Nursing Assistants

Also Called:

Certified Nurses Aide (CNA),

Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA),

Nursing Assistant,

Patient Care Assistant (PCA)

What they do: Provide or assist with basic care or support under the direction of onsite licensed nursing staff. Perform duties such as monitoring of health status, feeding, bathing, dressing, grooming, toileting, or ambulation of patients in a health or nursing facility. May include medication administration and other health-related tasks. Includes nursing care attendants, nursing aides, and nursing attendants.

Healthcare & Human Services icon

Healthcare & Human Services

Career Cluster

What do they typically do on the job?

  • Turn or reposition bedridden patients.
  • Answer patient call signals, signal lights, bells, or intercom systems to determine patients' needs.
  • Feed patients or assist patients to eat or drink.

Personality

People interested in this work like activities that include helping people, teaching, and talking.

Optimism

Sincerity

Empathy

Self-Control

Social Orientation

Cooperation

Interests

Career interests describe the perspectives and interests of people who enjoy the type of work involved in this career.

Discover what your interests are by taking the Interest Profiler Quiz

See Related Jobs

Social

See Related Jobs

Realistic

See Related Jobs

Conventional

Abilities

Whether you have received formal training or not, these types of abilities are helpful in this career.

Verbal

  • Listen and understand what people say

  • Communicate by speaking

Endurance

  • Exercise for a long time without getting out of breath

Skills

People who want to pursue this career have skills in these areas.

Basic Skills

  • Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions

  • Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements

Social

  • Looking for ways to help people

  • Understanding people's reactions

Does this sound like something you'd like to do?

1. Do some research

  • Identify how your interests, values, and strengths match this occupation
  • Talk to someone who works in this field or spend a day job shadowing
  • Use the colleges and training directory to explore programs related to this career

2. Plan your next move

  • Talk to your college and career counselor or school admissions staff
  • Visit Idaho Launch
  • Search for available Nursing Assistants jobs on Idaho Works

Data for NSI career cards comes from the following: Idaho Department of Labor, US Bureau of Labor Statistics, O*NET, MyNextMove, and Career OneStop