CNA, Certified Nursing Assistant, is a beginner healthcare professional who provides direct care to the patients inside the hospitals as well as in other care facilities or even at homes. A CNA takes care of routine tasks like dressing, feeding, bathing, monitoring, and reporting vital signs and changes in the condition of the patient to the RN(Registered Nurse) or LPN(Licensed Practical Nurse). Any professional willing to start a career as a CNA needs to go through a training program of 4 to 12 weeks and pass a certification exam comprising a written test and a skills test. This certification guarantees their expertise and gives them a legal status to serve patients in any environment. It is thus important to check for this certification before hiring someone as a CNA.
- Check out: CNA License Renewal Guide
In this article, we will discuss in detail how you can verify the CNA certification before hiring, both in employment and in a personal capacity.
Step-by-Step Guide to Verify CNA Certification in Washington
CNA is a healthcare professional who directly interacts with patients daily. It is thus considered a standard practice for both patients and the hiring medical facilities to verify the eligibility of a CNA while checking the CNA certification status, expiry date, or any legal restrictions due to disciplinary action. In states like Washington, NCA certification verification is easily done online through the official credential search channel, “Washington State Department of Health Provider Credential Search“. Since this channel can directly pull the data from the original license database system of the state in real time, the fetched data is accurate and updated.
Here is a step-by-step guide to get NCA certification verification using the official channel of the Washington Department of Health.
- Navigate to the official website of the Washington Department of Health (WDOH) and look for “Provider Credential Search Tool”
- To get the desired results and narrow down the search, use the drop-down menu to look for the right profession you want to fetch data for. In the case of CNA, select the option: “Nursing Assistant Certification”.
- Enter the search criteria. The portal allows searching for credentials either by using the name of the nursing assistant or by using the provided credential number
- By Name: enter the first and last legal names of the assistant exactly as on the certification. It will bring the data of all individuals sharing the same name. You can select the desired person from the given list to further search for details.
- By Credential Number: type in full the unique certification number of the assistant. This is the fastest way of searching, as it brings back the only record exactly matching the credential number.
Interpreting Search Results on the WDOH Website
Once you enter the name or credential number in the search bar, the database fetches important details regarding the searched healthcare provider. However, the result may vary depending on the input. If a name is used as the input, the database shows a table showing a list of all individuals registered with the same name, their associated certification number, profession type, and status of certification. You can then click on the certification number against the desired person and get the end results.
While in the case of search by credential number, this hassle of a massive list is bypassed, and a single-row result is displayed containing:
- Provider legal name in full and credential demographics, including type and number
- Issue, renewal, and Expiry date of the certificate
- Current status of the license, such as active, expired, pending, or revoked.
- Disciplinary actions contain a list of all enforcement actions against the provider, if applicable.
Verification of NA before hiring is as easy as crucial while living in Washington to ensure quality service and safety. No matter if you are an employer looking for new hires, a patient in need of a caregiver, or an NA itself, everyone can access the updated certification record just beyond a few clicks using the state’s official website. It will take only a few minutes to verify CNA certification; however, it can help maintain professional standards and regulatory compliance, as well as the availability of quality service in any environment.
