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For fast-growing careers, health-care is where it's at. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), medical assistant will be among the fastest-growing occupation through 2016.
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NATURE OF THE WORK
Nurse Aides help care for physically or mentally ill, injured, disabled, or infirm individuals in hospitals, nursing care facilities, and mental health settings. Nurse Aides are among the occupations commonly referred to as direct care workers, due to their role in working with patients who need long-term care.

Nurse Aides—also known as Certified Nursing Assistants (CNA) - provide hands-on care and perform routine tasks under the supervision of nursing and medical staff. Specific tasks vary, with aides handling many aspects of a patient’s care They often help patients to eat, dress, and bathe. They also answer calls for help, deliver messages, serve meals, make beds, and tidy up rooms. Aides sometimes are responsible for taking a
patient’s temperature, pulse rate, respiration rate, or blood pressure. They also may help provide care to patients by helping them get into and out of bed and walk, escorting them to operating and examining rooms, or providing skin care. Some aides help other medical staff by setting up equipment, storing and moving supplies, and assisting with some procedures. Aides also observe patients’ physical, mental, and emotional conditions and report any change to the nursing or medical staff.

Nurse Aides employed in nursing care facilities often are the principal caregivers, having far more contact with residents than do other members of the staff. Because some residents may stay in a nursing care facility for months or even years, aides develop ongoing relationships with them and interact with them in a positive, caring way.

WORK ENVIRONMENT
Most full-time aides work about 40 hours per week, but because patients need care 24 hours a day, some aides work evenings, nights, weekends, and holidays.

LICENSE
Nurse Aides must complete a minimum of 75 hours of state-approved training and pass a competency evaluation. Nurse Aides who complete the program are known as certified nurse assistants (CNAs) and are placed on the state registry of nurse aides.

OTHER QUALIFICATIONS
Nurse Aides must be in good health. A physical examination, including State-regulated tests such as those for tuberculosis, may be required. A criminal background check also is usually required for employment.
Applicants should be tactful, patient, understanding, emotionally stable, and dependable and should have a desire to help people. They also should be able to work as part of a team and have good communication skills.

EMPLOYMENT
Nurse Aides held about 1.4 million jobs in 3006. About 52 percent of Nurse Aides worked in nursing and residential care facilities and another 29 percent worked in hospitals. Others were employed in State-government agencies, residential mental retardation, mental health, and substance abuse facilities.

JOB OUTLOOK
Excellent job opportunities for Nurse Aides will arise from a combination of rapid employment growth and the need to replace the workers who leave the occupation each year.

EMPLOYMENT CHANGE
Overall employment of Nurse Aides is projected to grow 28 percent between 2006 and 2016. Employment of Nurse Aides is expected to grow faster than the average for all occupations through 2016, in response to the long-term care needs of an increasing elderly population. Financial pressures on hospitals to discharge patients as soon as possible should boost admissions to nursing care facilities. As a result, job openings will be more numerous in nursing and residential care facilities than in hospitals. Modern medical technology also will drive demand for Nurse Aides because as the technology saves and extends more lives, it increases the need for long-term care provided by aides.

JOB PROSPECTS
Replacement needs will be a major source of job openings, as many workers leave the occupation permanently. Very good job opportunities are expected. Rapid employment growth is projected in most health care industries, with the best job opportunities occurring in nursing care facilities and in home health care services.