What does a certified nursing assistant do?
A certified nursing assistant generally assists patients in their healthcare needs and medical procedures. They support patients in their daily activities by monitoring patients' temperature and food intake, ensuring the cleanliness of the patient's room, and keeping documentation of patients' conditions for reference of nurses and doctors. A certified nursing assistant should also communicate with patients' families and provide updates as often as needed. It is also important that a nursing assistant is patient and compassionate enough to attend to direct patient needs, which could get demanding or challenging at times.
Certified nursing assistant responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real certified nursing assistant resumes:
- Achieve lead CMA role when a nurse are not available.
- Manage patient charts as relates to activity of daily living through EMR system.
- Manage memory unity within facility.
- Care for patients with blood born pathogens such as but not limit to HIV/AIDS.
- Work per LNA practice guidelines in all aspects of care at facility: assist living; skil nursing and rehabilitation
- Assist the patients with their various mobility devices such as their walkers, wheelchairs, canes and lifters if need.
- Admit to clinic, data entry, vitals, labs collection, suture removal, splints, EKG'S etc.
- Provide geriatric care in a nursing home setting, assist with ADL's, vital signs, daily documentation in residential logs
- Assist patients with ADL's, bathing, toiling, feeding, suctioning, blood glucose monitoring, vitals, etc.
- Provide direct care for pediatric patients in an office setting, administer injections, assist physicians, and provide telephone triage.
- Measured/Document fluid input/output; provide catheter care; collect specimens.
- Provide compassion personal patient care under direction of nursing staff in nursing home environment
- Provide personal hygienic assistance to patients by assisting with bedpans and urinals, bathing and generalize body cleansing procedures.
- Provide quality nursing care in accordance with resident care policies and procedures by showing companionship to elderly and developmentally disable patients.
- Create schedule for all SRNA staff.
Certified nursing assistant skills and personality traits
We calculated that 23% of Certified Nursing Assistants are proficient in Patients, Vital Signs, and Home Health. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Compassion, and Patience.
We break down the percentage of Certified Nursing Assistants that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 23%
Provided quality nursing care in accordance with resident care policies and procedures by showing companionship to elderly and developmentally disabled patients.
- Vital Signs, 10%
Read and recorded vital signs Completed and submitted clinical documentation in accordance with agency guidelines.
- Home Health, 7%
Provided in-home health care and management of daily living skills and patient activities; documented and interpreted confidential records and patient information
- Rehabilitation, 5%
Followed/implemented physical and occupational rehabilitation plans.
- CPR, 5%
Skilled in activities of daily living, behavioral management, crisis prevention/intervention and CPR certified.
- Quality Care, 4%
Provide direct quality care to patients including daily monitoring, recording and evaluating of medical conditions.
Most certified nursing assistants use their skills in "patients," "vital signs," and "home health" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential certified nursing assistant responsibilities here:
Communication skills. One of the key soft skills for a certified nursing assistant to have is communication skills. You can see how this relates to what certified nursing assistants do because "nursing assistants and orderlies must communicate effectively to address patients’ or residents’ concerns." Additionally, a certified nursing assistant resume shows how certified nursing assistants use communication skills: "maintained communication with supervising nurses to assist in providing consistent and thorough patient care. "
Compassion. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling certified nursing assistant duties is compassion. The role rewards competence in this skill because "nursing assistants and orderlies assist and care for the sick, injured, and elderly." According to a certified nursing assistant resume, here's how certified nursing assistants can utilize compassion in their job responsibilities: "provide home health care with compassion, excellence, and reliability with assistance and support with activities of daily living. "
Patience. This is an important skill for certified nursing assistants to perform their duties. For an example of how certified nursing assistant responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "the routine tasks of cleaning, feeding, and bathing patients or residents can be stressful." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a certified nursing assistant: "demonstrated respect, compassion and patience when servicing patients and family members to operated as a supportive and information resource. ".
Physical stamina. For certain certified nursing assistant responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "physical stamina." The day-to-day duties of a certified nursing assistant rely on this skill, as "nursing assistants and orderlies spend much of their time on their feet." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what certified nursing assistants do: "do physical therapy exercises with parkinson patient, medication administration, cleaning. "
The three companies that hire the most certified nursing assistants are:
- Interim HealthCare1,970 certified nursing assistants jobs
- MAS Medical Staffing1,332 certified nursing assistants jobs
- ProMedica Toledo Hospital1,074 certified nursing assistants jobs
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Compare different certified nursing assistants
Certified nursing assistant vs. Resident care aide
A nurses' aide is responsible for providing healthcare and welfare assistance to patients in long-term care facilities while under the supervision of a registered nurse or a licensed colleague with extensive expertise. A nurses' aide is mostly involved in basic hygienic tasks, such as helping a patient in bathing and dressing, using the toilet, preparing meals, feeding, and performing basic chores. It is also vital for a nurses' aide to coordinate with supervisors, reporting any changes in a patients' condition or behavior.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between certified nursing assistants and resident care aide. For instance, certified nursing assistant responsibilities require skills such as "rehabilitation," "quality care," "care plan," and "resident care." Whereas a resident care aide is skilled in "assist residents," "rca," "memory care residents," and "developmental disabilities." This is part of what separates the two careers.
On average, resident care aides reach similar levels of education than certified nursing assistants. Resident care aides are 0.2% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.0% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Certified nursing assistant vs. Resident aide
Nurse technicians, also known as nursing aides, assistants, or attendants, usually work in clinics, hospitals, and nursing homes. Primarily, they help a registered nurse by providing essential mobility, care, and support to patients. Everyday routine duties include maintaining patients' hygiene and moving them using wheelchairs or stretchers around the facility for their meals, treatment, events, and other activities. They do tasks that help improve a patient's comfort level and become their caregivers in the long run. This job requires a high school diploma along with the completed certified nursing assistant (CNA) program.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real certified nursing assistant resumes. While certified nursing assistant responsibilities can utilize skills like "home health," "rehabilitation," "customer service," and "infection control," resident aides use skills like "assist residents," "meal prep," "incontinence care," and "administer medications."
Resident aides earn a lower average salary than certified nursing assistants. But resident aides earn the highest pay in the health care industry, with an average salary of $25,893. Additionally, certified nursing assistants earn the highest salaries in the health care with average pay of $32,376 annually.In general, resident aides achieve similar levels of education than certified nursing assistants. They're 0.1% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.0% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Certified nursing assistant vs. Nurses' aide
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from certified nursing assistant resumes include skills like "assistive devices," "compassionate care," "gait belts," and "fresh water," whereas a nurses' aide is more likely to list skills in "stna," "first aid training," "dietary restrictions," and "routine tasks. "
Nurses' aides earn the best pay in the health care industry, where they command an average salary of $30,130. Certified nursing assistants earn the highest pay from the health care industry, with an average salary of $32,376.When it comes to education, nurses' aides tend to earn similar degree levels compared to certified nursing assistants. In fact, they're 0.7% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.1% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Certified nursing assistant vs. Nurse technician
Even though a few skill sets overlap between certified nursing assistants and nurse technicians, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a certified nursing assistant might have more use for skills like "quality care," "care plan," "resident care," and "infection control." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of nurse technicians require skills like "direct supervision," "patient safety," "telemetry," and "phlebotomy. "
Nurse technicians enjoy the best pay in the health care industry, with an average salary of $32,642. For comparison, certified nursing assistants earn the highest salary in the health care industry.In general, nurse technicians hold similar degree levels compared to certified nursing assistants. Nurse technicians are 1.8% more likely to earn their Master's Degree and 0.0% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of certified nursing assistant
Updated January 8, 2025
