CNA Study Guide

The CNA Training Help study guide is the most comprehensive online resource for those who are about to challenge the CNA certification exam. You will find everything you need to successfully master both the written and skills part of the exam on this page. We’ve got videos, practice tests and detailed study guides for the written part of the exam as well. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to comment below or on the individual skill/study guide pages. We’ll try and get back to you as soon as possible.

Contents

CNA Skills Videos and Examiners Checklist
CNA Written Exam Study Guide
CNA Practice Tests

CNA Skills Help

As part of your exam, you will be asked to efficiently demonstrate at least 5 skills in front of the examiner. Each skill has a video demonstration as well as an examiners checklist.

Click here to access the CNA skills Guide

Additional Reading

Tips for Mastering the Skills Portion of Your CNA Test

The Written Exam

The CNA written test consists of multiple choice questions that are designed to test your knowledge of how to properly administer care to patients.

The number of written questions on the exam varies from state to state, but is usually no more than 70 questions. The written test is also offered in an oral format for students who may have reading difficulties, or consider English as their second language.

The following sections outline the topics that are comprehensively detailed in the eight chapters of the on-line study guide. Each chapter has individual links for each topic.  We have also added a set of QNA’s at the end of each sub chapter to test your knowledge of the topic covered.

Environmental Needs Of The Resident

First and foremost, your patient’s personal cleanliness and safety are of the up most importance. This section will describe in comprehensive detail the proper method to bathe and care for patients. The chapter explains the correct way to make a patient’s bed and how to efficiently transfer the patient from the bed to a gurney or wheelchair.

You will also learn important issues regarding patient privacy and how to effectively provide for their comfort by arranging the living space area. Personal space in nursing homes and hospital settings is at the foundation of patient comfort and contributes immeasurably to a patient’s sense of well being. These issues are discussed in detail in this chapter.

Proper protocol regarding noise needs to be understood by prospective CNAs. In hospitals and nursing homes patients often reside in close quarter situations. In this capacity, noise abatement is necessary for the well-being of patients. This section will discuss ways in which you can minimize noise in your setting.

Another concern for patients is adequate lighting in a their room. This is essential, particularly in settings involving the elderly. Sufficient lighting will help to prevent falls and can improve the patient’s living situation. Something as simple as opening the blinds in a patient’s room can sometimes lighten their mood.

Detailed Reading For This Chapter

1. Cleanliness and Safety
2. Living Space, Personal Space and Privacy
3. Noise and Lighting

Communication Skills

According to the US National Library of Medicine, all nursing education schools should encompass training on how to be an effective communicator. Patient communication is vital to the success of the CNA.

This chapter will teach you the fine points of communication in both verbal and nonverbal applications. You will learn how to properly address patients and how to carry yourself professionally in a medical environment.

Additionally, in the medical setting all written communication such as shift reports, incident reports and charting must be done competently. This chapter explains how to document your daily care giving activities in a clear and concise manner. It also provides a convenient list of abbreviations that are frequently used by healthcare professionals.

Detailed Reading For This Chapter

1. Patient Interaction
2. Receiving Assignments
3. Effective Reporting

Physical Needs Of The Resident

A CNA needs to be able to confidently assess a wide variety of physical needs of the patient. Providing for patient’s hygiene is undoubtedly one of the most important factors in caring for the sick and elderly. This chapter discusses specific procedures such as helping patients brush their teeth, moving them to the shower, bathing patients and shampooing their hair. Safety concerns are also highlighted for the aforementioned activities.

The human body needs to move to stay healthy. Immobility restricts circulation and can cause a whole host of other physical problems. Read this section to learn how to address these issues and how to assist with range of motion (ROM) movements and exercises. The effect of ROM exercises both in and out of bed are discussed in this lesson.

Proper nutrition is an important aspect of patient care. Food is one of the basic human needs. A qualified CNA should strive to be a source of nutritional information for patients. You can do this by carefully reporting your patient’s intake of food. This will help keep the nursing staff informed. Responsible food choices can go a long way to improving the patient’s health.

Prospective CNAs will be tested on the reasons why some patients become malnourished. This lesson defines these issues as mechanical, psychosocial and cultural. To better understand the roadblocks to healthy nutrition, study each section of this chapter. This information will assist you during the CNA test and will be invaluable during your career.

Detailed Reading For This Chapter

1. Hygiene
2. Physical Activity
3. Nutrition

Psychosocial Needs Of The Resident

Along with accurately assessing the patient’s physical symptoms, CNAs must be able to understand basic human emotions. The objective of this chapter is to define critical psychosocial needs of the patient.

Being able to empathize with the patient will build rapport. Sometimes patients just want someone to understand their pain and take the time to listen to their complaints. This is where empathy comes in. Learn how to help your patient by understanding their situation.

University of Chicago neuroscientists conducted a study which revealed that loneliness and isolation can be directly related to sickness. Loneliness needs to be understood in the medical community, particularly in nursing homes. This chapter provides the CNA student with simple, yet effective techniques to help create a social environment for the patient.

The dignity of patients is also discussed at length in this lesson. Being sick in a hospital or nursing home is a humbling experience. Patients often feel helpless, due to the fact they can’t be in control of their pain or sickness. This feeling can sometimes manifest into fear and anger. A qualified CNA will be able to recognize this emotion and respond to it with kindness and understanding. This will help the patient to experience less stress and anxiety.

