Hi. I am a CNA in New York as well. I can tell you that what you have been told by both your employer and your instructor for your class is absolutely wrong.
First and foremost, in New York you are not required to have taken or received your CNA if you are working in a hospital or other type of health care facility UNLESS it is a Nursing Home. You cannot be emplyed working in a Nursing Home unless you have taken a bonafied CNA course either through your local college, BOCES, participating Nursing Home in your area, etc. Also, you take that course and graduate from it, but DO NOT become Certified by the State of NY as a CNA until you take and pass your State Testing, which is a practial and written exam. Hospitals can and do offer training for "Uncertified" Nursing Assistant or Care Partner programs (that can also be called a number of other titles as well.) The hospital I worked in prior to taking my CNA called this position a "Care Partner". In order to get the job I had to enter their paid two week Care Partner training program which consisted of the basics in patient care. Upon completion of the two week program I began working my orientation on the floor. However, I was not a Certified Nursing Assistant as far as the state of New York was concerned, could not leave the hospital and get a job in a Nursing Home, and my on the job training in the hospital was not transferrable to my working in a Nursing Home in my state either. If I wanted to work in a Nursing Home (which I now do) I had to take a state approved CNA course. I took mine at our local Boces which ran for 6 weeks, with one of those weeks being the clinical we did in the local nursing home. At the end of the BOCES class we took our class test and I passed. Then the following week a State Examiner came to BOCES and issued the practical test (where you perform 3 skills in front of him/her and are graded on them) and then we went in and took the written test. You must pass your class, practical state test and written state test in order to received your Cetification from New YOrk. Within 3 weeks of completion of the course and the state testing I received my Certificate in the mail showing I passed an accredicted CNA course in New York state, along with my CNA card which I had to bring with me to the nursing home when I was interviewed. If you have your NY CNA you can get a job working in a hospital as a Care Partner, but most hospitals will still make you take their training program. However, if you have your state CNA and some experience under your belt, you can usually get a "Lead" position in the hospital (since you have higher training then they require) which will usually pay a little more per hour than if you had no CNA and just took their training program.
The other thing I found out is that NY has one of the higher education programs for CNA certification and if you have your NY CNA certification you can transfer it anywhere in the U.S.
The following is a description that meets NYS requirements for obtaining your CNA from an accredited school/training facility.
"A 120 hour course includes 30 classroom sessions and clinical practice that satisfies the NYS mandated supervised 30 hours of clinical practice in a residential health care facility. Reimbursment for part of the training and/or testing fees paid directly by the individual may be available if the individual obtains Residential Health Care Facility(RHCF) Nurse Aid employment or an offer of (RHCF) Nurse Aid employment within 12 months of completion of the training program, or within 12 months of the date of testing."
The reason you have not received State Certification is probably because the clinical practice was performed in a hospital NOT a residential facility. A hospital is not considered a residential facility. Only a nursing home is considered a residential facility, and being that your class did their clinicals in the hospital, vs. the nursing home, NY State will not recognize that in order for you to receive your CNA.
In order to keep your CNA, you must work in a Nursing Home for a minimum of 7 hours in order to renew your certification every two years. As others have mentioned, there is no national registry. This is handled by each state depending on their guidelines. Here is exactly how it reads on the NYS Certification certificate and card I received.
"New York State Department of Health Nursing Home Nurse Aide Certification"
"Your anme is listed as active on the New York State Nursing Home Nurse Aide Registry. To remain active on the Registry, you must work at least 7 hours for pay as a nurse aide in a NYS approved employer facility prior to the expiration date on y our wallet card and then be recertified as required. Your nurse aide state certification must be renewed upon expiration. You ust notify the Nurse Aide Registry in NYS of any changes in your name or address."
Unfortunately, what you are most likely going to have to do is take the class over and then do your state testing here in NY OR do this in California when you move. I would advise looking in the cost and guidelines for the class in CA and see if it might be better to do it here and NY and then just transfer to CA or do the whole thing from scratch in CA.
I'm sorry this happened to you.
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