Certified Nursing Assistant License Requirements

Studying to be Certified Nursing Assistant will take anywhere from one month to six months depending on the course you have taken up. But after the course you will have to sit for a state licensing exam that will have a practical and a theoretical component to it. Different states have different requirement for the exam but a few general eligibility requirements that you will require before you apply for a CNA license are:

• Age - you have to be 18 years and above to be considered for CNA licensure after completing your CNA course.
• Competency - After you’ve finished the course, you will have to pass a written competency course to ensure that you have completed the course to the full. That includes atleast 40 hours of clinical training that has been supervised by a trained nurse and the theory requirements that your training institute set for you.
• High School Education - You will also have to demonstrate that you have finished the basic courses required to create a fundamental biological understanding of the human body. a few states require to complete at least eight years of high school or atleast show proof of knowledge.
• Transcripts - you will have to submit an official transcript of your college curriculum to the licensing staff.
• Background Check - With the high incidence of drug-related problems in the country;a background check has now become essential before you are allowed to practice as a CNA. You will have to submit your fingerprints to the licensing authority on a downloaded card that you will have to submit. The fingerprints are run against a national database of criminal information to clear criminal and drug abuse applicants. It’s absolutely necessary that you have a clear record before you can be considered for a CNA licensure.
• Wrongdoing - You must not have any administrative findings of abuse or neglect on the local or state CNA registry or any other CNA registry before your application will be considered for licensure.
• Tests - You will have to pass the licensing manual and theory test set by the CNA licensing authority. You can take the test online at approved test centers and you will be notified about the results in a few days time. You can also choose to take the exam a total of three times to improve your results.
• English Proficiency - You must be able to understand and talk reasonable English, as most of the patients will be conversing in English.

Please remember that you will have to enquire about specific state requirements for CNA licensing exams as rules vary from state to state. Get in touch with the local Nurses Aide Registry for more information.