What Does a CNA Do? Job Description and Responsibilities

Key Takeaways

A CNA provides direct patient care across settings, assisting with daily activities and ensuring patient comfort. Requirements include a high school diploma, formal training, and state certification through a competency exam. CNAs work in nursing homes, hospitals, and home care, with options to specialize for greater marketability. The median annual salary is $39,530 and varies by location, experience, and skills.

What You'll Do as a CNA

A CNA provides direct care to patients in hospitals, nursing homes, and home care, assisting with essential daily activities including eating, bathing, grooming, and mobility. If you are a compassionate person who enjoys helping others, this role fits. CNAs listen to patients' concerns and ask questions to determine their needs, and in nursing or long-term care facilities a CNA is often a patient's main caregiver. Building personal relationships and improving patients' daily lives makes the work emotionally rewarding.

CNAs also use medical technology like billing software, health information systems, and charting software. Depending on your training, experience, and state regulations, your responsibilities may include administering medications or other specialized tasks. In home care, a CNA often becomes an extension of the patient's family, providing companionship along with personal care; in facilities and hospitals, the responsibilities are similar but more focused, since CNAs care for multiple residents and need to work efficiently.

What a CNA Does

A CNA works under the supervision of a registered nurse or licensed practical nurse on the front line of patient care, and needs strong communication skills to bring patient concerns and issues to a supervisor. CNAs work with patients of all ages and abilities, and the type of patients you care for depends on where you work and what skills you have developed. In nursing homes and private residences, CNAs often work with elderly or disabled patients; in hospitals, they help a more diverse population recovering from illness or surgery.

Responsibilities and duties

A CNA's core job is to meet patients' basic needs, but duties depend on a patient's medical status, the work environment, and what care you are authorized to provide. Core duties include:

• Helping patients with activities of daily living such as bathing, grooming, toileting, eating, and moving.
• Serving meals and helping patients eat, which can include preparing meals and assisting with eating.
• Lifting and moving patients safely into beds, wheelchairs, and onto exam tables, and turning or repositioning bedridden patients to prevent bedsores.
• Taking vital signs (blood pressure, pulse, temperature), recording the findings, and reporting them to a supervisor.
• Maintaining a clean, sanitized environment by changing soiled sheets, cleaning spills, changing bedpans, setting up equipment, and reducing the spread of infection.
• Identifying bruises, blood in urine, and other injuries through daily contact, and reporting them to medical staff.
• Communicating with the healthcare team and family members, serving as the channel between patients and nurses and physicians.
• Providing companionship and comfort to patients who are lonely, frustrated, or scared.

The physical side

Most CNA jobs involve significant physical activity. CNAs spend most of their time on their feet and need to lift patients and equipment safely to protect both the patient and themselves. Proper body mechanics and physical techniques are part of your training, and most states test your ability to move patients and perform specific tasks in the certification exam.

Education

You do not need a college degree to work as a CNA, but you do need a high school diploma or GED and formal training that includes classroom instruction and hands-on clinical work. Requirements vary by state, so take a state-approved program in the state where you plan to work. Training is available at community colleges, vocational and technical schools, and through organizations like the American Red Cross. Some hospitals and nursing homes offer free classes to new employees.

After training, you must be certified and, in some states, licensed. That requires passing a state exam to demonstrate competency and qualify for your state's CNA registry. Your state's governing body, usually the board of nursing or health department, has the exact criteria, and some states require a criminal background check.

Where You Can Work

Nursing assistants make up over one-third of the nursing home workforce, per the BLS. Other top employers include continuing care retirement communities and assisted living facilities, medical and surgical hospitals, and home health care services. Daily duties vary by setting: long-term care and nursing facilities let you care for the same patients over time and build relationships; hospitals run at a faster pace with a broader patient population for shorter stays; and private homes offer more schedule control and independence.

Can CNAs Specialize?

Yes. Earning a specialty or advanced credential can expand your skills and marketability. Experience with conditions like Alzheimer's, dementia, Parkinson's, and diabetes serves you well, especially in facilities, and can put you on a path toward leadership in your area. Options vary by state. Some specialty certifications are awarded by states, but most are overseen by professional organizations that set the education and experience required, such as the medication aide certification from the National Council of State Boards of Nursing and Alzheimer's care certification from the National Board for Alzheimer's Care.

What You Can Earn

The median annual salary for a CNA is $39,530, according to the BLS (Occupational Employment Statistics, 2024). Your actual pay varies with location, experience, specialized skills or certifications, and other factors.

Advancing Your Career

To become an LPN, you complete a one- to two-year training program. To become an RN, you pursue a two-year associate's degree or higher. Bridge programs (CNA-to-LPN or CNA-to-RN) may award credit for your work experience and shorten the timeline. CNA experience also transfers to other roles: with it, you can move into CNA scheduling or administration, or even start your own home care business managing a staff of CNAs.