Detailed Reading For This Chapter

1. Dignity
2. Empathy
3. Socialization

Role Of The Nurse’s Aide

In this section of the study guide, you will be presented with a step-by-step method regarding how to interact with patients. Your relationship with the patient will depend on the quality of your bedside manner. Effective communication with your patient will open the door to a successful interaction. As a professional CNA, take the time to become well-versed in therapeutic communication.

The second part of this chapter will help you to improve time management skills. When you enter the medical environment, you will quickly experience how fast-paced and challenging some days can be. During stressful times, organization can be your foundation to success and can enable you to cope with handling several duties at one time.

The closing section in this chapter deals with privacy and discretion. In your role as a nurse’s aide, make sure your patient care plan covers these often overlooked basic rights of the patient. These rights include safekeeping of patient’s heath related issues, property, confidential information and medical records.

Moreover, to preserve your career, know what information you can and cannot release without proper authorization. This important lesson plan covers your legal obligations as a CNA.

Detailed Reading For This Chapter

1. Interacting With Patients
2. Time Management
3. Privacy and Discretion

Resident’s Rights

The Federal Nursing Reform Act, also known as the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (OBRA) was enacted to improve the overall quality of nursing homes throughout the country. Questions regarding this act will be covered during the CNA exam. This chapter of the on-line study guide provides meticulous details on the scope and provision of this legislation.

OBRA also mandates certain qualifications and competencies that every CNA must meet prior to being employed in their respective state. The State Boards of Nursing in the CNAs state of employment dictates specific hours of classroom and practical experience that each nursing student must complete prior to employment.

As part of the quality of care improvement program, ombudsman programs were also developed in nursing homes. The goal of these programs was to preserve the well-being of nursing home residents. This section talks about the role of the ombudsman in nursing homes as well as specific rights that are inherent to each resident.

The closing section of this chapter covers neglect and abuse. This has been an unfortunate and tragic reality in some nursing homes. A recent study revealed that almost 44% of nursing home residents have suffered from abuse or had been treated roughly by staff. You can be part of the solution to change this heartbreaking statistic.

As a responsible CNA you will need to know the warning signs of neglect and abuse, types of abuse and what to do should you encounter a case of neglect or abuse in your place of employment.

Detailed Reading For This Chapter

1. OBRA
2. Ombudsman
3. Neglect and Abuse

Infection Control

Infection is a serious concern in the medical community. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are 4.5 hospital infections for every 100 patient admissions and nearly 100,000 deaths caused by hospital infection.

This chapter of the CNA study guide discusses the types of organisms that can cause infection. It also focuses on the hospital population that is most susceptible to the spread of infection.

Nurse’s aides will know the various germs that can be harmful to the patient. This section explains the different types of infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, fungi and protozoa.

In this chapter, you also learn about the chain of infection. This will help the nurse’s aide to identify the six links of the infection chain. When a CNA can properly identify the causes of infection, it will be easier to disrupt a link in the infection chain. This will ultimately help to prevent the spread of infection.

This chapter regarding infection control also discusses general guidelines for preventing infections. A comprehensive list of techniques on how to prevent the spread of infection is provided for your review.

The chapter concludes with a section explaining the correct way to educate patients and family members about the proper procedures that need to be followed in a healthcare setting.

Detailed Reading For This Chapter

1. Infection Introduction
2. Infection Control

Special Care Procedures

Whether working in a hospital, nursing, home or other medical care facility, certified nurse’s assistants will be responsible for taking care of patients in a variety of settings. This chapter discusses different environments in which CNAs will be exposed to during their careers.

Nurse’s aides will certainly be exposed to dying patients during their careers. This section details the type of care that needs to be administered to these patients. You will learn the definition of palliative care. In this section you will also learn how to comfort and help relieve physical and emotional pain of the dying patient.

CNAs can also be assigned to medical/surgical floors and in this capacity will need to know the proper procedures to care for the surgical patient. These patients will have their own unique set of issues that you need to be aware of. Along with her primary duties, you must know what to look out for in these patients and how to accurately communicate the patient’s needs to the nursing staff.

This chapter will also explain how to care for the emotionally stressed patient. Being able to recognize basic human emotions and how to effectively cope with patient’s fears, anxieties and frustrations will dramatically help in the overall care of the patient.

The last section of the chapter talks about CNAs that are charged with the care of the elderly and chronically ill patients. On many occasions, CNAs and nursing homes will encounter both these scenarios. In this section, you will learn about the general atmosphere and duties involved in nursing home facility. A qualified nurse’s assistant will be able to provide physical care for these patients, while also addressing the emotional needs of these long-term patients.

Detailed Reading For This Chapter

1. Care of the Elderly and Chronically Sick
2. Caring for the Emotionally Stressed Patient
3. Caring for the Surgical Patient
4. Death and Dying

Additional Reading

Passing The Written Portion Of Your CNA Test

Practice Tests

We have a range of practice tests, developed in house as well as collected from various external websites.

Click here to access the free CNA practice tests

Suggestions

This is a collaborative effort. If you have any suggestions on improving the information in this study guide, feel free to drop us an email at admin (at) cnatraininghelp.com or using the comment form on the Contact Us page.

Study Guide Authors

Kathryn Goldyn MD
Denise Warren BSN