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Career Colleges    » South Dakota    » Health, Medical, and Nursing     » Nursing Assistant

South Dakota Nursing Assistant Degrees

Nursing Assistant Degrees: South Dakota Colleges

Looking for accredited career colleges, technical schools, and universities in South Dakota offering Nursing Assistant degrees. A nursing assistant is also called an aide or attendant. In most states, you can complete training to become a certified nursing assistant (CNA) as long as you have a high school diploma or equivalent.

This ancestral home of the Sioux nation is sure to be a great place to pursue a college education. South Dakota college students enjoy a wide variety of extracurricular activities, including exploring wind caves, visiting incredibly dinosaur fossil sites, and re-living the life of the Old West, with dude ranches, horseback riding establishments, and rodeos.

South Dakota colleges offer their students life in a very rural and scenic state, where life may move a trifle slowly, but the people are sincere and the values are authentic. Wherever your life may take you, you are sure to find a South Dakota education to be a valuable experience in one of the most authentically American states.

South Dakota Colleges: Nursing Assistant Degrees

Patient care technicians: The human face of health care

Patient care technicians provide supervised care to patients in health care facilities such as hospitals or nursing homes. Patient care technicians may also be called attendants or nursing assistants. Training in patient care prepares you to carry out basic health care responsibilities such as taking vital signs and assisting with patient examinations.

Clinical job duties of a patient care technician may include:

• Administering medications or treatments
• Applying clean dressings, slings or support bandages
• Cleaning and sanitizing patient rooms and areas
• Collecting specimens for medical testing
• Assisting patients with hygiene and eating

You may also be required to position and lift patients, which requires knowledge of body mechanics and proper techniques.

Patient care education and training

Training is offered at vocational schools and community colleges. Patient care education programs typically include instruction in CPR and lab procedures. Other courses covered may include:

1. Body mechanics
2. Nutrition
3. Anatomy and physiology
4. Infection control
5. Resident rights

Patient care technician schools offer classroom study and practical training, which can prepare you for the certified nursing assistant examination. The federal government requires individuals working in nursing care facilities to complete a minimum of 75 hours of certified training and a competency evaluation. Your patient care technician training may also be a stepping-stone to further training as a licensed vocational or registered nurse or a physical or respiratory therapy assistant.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the mean annual wage for nursing and psychiatric aids, including patient care technicians, was $25,140 in 2010. Employment is projected to grow 18 percent between 2008 and 2018.

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