What Can You Do With a CNA Certification?

CNAs can work in various healthcare settings. It depends on your interests. If you want to transfer over to a nursing career, consider an area of care where you want to work later as a nurse. 

Suppose you want to work in a hospital. In that case, you could work in a medical/surgical unit, an emergency room, or an intensive care unit. Since the hospital is a more acute setting, there’ll be a higher turnover of people needing care.

The requirements of each hospital will be a little different. So while looking for a job, ask about the qualifications for working in a specialized unit. 

For example, a hospital might require you to work in the medical/surgical unit for a year before working in the emergency department. Such requirements are to help you get clinical experience.

Suppose you’re interested in working with geriatric patients. In that case, you could work in a nursing home or an assisted living facility. You could even focus your work on helping people with long-term disabilities or handicaps. 

Working at these facilities allows you to build long-term connections with residents, which can be pretty rewarding.