CNA Certification in New Jersey

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To earn the respect of Certified Nursing Aide in New Jersey, aspirants must take the approved training program and pass the competency exam. The Department of health and Senior Services administers the process of CNA certification, and also administers the state’s registry. PSI Services are hired by the group to conduct and grade the examination.

Eligibility Requirements

Candidates who wish to work as a professional nursing aide in the state, must qualifying the eligibility requirements before applying for the CNA training and testing. Requirements are as follows:

  • Minimum age of candidates must be 18 years or above;
  • They must possess the proof of High School Diploma or equivalent GED;
  • They must take a complete physical test, including TB (Tuberculosis) testing and drug screening;
  • They must provide the proof of all essential immunizations that include vaccinations of the ‘Hepatitis B’ series.

How to Apply

Aspirants, who qualify to enrol in the training program, must check first whether they need to take the training course or not. Following are those exceptional individuals who can skip the nursing aide training:

  • Reciprocity candidates and they must be in good standing;
  • Graduate nurses or student nurses;
  • New Personal Care Assistants (PCA);
  • Military nurse aides; or
  • Lapsed CNAs, who are not in the state’s registry for over 5 years.

Those who have not taken any formal CNA training or not done any nursing assistant related work ever, are required to enrol in the New Jersey’s approved training course.
The state’s Department of Health provides a complete list of the approved programs, obtainable at- http://www.state.nj.us/.

Training involves 90 hours, split between clinical learning of 40 hours and classroom lectures of 50 hours. After completing the mandatory hours, candidates register for the testing. Examination form and fees are submitted to PSI. There are sections in the exam- written and skill testing. Skill testing is required to be qualified first to appear for the written test.

Fees

The price to take the CNA training in the state varies but it usually falls in the range between $ 800 and $ 1000. There are additional expenses on test fees and books.
Testing fees are as follows:

Oral and Skills Spanish/English: $ 93
Skills and Written: $78
Oral retake: $ 68
Written retake: $ 53
Skills exam retake: $ 25

Under the Federal Law, students who got offer or work in a Medicaid approved skilled nursing facility; need not to bear the training and testing related expenses. Their employers meet their expenses.

Certificate Renewal

The expiry period of the license is 2 years. License can be renewed only if the current CNA licence is in good standing and nursing assistants got a paid working experience of minimum 7 hours in the past 2 years. Along with this, their criminal background check needs to be updated.

Must Know Facts

  • Candidates cannot retake failed examination on the same day.
  • Candidates must qualify both the sections of the competency examination within 2 years of the completion of the CNA training course. If they are unable to do so, then re-taking the training is the only way to apply for the exam again.

Candidates get 3 attempts to qualify both the section of the exam (skill and written test). If candidates fail, they need to attain the training course all over again to apply for the exam.