Reading Skills for Healthcare Workers

As a child, Amina remembers helping to take care of her grandmother. Her grandmother had a hard time talking and walking. Ever since she was a child, Amina has wanted to help elderly people like her grandmother. Today, Amina is taking a class to learn about jobs in healthcare.

During the first class, Amina learns about nursing assistants. Nursing assistants provide basic nursing care. For example, nursing assistants help people go to the bathroom, get dressed, eat, and brush their teeth. These are things Amina helped her grandmother do.

Amina also learns that nursing assistants work in many different healthcare settings. They work in hospitals, nursing homes or long-term care facilities, and even in a sick person’s home.

In the United States, working as a nursing assistant is often the first step to becoming a nurse or RN (Registered Nurse). The RN supervises nursing assistants.

To become a nursing assistant, students must complete at least 75 hours of classroom training. In the class, a nurse will teach students a variety of hands-on skills. For example, students will learn how to safely transfer a person from a bed to a wheelchair. After students complete the class, they’ll practice these skills in a supervised health-care setting such as a nursing home. Then, they will need to take a test. The test is two parts: a multiple-choice written test and a skills test.

If Amina takes a class and passes the test, she’ll become a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA). Then, she can look for a job. Amina will be one step closer to her dream of one day working as a nurse.