced)

udemy
4.5
(655)

Learn essential knowledge and skills to be able to confidently carry out emergency first aid on a pet animal...

5. Health for All Through Primary Health Care

coursera

This course explores why primary health care is central for achieving Health for All. It provides examples of how primary health care has been instrumental in approaching this goal in selected populations and how the principles of primary health care can guide future policies and actions. Two of the most inspiring, least understood, and most often derided terms in global health discourse are “Health for All” and “Primary Health Care.” In this course, we will explore these terms in the context...

6. Palliative Care Always Capstone Course

coursera

The Palliative Care Always Capstone course is designed to let you test your knowledge about palliative and help others understand the value of palliative care, while showing your creative side. In this course, you will impact community awareness about palliative care, promote self-care and wellness, show-off your communication skills in a virtual environment, and finish the course off by proving your thoughts on ways to offer psychosocial support to a patient and family...

7. Providing Trauma-Informed Care

udemy
4.7
(1,276)

Exploring psychological trauma and how to provide care and compassion to trauma survivors...

8. First Aid, and Children's Health: Your Complete Guide

udemy
4.5
(622)

Taught by a Doctor: Mandatory first aid course covering all of the common injuries and illnesses especially of children...

9. Traditional herbal medicine in supportive cancer care: From alternative to integrative

coursera

Please join us for an exciting and innovative journey, examining one of the most important and often overlooked aspects of the oncology setting: Traditional Herbal Medicine in Supportive Cancer Care. This course is presented with short lectures offering a wide range of issues related to the principles and practice of herbal medicine in cancer care. The course includes interviews with leading world experts from the field of Integrative Oncology, from the U.S. and Canada, as well as Europe, the...

10. Trauma Emergencies and Care

coursera

Welcome to Trauma Emergencies and Care. In this course, you will learn about some of the mechanics and physics of trauma on the human body, and how this can cause injury. You will continue to expand your new vocabulary with medical terminology, and learn how to describe the different injuries you may see. You will also learn about the trauma system itself- and when it is important to transport patients to a trauma center. Then we will dive into specific injuries based on what part of the body...

11. St John Ambulance: Official Baby & Paediatric First Aid

udemy
4.8
(294)

Essential Lifesaving First Aid & CPR Skills for Parents, Guardians & Carers in an Emergency Situation...

12. Dosage Calculations Mastery for Nursing & Pharmacy Students

udemy
4.5
(303)

Master Dosage Calculations in 5 Hours Without Memorizing Any Formulas and Pass the NCLEX or PTCB Exam...

13. Nursing Informatics Leadership Theory and Practice

coursera

“By the end of this Course, you will be able to…” • Evaluate effective leadership styles for leadership in nursing informatics in clinical or academic contexts to improve leadership success. • Discover core values that support effective nursing informatics leadership in academic and clinical contexts to inform development of a personal leadership mission statement. • Discover competing values and polarities related to knowledge leadership and management to promote successful leadership...

14. Emergency Care: Pregnancy, Infants, and Children

coursera

Welcome to the final course of lectures in your quest to master EMT basics. In this course, we will cover some of the highest-stress patient populations: pregnant patients and kids, also known as pediatrics. To wrap up your EMT knowledge we will end this course with information about hazmat situations, extricating patients from tight spots and finally how you write a note about your patient care. You will learn to ensure it communicates what your assessment of the patient was, what...

15. Pain Management: Easing Pain in Palliative Care

coursera

In this course, you will be able to develop a systems view for assessing and managing pain in the palliative care setting. By the end of the course, you will be able to: 1) Describe the pain problem in the palliative care setting; 2) Assess a person’s pain, 3) Explain the benefits of integrative therapies and pharmacologic strategies to manage pain...

16. Health Care Delivery in Healthcare Organizations

coursera

Have you ever needed health care and thought that there must be better ways to get or deliver health care? For example, have you found yourself thinking that there should be a way to get a diagnostic test or treatment at home? Or do you work in a healthcare organization and find yourself thinking that there must be better ways to deliver health care? If you have, this course is for you. Course content includes an overview of health care delivery including healthcare consumerism, the patient's...

17. Value-Based Care: Managing Processes to Improve Outcomes

coursera

COURSE 3 of 7. This course is designed to introduce you to critical office-based processes that a value-based practice must manage in the drive towards improved patient outcomes. In Module 2, we’ll focus on office-based and clinical patient-based supporting functions. At every level in healthcare, guidelines, processes, and functions exist to improve outcomes, and following a consistent process will return the best effect. Refine your understanding of value and learn strategies to provide real...

18. AIDS: Fear and Hope

coursera

The basic biology of the virus, HIV, and the disease it causes, AIDS. The economic, social and political factors that determine who gets sick and who remains healthy, who lives and who dies. The progress of scientific research and medical treatments. The reasons for hope; the reasons for fear. (To get a glimpse of some of the materials that students have been posting on the course forums, go to @AIDSFAH or #AIDSFAH.)...

19. Prehospital care of acute stroke and patient selection for endovascular treatment using the RACE scale

coursera

Acute stroke is a time-dependent medical emergency. In acute ischemic stroke, the first objective is to restore brain flow using sistemic thrombolytic treatment and, in patients with large vessel occlusion, by endovascular treatment. In hemorrhagic stroke there are also specific treatments that can improve the clinical outcome. The sooner the initiation of all these therapies the higher the clinical benefit. Thus, the organization of Stroke Code systems coordinated between emergency medical...

20. Nursing Informatics Leaders

coursera

In this course, we explore the AMIA Nursing Informatics History Project. By the end of the module, you will understand the resources available that will be used in this course to learn about the first hand experiences, future vision, and lessons learned in becoming a nursing informatics pioneer. Course Objectives: • Explore the history of technology and its relationship to the beginning of nursing informatics to understand historical context and evolution of the specialty • Discover the AMIA...

Average certified nurses' aide salary by education level

According to our data, certified nurses' aides with a Master's degree earn the highest average salary, at $36,794 annually. Certified nurses' aides with a Bachelor's degree earn an average annual salary of $35,621.
Certified nurses' aide education levelCertified nurses' aide salary
Master's Degree$36,794
High School Diploma or Less$33,806
Bachelor's Degree$35,621
Some College/ Associate Degree$34,546

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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