2 courses over 4 weeks prepares students to sit for the NM Department of Health C.N.A. certification exam
If you are someone who enjoys helping others becoming a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) is the right path for you!
Certified Nursing Assistants provide basic quality-of-life needs for patients in hospitals, residential nursing care facilities, and outpatient clinics. Nursing assistants fulfill a variety of duties including daily contact with patients, and the gathering of vital information about the conditions as well as the transmittal of vital information reading a patient’s conditions to the RNs and LPNs.
Certified Nursing Assistant (C.N.A.) courses are offered at the Mimbres Learning Center in Deming and the main campus of WNMU in Silver City.
The two courses (CNA106 and CNA107) have a cost of about $1650.00. For more information about tuition costs visit this page. Tuition assistance programs are available through the New Mexico Workforce Connection.
The clinical rotation for the Silver City campus is currently at Fort Bayard Medical Center.
The New Mexico Workforce Connection offices have a tuition assistance program for the Certified Nursing Assistant courses. You can contact them at the following to see if you qualify for any of the assistance programs:
Deming (575) 546-0192
Silver City (575) 538-3737
The demand for CNAs is high, especially among those institutions that provide continuing care and assisted living for the elderly population. Many health care facilities recognize the vital role that a competent and compassionate CNA can provide in the quality of care offered to its patients. Please feel free to look through the rest of the website to learn how you can enroll in CNA classes today.
Nursing assistants have wonderful opportunities in a wide variety of settings and with all different kinds of people of all ages. Some of the places that nursing assistants can work include:
Hospitals in the community provide a number of inpatient services for patients. Most have emergency rooms, intensive care units, pediatrics, medical areas, operating rooms, surgical units, and obstetrics. Specialty hospitals may also have areas for burn patients, severe trauma, like auto accidents, and organ transplants. Many hospitals have CNAs working in all of these areas; others do not have CNAs in the emergency or intensive care areas.
Rehab (ilitation) centers provide care to people who need physical therapy, mental or substance abuse help, or medical care that can be provided outside of a hospital. CNAs can perform their role in all types of rehab centers.
Sub-acute care centers have risen up in recent years to care for patients who are recovering from an acute problem, illness, or surgery and no longer need hospital care, but are not yet ready to return to their homes. Again, CNAs play an important role in these settings.
CNAs also work in for home care agencies as they provide services to patients in their own home or apartment. Most of these patients are elderly, but some can also be children. For example, many elderly people want home care in order to stay in their own home despite the fact that they need help with their activities of daily living (ADLs) and health state monitoring for a long term illness like heart disease. Likewise, a child or teenager with a long term problem and needs, such as a breathing machine (ventilator), can get good care in the comfort of their home with the help of a CNA and a nurse. CNAs, in the home, perform not only physical direct care to the patient, but also indirect care services like housekeeping and running errands.
There are many different types of group homes that employ CNAs. Orphanages with sick babies and children, group homes for children with special needs or birth defects, drug rehab group homes, and homes for adults and children with a problem that they were born with are all examples of group homes.
Assisted living homes are mostly occupied by the elderly who need some degree of assistance with their activities of daily living (ADLs) and do NOT have any severe health problems, although younger people with the same needs can elect to have this kind of living. Laundry is done for the residents; meals are prepared and served; activities and recreation are provided; cleaning is done for the resident; and transportation to doctors’ appointments, shopping. etc. is also done for the resident. CNAs give these residents the assistance that they need, as well as companionship that enhances their life to maintain a good quality of life.
Nursing homes are also referred to as long term care and skilled nursing facilities. When a person needs more help, or is too ill, for an assisted living home, they enter into a long term care facility, or nursing home. As stated before, a nursing assistant must be a CNA to work in a nursing home. Many of these patients have problems like a stroke or Alzheimer’s disease.
Doctors’ offices also employ nursing assistants. The CNA may take the patient’s vital signs (temperature, respiration, blood pressure, and pulse), take the patient’s height and weight, schedule appointments, and help the patient to fill out their paperwork in a doctor’s office.
CNAs also have wonderful opportunities in outpatient medical and surgical offices. Outpatient medical offices are also called walk-in clinics. These clinics have opened up to decrease the need for emergency room visits when the patient cannot see their own doctor for an urgent need and to meet the ongoing needs of families in terms of physical exams, immunizations, and other routine care. Outpatient surgical areas do all kinds of surgery when it is NOT expected that the person will have to stay in the hospital to recover.
Schools also offer great jobs for CNAs, especially if the school has children with special needs. Many CNAs enjoy these jobs because the work hours closely match the school hours of their children and they enjoy working with children.
Hospices provide care to patients who are terminally ill and at the end of life. CNAs provide comfort to these patients and their family members as they help the nurse lessen some of the physical problems at the end of life. Some of these problems include nausea, lack of hunger, and emotional needs.
Respite is a type of care that gives caregivers “time off” from the stress of giving care to a patient in the home. More and more children, sisters, brothers, and parents give 24/7 care for ill family members, so respite care has become more popular. Respite care gives the caregiving family members time off to relax and enjoy themselves.
Nursing assistants do a lot of different things as they care for the patient. They do direct and indirect care for the patient.
Many of these direct care CNA tasks include what are referred to as activities of daily living (ADLs). Some of the ADLs include bathing, grooming, eating and help with walking. You will learn how to do all of these skills while you are studying to become a CNA.
CNAs are sometimes the only people who have daily and regular contact with the patient so their friendly, supportive companionship is of vital importance. Companionship includes encouraging social interaction with family and friends, reading to the person, playing board games and/or card games, watching television together, and undertaking activities outdoors if the patient can do so. Many older people may become very isolated, depressed and withdrawn. The CNA helps to avoid these problems as they provide companionship and enjoyable leisure activities.
CNAs may also be asked to act as a personal assistant to their patient. In this role, they may answer the phone, make phone calls for the person, greet visitors, and buy groceries, and other items using a petty cash fund that is strictly accounted for.
CNAs and other types of nurses are the single fastest growing career opportunity in the country. Working as a nurse provides excellent salaries, good benefits, a challenging work environment, and the opportunity to make a difference in thousands of lives within your community.
Phone: (575) 538-6286
Email: appliedtech@wnmu.edu
