If you are planning for a career as a certified nursing assistant (CNA) and live in any one of the thirty-six United States cities that offer classes from the American Red Cross, then Red Cross CNA training is an option that you should explore. In fact, Red Cross CNA training ranks among the most highly acclaimed nursing assistant educational opportunities available.
Red Cross CNA training complies with various federal and state requirements, with each of the various training programs throughout the country specifically designed to conform to the unique standards set by each state. These standards vary from state to state, and include such things as the number of study hours and the amount of actual hands-on clinical education that each student receives. From state to state, these requirements vary by as much as 50 hours of training. Course hours are separated into classroom lectures, laboratory practice, and actual training experience in a clinic or hospital setting. In most cases, the Red Cross clinical training is provided in a hospital or nursing home setting.
Red Cross CNA training is provided in classrooms that are designed with hands-on practical experience in mind. Most classes have hospital beds, practice mannequins, a real Hoyer lift, bed pans, wheelchairs, and almost every other piece of equipment the students will need to familiarize themselves with to accomplish the various tasks required of a nursing assistant. These tasks range from moving patients from a bed to a chair (and vice versa), taking a patient’s pulse and other vital signs, using the lift to move a patient, providing basic hygiene and dental care for a patient, grooming the patient, and assisting with feeding and bathing – to name just a few.
The American Red Cross takes great pride in the fact that Red Cross CNA training is comprehensive and very fast-paced. Whereas most nursing assistant courses entail six or more months of study, the Red Cross CNA training program is so involved that its students typically graduate, get certified, and join the health care workforce in less than two months from the start of training. Red Cross CNA training recipients can be found throughout the country in some of the finest hospitals, nursing homes, and even home health agencies.
Though you can find many free certified nursing education opportunities, Red Cross CNA training is not among them. Receiving your training from the American Red Cross will cost you – anywhere from $1000 to close to $2000 dollars for the course – but it makes up for the cost by getting you into the active workforce in a fraction of the time that other CNA training courses take. The Red Cross will, however, pay for the cost of the state certification exams, which is something that almost no free programs offer. And while many free courses of study will take into consideration your prior training and experience, the Red Cross CNA training program provides no credit for prior courses.
Tags: American Red Cross, cna training, Red Cross clinical training, Red Cross CNA Training