Essential CNA Skills to Level Up Your Career

Date Published: September 30, 2024

Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs) play a crucial role in the healthcare team by assisting with daily activities, monitoring patient health, and providing emotional support. Choosing the CNA profession means you’ll provide quality care and support to patients in a healthcare setting.

Being a CNA is not just an important career, it's also incredibly rewarding. As the demand for healthcare services grows, CNAs are in an increasing significance.

To be successful in this rewarding career, you must possess a range of skills, including skills taught in CNA classes, as well as additional skills and traits that are covered in career-adjacent courses and real-world clinical experience. Continue reading below to find a CNA skills list that will help you in your career and help you prepare for the skills test portion of the CNA exam.

CNA Skills for Your Resume

You can learn hard skills through classes and on the job experience. These include:

• Clinical Skills/Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) - Knowing how to conduct clinical skills like taking vital signs, administering oral and denture care, offering feeding assistance, toileting and bedpan assistance, and light housekeeping. Following specialized care and management plans can also be a large part of your job as a CNA. You may also be responsible for patient hygiene and mobility, as well as assisting with medical equipment.
• First Aid and CPR (Basic Life Support) - Many CNA jobs require cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) with automated external defibrillator (AED) certifications. Most organizations require Basic Life Support (BLS) training, which allows you to recognize and act when there are signs respiratory arrest, cardiac arrest, or obstructed airways.
• Bloodborne Pathogens Training – as a CNA, you may be exposed to bloodborne pathogens (BBPs) and other bodily fluids in the workplace. You should know how BBPs are spread, how to avoid exposure, and what to do if you are exposed. This training is required annually by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for anyone who may be exposed to blood or other potentially infectious materials.
• Emergency Response and Crisis Management - CNAs should know how to recognize and respond to medical emergencies in their practice settings. Learning about emergency response and crisis management can be a valuable skill and could open up opportunities for your CNA career.
• Charting/Record-keeping - Keeping detailed and up-to-date medical charts allow doctors and nurses to provide the best care to patients. CNAs are often in charge of keeping records about patients. This includes writing down things like the treatment the patient received, when they received it, and how they reacted.
• Medical Terminology - Knowledge of infections, conditions, and the general terminology used by medical professionals is an essential skill for CNAs. These skills show you can follow safety protocols to protect yourself and others from infection.
• Administrative Skills - As a CNA, you may be tasked to cover administrative duties — like filing paperwork, answering inquiries, or responding to calls.

Soft skills also support your job performance. You can learn soft skills through education and experience, but they can also be linked to your habits. These include:

• Critical Thinking & Problem Solving - CNAs should be able to use critical thinking skills to identify and address issues with their patients. You may need to find ways to alleviate discomfort or determine if there are changes to a patient’s condition that need to be brought to the attention of a charge nurse or doctor.
• Communication Skills - You’ll also want good communication skills since you’ll communicate with other members of the healthcare team and patients in your care. CNAs sometimes need to explain things verbally or communicate by writing, making both skills essential.
• Attention to Detail - It’s often up to a CNA to notice a slight change in a patient and alert others on their medical team. They must be able to record important information about the patient, such as their pulse or blood pressure, regularly. They must also observe the patients and look for signs of any changes.
• Interpersonal Skills - A big part of being a CNA is interacting with patients. You’ll be looking after your patients when they’re at their most vulnerable. Knowing how to interact with and treat them respectfully is vital to the CNA job. This requires good interpersonal skills which allow you to connect with your patients and make them feel more at ease. Additional interpersonal skills include conflict resolution, compassion, empathy, and adaptability.

How Do You Describe CNA Skills on a Resume?

Your CNA resume will be packed with skills! Every section will present different qualifications. So, how do you decide what CNA skills for to include and where to write it down on your resume?

• Career statement: Your career statement should highlight your strongest job-relevant CNA skills and your years of experience. Add something that makes you unique like special certifications or achievements.
• Skills section: Focus on your most relevant hard skills and include two or three soft skills. When possible, match your skills to the CNA skills list in the job description.
• Work experience: This section should illustrate your measurable accomplishments—like the number of patients assisted per shift or maintaining accurate documentation. You can also include examples of soft skills used in your previous roles.

As you describe CNA skills for your resume, focus on using action verbs. Action verbs are powerful and help your resume stand out by conveying a sense of competency and highlighting your achievements.

Examples of action verbs relevant to CNA skills include:

• Administered
• Assisted
• Documented
• Evaluated
• Monitored

What are the qualities of a good CNA?

Success in any healthcare role requires many skills, and a CNA career is no different. Aside from your hard and soft skills, the qualities of a good CNA include patience, flexibility, and optimism.

• Patience: is a must-have CNA skill because nursing assistants provide constant comfort and care. For example, sick patients may be irritable, and elderly patients may be confused or suspicious of their environment and those helping them. Being patient enables you to provide care without intensifying a challenging situation.
• Flexibility: A method or care approach that works for one patient may not work for another, so CNAs must rely on their creativity and flexibility to adapt to ever-shifting personalities and priorities. Remaining flexible, professional, and on-task no matter what comes up is an essential trait for CNAs.
• Optimism: CNAs inevitably encounter difficult, sometimes negative situations. However, it’s important to stay enthusiastic and positive. This optimism radiates to patients and coworkers and helps foster a healthy and happy environment. Plus, being optimistic as a CNA can contribute to good mental health and decrease workplace burnout.

CNA vs. First Aid Training

While individuals with first aid training may not pursue a specific career solely based on their training, the skills acquired can be valuable in various professions, including your career as a CNA.

First aid training equips you to make quick decisions and assist those in need — empowering you to save lives. Knowing first aid as a CNA is vital. CNAs may be among the first responders during a medical emergency, and being prepared to react promotes confidence and quick decision-making and increases the ability to stabilize a victim.

The difference between CNA and first aid training is the scope of practice. CNAs have a broader scope of practice than individuals with first aid training. CNAs are trained to provide more comprehensive patient care than first aid providers, including personal hygiene, feeding, administering medications, and monitoring vital signs.

Classes for CNAs

Being a CNA is a rewarding profession that requires you to stay up to date with training and education. American Red Cross Training Services offer a variety of courses you can take to enhance your CNA skills including:

• Basic Life Support (BLS): Learn single-and multiple-responder CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) and AED (automatic external defibrillator) use, as well as how to care for a patient who is choking. This includes CPR for Healthcare Providers which trains professional-level rescuers to respond to breathing and cardiac emergencies in adults, children, and infants until more advanced medical personnel take over.

Note: After careful consideration, the American Red Cross has decided to discontinue its Nurse Assistant Training (NAT) program. No Red Cross NAT course will be scheduled after December 31, 2023. However, we still have helpful information to share, as well as other Red Cross training opportunities to offer, that will enhance your career in this growing healthcare field!