4CNAs The Online Magazine
for Certified Nursing Assistants
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The Subject Areas Covered by the Certified Nursing Assistant Course
By Elijah James

The certified nursing assistant course is a 6 to 12-week course that teaches about the fundamental responsibilities of a nursing assistant. The course is divided into different components like lectures, skills training and hands-on training in hospitals. To supplement the lessons that the students have learned from their lectures, they will also be given the opportunity to put their knowledge into practice by training at different hospitals. Enumerated below are a few of the subject areas that comprise the certified nursing assistant course.
Nutrition
The course teaches on the subject of nutrition because an assistant is responsible for making sure that the patient has a diet that meets his daily nutritional needs. One of the tasks of the assistant is the serving and feeding of food to the patients so it is important for him to know the nutritional value of the food that he is giving to the patient. Classes on nutrition will teach the aspiring assistants the necessary skills to make sure that the patient has a healthy and well-balanced diet. The diet of the patient is a very important factor for his recovery.
Human Anatomy
The course teaches about anatomy so that the students can familiarize themselves with the structure of the human body. This is very important because in dealing with patients, an assistant must be able to know the body parts that are affected by the health condition of each patient. With some background knowledge on anatomy, an assistant can effectively provide the needs of the patient.
Communication Skills
This subject area of the certified assistant course is not clinical but it is very important because the assistant is often the one who is in direct contact with the patient. An effective assistant has to possess the necessary skills needed to be able to communicate with the patient. Great communication skills will make sure that the patient understands the assistant clearly and vice versa. A patient cannot convey his needs if the nursing assistant cannot communicate well.
Basic CPR
A nursing assistant has to be able to perform CPR when the need arises. In emergency situations, a nursing assistant may be required to give CPR to the patient. The skills of the nursing assistant in performing CPR could mean the life or death of a patient. This is a very important skill to be learned in the certified nursing assistant training.