Registered Nursing Assistant Career Overview

What reasons are there for becoming a Registered Nursing Assistant?  This profession certainly carries a heavy load.  It can be physically taxing as well as emotionally draining.  Some parts of the job are quite unpleasant.  Patients can be uncooperative and at times unruly or disoriented.  And yet, in 2008 1.5 million people held these types of jobs which are also known as orderlies, attendants, or nursing aides.  Why would so many people choose this profession?  Would you make that choice?  Are there any benefits to this occupation?  Well, there can be.  It’s really up to you.  People can help other people.  However, those who help others should also care for themselves.  Despite all this, most of the 1.5 million who held this job worked full time hours.  Only 24 percent of Nursing Assistants worked part time.  And it is expected that there will be plenty of jobs continuing in this profession.  Statistics show that there is a projected employment growth of 19 percent in this field by the year 2018.

Wages for a Registered Nursing Assistant can be as low as $8.34 an hour or as high $15.97 an hour, while a registered nurse salary is on average closer to $25.00 per hour.  A Nursing Assistant in home health care will make about $10.58 per hour; whereas a general medical or surgical Nursing Assistant at a hospital might earn more like $12.05 per hour.  This type of pay is not bad for someone fresh out of high school who is perhaps considering a medical profession or a job in some other branch of health care.  Being a Registered Nursing Assistant is a good step into healthcare.  It might just be the perfect choice of employment for medical or healthcare students.

What types of things will a Registered Nursing Assistant have to do?  Their patients are usually ones who need long term health care and are often geriatric.  They would have to help such patients to care for themselves.  This might include helping them to bathe or feed themselves.  It might also involve changing bed pans and soiled linens.  The patients can be fussy and uncooperative.  But working so closely with them and performing such basic and yet extremely helpful tasks can also build strong bonds with people.  The Nursing Assistant may find much heartfelt appreciation from certain patients.  The joy that results from that appreciation and the human connections that are formed are a reward in themselves.

All you need to become a Registered Nursing Assistant is 75 hours of state approved training and then pass a formal evaluation.  You can get that training in high school, at a nursing care facility, or at a vocational school.  Community colleges may also offer this training.  You should also check with your state health department to find out if there are any additional requirements  where you live.