Seth Manning walks five to seven miles a day, transporting patients to appointments within Hennepin County Medical Center (www.hcmc.org). Whether they are critically ill or there for a routine visit, Manning and about 20 other certified nursing assistants make sure patients reach their destination.

"We help out with transport on and off the elevators and navigation throughout the hospital," he explains. "You get to know a lot of the patients during their course of care."

Manning transports 20 to 25 patients on an average day, and has been doing it for 10 years. He describes his job as a combination of customer service and patient care. "I like it," he says. "It's busy, but I work with good people."

Certified nursing assistants are also important to nursing homes, where they assist residents with feeding, bathing, grooming, toileting, mobility and exercise. They may also take vital signs.

A stepping stone career

Many nursing schools in Minnesota require students to be certified as a nursing assistant before enrolling. To attain that certification, a student must take a course and pass the test required for inclusion on the state Nursing Assistant Registry.

At Inver Hills Community College (www.inverhills.edu), students learn 56 skills needed to care for residents in a long-term care facility, according to Maureen Marshall, RN, faculty member and coordinator of the college's nursing assistant/home health aide program. They must be fluent in English, have basic reading skills and pass a criminal background check. Knowledge of medical terminology is helpful. They also learn about state and federal laws related to patient rights, nursing assistant responsibilities and the care of others. The 96-hour course includes a 24-hour clinical experience in a long-term care setting.

Education includes cultural sensitivity

"We include cultural diversity issues in the program because we care for patients from very diverse backgrounds in healthcare and we want to treat them with respect and dignity, and try to understand their cultural influences," Marshall adds.

The student body is mixed and includes career-changers. "They've decided they're going to do something more to help people. They come into the nursing assistant program to get their start," Marshall says. "From there they might decide, after working awhile, to go into a nursing program."

Advanced education

Minneapolis Community and Technical College (www.minneapolis.edu) enrolls about 600 students a year in its nursing assistant/home health aide program. Its 104-hour program includes 32 hours of clinical experience in a nursing home. MCTC also offers an acute care class for certified nursing assistants that increases their chances of being hired by a hospital, according to Pat Reinhart, RN, a faculty member and program coordinator.

Certified nursing assistants may expect to earn around $12 an hour, according to Reinhart. "I think the job market is still very good for nursing assistants," she says.