CNA Medical Assistant Schools

What can you expect during the the educational path for medical assistant schools?  CNA’s are called upon to work under tough working conditions and demand on-going schooling.  The care they provide can range from a wide assortment of patients.  While many of these patients may only require routine care such as bathing, dressing and mealtime assistance, others may need more advanced levels of care and supervision.

Very often patients under the care of a CNA will have to undergo a medical operation or some other surgical procedure and may require constant supervision while in the recovery stage.  This type of care will require a level of advanced monitoring and supervision which can be critical during the healing stages of a patient that is recovering after surgery. Due to this reason, a certified nursing assistant will have to engage in continuing education to keep them sharp and at their highest level of academic proficiency. 

The federal government which oversees much of the ongoing training requirements for medical assistant schools along with state and regional agencies past what is widely know as the Federal OBRA Reconciliation Act in 1987 which standardized the training needs for all CNA training programs throughout the U.S. and its territories.

I brief rundown of the training requirements are as follows:

1. More stringent training on infection control measure to insure safe handling of infected items and to prevent the spread of infectious diseases throughout in a facility.

2. An improved level of communication between the CNA assistants, charge nurses and support staff.  This also includes training on interpersonal skills for nurse assistants and the way they communicate to patients.

3. Improved training on safety protocols and emergency measures used throughout a center.  This includes fire safety, missing residents, medical emergencies and also weather related incidents.

These training measures are based upon the current mandates of the federal government for medical schools and therefore cannot be altered or changes in any way.  States are required to comply with the current measures and may add to, but not take away.  Some states have added additional hours to the required training such as NYC.  If you getting CNA trained in New York, you will have to put in up to 75 hours.  This is different from certification.  New York CNA certification now requires 100 hours of training with an additional 30 hours of supervised training in a medical environment or nurse home.