[ddolbow]

You'll have to excuse me i dont know what i'm doing.(i recently decided to change my career.i was a retail manager for 10 years)....I need some advice I will be graduating this winter with an associates in medical assisting and going back to school in the spring to start nursing..I want to work in a long term care facility while I'm in nursing school....will my associates in MA be sufficent or do i need to take the stna classes??
thanks Dawn

[frez]

I think ( again i am not positive) but you might have to take a cna course which might not be a bad idea since most nursing programs require it anyway. Again I could be wrong.

Frez

[Daytonite]

Hi, ddolbow!

All long term care facilities in all states are required by federal law to hire only Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs) to perform direct patient care on the residents. Some states have titled CNAs differently such as Ohio which calls them STNA (State Tested Nursing Assistants), but the job description is basically the same. You will need to become a certified CNA by however your state of residence requires you to do this. With MA training you may be able to test by educational equivalency, but you would have to check your state nurse aide registry on this. Since you didn't list your state of residence I can't give you the specific nurse aide registry laws for your state, but you can find them on this thread on allnurses:

• http://allnurses.com/forums/f265/com...es-171787.html

Here is information about the job of CNA/STNA

• http://stats.bls.gov/oco/ocos165.htm - information on nursing assistants (CNA) from the U.S. Department of Labor
• http://www.nursingprograms.com/nursing-assistant-certificate - Nursing Assistant Certificate

Often, after the first semester of nursing school, many states allow RN and LPN nursing students to test for CNA certification by educational equivalency since they have learned everything about basic nursing care that is learned in a CNA class (and more). Again, your state nurse aide registry website would have this information on whether or not you can do this and you can get to your state website through the first link I listed above on the CNA-Nursing Assistant Discussion Forum of allnurses.

Welcome to allnurses!