It’s an exciting time at Trinity Health and for those who are looking to make an impact in the field of healthcare, as Trinity Health received approval from the North Dakota Department of Health to teach a state-approved CNA training course.

Previously, Trinity Health administered a challenge test for the hospital-based CNA training program. The challenge test was the same test administered to certify all North Dakota CNAs. However, earlier this year, the state announced it was no longer recognizing that as a proper assessment of competency regarding CNAs and it was time to pivot to continue educating and training the future of healthcare.

Leann Stenvold, CNA Educator with Trinity Health, saw this change and worked hard to mirror the previous class content with what was required for a state-approved course. With the eventual goal of having a state-approved course, Stenvold also focused on ensuring the necessary paperwork was submitted before the end of the challenge testing era.

“We are super excited that our program received certification. It will help the CNAs be more prepared when they go to the nursing units because I get to spend more time with them than I did in the past. I will have them for three weeks instead of previously having them for two weeks,” Stenvold said.

The extra time is a significant benefit to the students, giving Stenvold the time needed to allow the students more time to absorb the information before moving on to a new chapter of coursework. Another major benefit involves the ability of the students to have more hands-on experience, which was not allowed in the previous course.

“With the past class, the CNA trainees could only job shadow, so they couldn’t be hands-on. Now that the program is certified, the training can be termed as clinicals, and the students can work directly with the patients on skills successfully checked off during the class.”

All prospective CNAs going through Trinity Health’s class will need at least 75 hours of education, including didactic (classroom) content, skills lab and clinical practice before they can take their certification test.

For more information, please visit Trinity Health’s Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) Training website.