HOW TO BECOME CERTIFIED AS:
- CERTIFIED NURSE AIDE (CNA)
You can follow several pathways to become a Certified Nurse Aide in the State of Oklahoma. Some of these pathways require training, training exemption through a waiver, or training and testing exemption through a waiver. Please note that the State requires that you take and pass the Competency Examination. You have three attempts to pass the Competency Examination, failure to which you must retrain and have another three sets of attempts. Once you pass, you are listed on the Oklahoma Nurse Aide Registry website. It is important to know that the CNA Competency Examination is a two-part exam where you must take the Knowledge (written/Oral) Exam and achieve at least 70%, and Clinical Skills, where you must achieve at least 80% to pass. You must pass both parts in order to be listed on the Oklahoma Nurse Aide Registry website. Note that you are only required to retake the part that you failed. These pathways include:
- Completing Training Program: This is the most common and best pathway to become a Certified Nurse Aide in Oklahoma. In this pathway, you enroll in one of the approved Training Programs in Oklahoma, where you are required to attend and successfully complete at least 75 clock hours of training. The training is broken into theoretical learning, skills lab, and clinicals in Long-Term Care facilities. It is important to note that the rule requires you to attend and complete at least 75 clock hours, of which 16 must be clinical learning in a Long-Term care facility such as a nursing Home. Once you complete your CNA training, you are issued a Training Verification Form (ODH FORM 733) by your Training Program/ School/ Facility, which approves your eligibility to take the CNA Competency Examination up to three attempts.
- Training Exception Application: If you have attended LPN or RN Nursing School and completed Fundamentals or Foundations of Nursing with a passing grade, the Oklahoma State Department of Health Nurse Aide Registry shall grant an exception to the nurse aide training requirements and approve your eligibility to take the Competency Examination for to Long- Term Care Aides (CNA) and Home Health Aide without training provided you meet the following criteria:
- Fill out and submit the TRAINING EXCEPTION APPLICATION FORM (ODH FORM 832).
- Submit a copy of your official transcript documenting classroom and clinical training equal to or greater than the classroom and clinical training requirements for a CNA.
- Affirmation and Oath of Truthfulness Attachment
- Training and Competency Examination Waiver for USA Trained LPNs and RNs: If you are a graduate of an approved practical or registered nurse program located in the United States, you may apply for a waiver to be placed on the Nurse Aide Registry without training and taking the CNA Competency Examination by filling and submitting the Nurse Aide Training and Competency Evaluation Program Waiver Application (ODH FORM 844), provided you submit all the information specified on the Department’s Nurse Aide Training and Competency Evaluation Program Waiver Application (ODH Form 844), which requires the following:
- Foreign Trained LPNs and RNs Training Waiver: If you have completed an LPN or RN school in a foreign country and you are waiting to take your NCLEX exam, or you have taken NCLEX and failed, you can fill out and submit the FOREIGN GRADUATE TRAINING EXCEPTION APPLICATION (ODH FORM 843), to request a waiver for the training requirement and grant you eligibility to take the CNA Competency Examination. You must meet the following:
- Nurse Aide Training and Competency Evaluation Program Form and submit it to the Oklahoma State Department of Health, Nurse Aide Registry to request approval to be eligible to take the CNA Competency Examination without going through and completing the CNA course at an approved Training Program.
- Reciprocity Application: If you are certified or licensed as a CNA in another state, you can fill out the Reciprocity Application form on the Oklahoma Nurse Aide Registry website and request the department to move your CNA certification to the Nurse Aide Registry.
- Deeming Method: If you are certified as a Home Health Aide, you can fill out the Home Health Aide deemed to Long Term Care Aide (ODH Form 755) to request the Oklahoma Nurse Aide Registry to waive the Long Term Care training requirement.