Health Careers
Certified Nursing Assistant/Aide
Professional Activities
Nursing assistants help nurses in nearly every aspect of nursing care in hospitals, clinics, home health, assisted living, private homes, and doctor’s offices. In hospitals, nursing assistants also provide daily care to patients, such as helping with meals, baths, exercises, and treatments. Nursing assistants are responsible for recording vital signs (pulse, respiration, blood pressure, and temperature), recording fluid intake and outputs, weights, and recording other observations. They must be familiar with normal values for vital sign measurements and observations and report normal and abnormal findings to a registered nurse or licensed practical nurse.
In outpatient clinics, nursing assistants are primarily responsible for preparing patients for the examination by a physician or nurse. They are also responsible for making sure the patients, nurses, and physicians receive the help they need during examinations or treatments. Other duties involve monitoring and stocking medical supplies, clinic scheduling, and patient teaching. In rural Alaska, Native speaking nursing assistants are often called upon to provide crucial translation skills.
Nursing assistants work wherever nurses are employed. Rural Alaska employers include regional hospitals, specialty clinics operated by regional health corporations or state and federal agencies, and community-based health care programs.
Educational Requirements
Certification is required to work as a nursing assistant in long term care and home health settings; many acute care hospitals and clinics also prefer to hire nursing assistants who hold certifications.
- Graduation from high school is not required, but if students do not have a high school diploma, they need to have a GED or take the ABLE test.
- Completion of an approved Nursing Assistant training program. All Alaska programs are required to provide a minimum of 60 hours of classroom instruction and 80 clinician hours of supervised clinical practice.
- Successful completion of a certification examination is increasingly being required.
Academic Programs
The University of Alaska has Nursing Aide Programs on many of its branch campuses.
University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF)
The Nurse Aide Program is available to all UAF campuses. It has been offered at a number of the rural campuses. The program has both a didactic portion, which has been offered both face to face and distance, and a skills/clinical portion. For the clinical portion the students come in to Fairbanks, for two weeks, for their clinical experience at Denali Center, which is a long term care facility. The program prepares students for entry into the health care field and for the State of Alaska Certification Examination. Once they have satisfactorily completed the program, and they have been approved by the State Board of Nursing, the students are eligible to take the State Certification Examination. For more information, contact your local campus or:
Tanana Valley Campus
1000 University Ave. Rm. 109
Fairbanks, AK 99709
Contact: Cathy Winfree
Phone: (907) 455-2876
Email: (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Website: http://www.tvc.uaf.edu/programs/health/index.html#certnurse
University of Alaska Southeast (UAS)
UAS offers Nurse Aide training in Juneau, Sitka and Ketchikan. The training is a 9-credit course designed to train entry level workers in basic skills needed to assist nurses and to be efficient health care team members. Students qualify to sit for the Alaska Certification Exam for Nursing Assistants. A minimum of 75 lecture hours and 80 lab/clinical hours are included. For more information, visit the UAS website (http://www.uas.alaska.edu/career_ed/healthscience/programs/cna-training.html) or contact:
University of Alaska Southeast, Juneau CNA Program
Marianne Stillner, Assistant Professor
Phone: (907) 796-6125
Email: (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
University of Alaska Southeast, Sitka CNA Progam:
Cheryl Stromme
Phone: (907) 747-9473 or (800) 478-6653 ext. 9473
Email: (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
University of Alaska Southeast, Ketchikan CNA Program:
Wendy Gierard
Phone: (907) 225-4523 or (888) 550-6177 toll free in Alaska
Email: (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Many of the University of Alaska Anchorage branch campuses also have Nursing Aide programs. For more information, contact the individuals at the campuses below:
Prince William Sound -Valdez Campus
Shannon Foster, Registration Coordinator
(907) 834-1600
Email: (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Prince William Sound-Cordova Campus
Susan Harding, Coordinator
Phone: (907) 424-7598
Email: (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Kachemak Bay Campus (Homer)
Dean Sundmark, Student Advisor
Phone: (907) 235-1655
Email: (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Kenai Peninsula College
Scott Kraxberger, Associate Professor
Phone: (907) 262-0354
Email: (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Kodiak College
Barbara Brown, Academic Counselor
Phone: (907) 486-1211
Email: (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Older Persons Action Group (OPAG) through UAA’s Tech Prep Program (in Anchorage)
Vicki Pohl, UAA Tech Prep Coordinator
Phone: (907) 786-6464
Email: (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Maria Contrears, OPAG
Phone: (907) 276-1059
Email: (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
The Alaska Vocational Technical Center (AVTEC) has an 8-week program that runs throughout the year. It includes 230 hours of classroom, lab skills practice and clinical experience. For more information, contact:
Elyce Boyd, Admissions Recruiter
AVTEC, Allied Health Department
1251 Muldoon Road, Suite 113
Anchorage, AK 99504
Phone: (907) 334-2230
Toll free: (800) 478-5389 option 1
Fax: (907) 334-2237
Web site: http://www.avtec.alaska.edu/CNA-A.htm
Other training programs are available at vocational schools, community colleges, some high schools, and at many facilities that employ Nursing Assistants, such as Providence Extended Care.
Contacts
There does not appear to be a state or national association for Nursing Assistants.
For information on licensing, programs and program requirements, contact:
Alaska Board of Nursing
Robert B. Atwood Building
550 W. 7th Avenue, Suite 1500
Anchorage, AK 99501-3567
Contact: Lisa Maroney, Records & Licensing Supervisor
Phone: (907) 269-8892
Fax: (907) 269-8196
Email: (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Website: http://www.dced.state.ak.us/occ/pnur.htm
Nurse Aide Registry: http://www.commerce.state.ak.us/occ/pnua.htm
This page was last updated by Janice Troyer on June 23, 2009
