Nursing Assistant Career Prep

330 Hours / 12 Months / Self-Paced

Course Overview:

This course is going to be discontinued on June 25th, 2021 due to the impending retirement of the AMCA NAC certification exam.
Potential students are requested to look at the Patient Care Technician course.

Nursing Assistants are important members of the patient care team.  They are directly responsible for providing patients with compassionate care through assistance with daily self-care tasks such as dressing, bathing, and feeding, as well as assistance with diagnostic procedures and general treatments.  This course will provide a comprehensive overview of the nursing assistant profession, with instruction in all areas of patient care, patient management, and body system functions.  Students will learn how to provide daily care to patients, as well as how to assist with technical treatments and basic diagnostic procedures such as vital sign assessment and pain identification.  

This course prepares students to take the Nursing Assistant Certification exam through the American Medical Certification Association (AMCA).  Please note that the individual state requirements may vary.  Students will be responsible to check with their state’s governing body for state specific requirements.

IMPORTANT: AMCA’s Nursing Assistant Certification (NAC) should not be confused with a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA). AMCA’s NAC certification is governed by the AMCA Certification Board. CNA credentials are issued by the state, governed by state boards, and therefore require a state-sanctioned training program and a state certification exam.

Course Outline:

Lesson One: Nursing Assistant Fundamentals

In this lesson, students will learn the core fundamentals that a nursing assistant must follow on a daily basis. This includes good hygiene and grooming, understanding the facility chain of command, and common ethical and legal issues that are often experienced when working in a healthcare facility. The focus of this course places emphasis on long-term care experiences but can be used in virtually any environment.

Lesson Two: Communication and Patient Development

The second lesson of the course focuses on nursing aides understanding common communication skills and challenges they are likely to experience in a healthcare facility. This includes verbal, nonverbal, digital, and non-digital forms of communication. Select communication guidelines are also provided to students so they can handle most situations with the best intentions of all concerned. Finally, this lesson goes into detail on ways to help residents of various backgrounds prosper while in care.

Lesson Three: Safety and Sanitation

Maintaining a healthy, sanitary, and safe environment should always be at the top of a nursing assistant's list. This lesson examines ways to prevent infection and disease while working with patients in long-term care facilities (and others as needed). Safety and body mechanics are also discussed in this lesson as well as emergency care, first aid, and disasters that nursing assistants may face when assisting others.

Lesson Four: Facility Care

The fourth lesson of the course focuses on the facilities nursing assistant often work in. Patients they care for often are not just in one solitary space. They are often transported within or between facilities. Topics covered within this lesson include the admission, transfer, discharge, and physical examination of patients, bedmaking and unit care, proper positioning and listing, and personal care. Students of the course should review procedures in this and other lessons provided by the authors and apply knowledge gained to maximize positive patient outcomes.

Lesson Five: Patient Monitoring

Rounding up the first half of the course is a pair of chapters students will review that focus on tasks nursing assistants are required to do often each time they interact with patients they assist. This includes the proper measurement of vital signs, ensuring fluids are balanced and nutritional needs. These are important concepts to have down flawlessly as they are often indicators of issues that may need to be addressed (immediately or over time).

Lesson Six: Human Body Systems, Part 1

Regardless of the body, there are often 10 major systems that function together like a well-oiled machine. To begin the second half of the course, we begin with the four (4) systems that are affected by others. The gastrointestinal, urinary, reproductive, and integumentary systems are of focus for this lesson. Authors discuss various factors affecting these systems on a day-to-day basis and select guidelines for common irritants each one of these systems provides. This format is duplicated in the following two (2) lessons after this one.

Lesson Seven: Human Body Systems, Part 2

The second lesson on human body systems reviews ones which are ones that help a body function properly day-to-day. These include the circulatory (or cardiovascular), respiratory, and musculoskeletal systems. Common changes and disorders of these systems follow the pattern established in the previous lesson as the authors provide comprehensive knowledge of these critical body systems.

Lesson Eight: Human Body Systems, Part 3

The third and final lesson on human body systems concludes the set of 10 that nursing assistants will need to have knowledge about in order to assist their patients as best as possible. Systems of focus provided to students by the authors here include the nervous system, endocrine system, and the immune and lymphatic systems. Conclusive to this part of the course, students having the foundational knowledge of the human body as a whole can go a great length to ensure that patients are provided with the best care possible and most successful outcomes for long-term goals.

Lesson Nine: Patient Care Fundamentals

Long-term patient care can take on many forms and include some that are temporary in nature as they progress in age. For example, as mentioned by the authors, rehabilitation and restorative care is a good example of that. Students will also gain knowledge about the fundaments of subacute care and end-of-life care. It is important to stress that staff is influenced just as much as family members and significant others when a patient passes on. Thus, having knowledge of different types of care will ensure that patients are assisted as best as possible for as long as they're able to be around.

Lesson Ten: Career Opportunities As A Nursing Assistant

In the final lesson of the course, you will learn about the nursing assistant job search process. You will learn about the different career options available to healthcare professionals wanting to go into the field. Students will also learn how to secure and maintain employment. Upon completion of this lesson, you will have a thorough understanding of how to pursue and maintain employment as a nursing assistant.

All necessary materials are included.

Certification(s):

This course prepares students to take the Nursing Assistant Certification exam through the American Medical Certification Association (AMCA).  Please note that the individual state requirements may vary.  Students will be responsible to check with their state’s governing body for state specific requirements.


System Requirements:

System Requirements:

Internet Connectivity Requirements:
  • Cable and DSL internet connections are recommended for the best experience.
Hardware Requirements:
  • CPU: 1 GHz or higher
  • RAM: 2 GB or higher
  • Resolution: 1280 x 720 or higher
  • Speakers / Headphones
  • Microphone (Webinar / Live Online sessions)
Operating System Requirements:
  • Microsoft Windows 7 or 10 (Home, Pro)
  • Mac OSX 10 or higher.
  • Latest Chrome OS
  • Latest Linux Distributions

NOTE: While we understand that our courses can be viewed on Android and iPhone devices, we do not recommend the use of these devices for our courses. The size of these devices do not provide a good learning environment for students taking online or live online based courses.

Web Browser Requirements:
  • Latest Google Chrome is recommended for the best experience.
  • Latest Mozilla FireFox
  • Latest Microsoft Edge
  • Latest Apple Safari
Basic Software Requirements (These are recommendations of software to use):
  • Office suite software (Microsoft Office, OpenOffice, or LibreOffice)
  • PDF reader program (Adobe Reader, FoxIt)
  • Courses may require other software that is denoted in the above course outline.