If you have a strong desire to help people, you may enjoy a career as a certified nursing assistant. A certified nursing assistant, or CNA for short, is commonly known as a nurse's aid in West Virginia. Nursing assistants perform personal, hands-on care to patients under the supervision of a nurse. West Virginia offers many opportunities for the training and employment of nurse's aids. You can complete training and begin work as a nurse's aid in just a few weeks.
Instructions
Instructions
1. Register for an approved nurse's aid training program. To become a CNA in West Virginia, you must have at least 120 hours of training. You can find courses through high schools, nursing homes, vocational training centers, and community colleges. Consult the Website listed below for a list of courses in 23 cities. There are over one hundred programs offered in West Virginia. It should not be hard to find one that will work for you. Be aware that West Virginia does not recognize any Internet-based programs.
2. Complete the training. To become a CNA in West Virginia, you will need to complete 65 hours of classroom and lab training, and you'll need to complete 55 hours of clinical training in a facility that is approved by Medicare/Medicaid. You will be charged a fee for this course unless you have a job offer from--or are employed by--a Medicare/Medicaid certified nursing facility.
3. Pass the test. You must pass the West Virginia competency evaluation to be certified. You can apply to take the test by contacting Professional Health Care Development through the link given below. The test will consist of a written part and a clinical part. For the clinical part of the test, you may be asked to take a patient's temperature, reposition them in bed, comb their hair, or clean their fingernails. You must demonstrate safety, good hygiene, dignity, and privacy practices in dealing with your patients.
4. After passing the test, your name will be placed on the West Virginia Nurse Aide Registry. You will receive a certificate from the testing agency. This will be good for two years. You must re-register every two years by documenting that you have worked as a paid nurse's aid in the past three years for a minimum number of hours.
5. Decide what type of facility you would like to work in and apply. Consider whether you would like to work in a nursing home, as a private care provider in someone's home or in a busy hospital. You will be able to use your West Virginia CNA license to work in a wide variety of settings.
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