Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA)

Career Assessment Tool — North Dakota

This tool will help you decide if becoming a Certified Nursing Assistant is the right choice for you.

You will learn about what CNAs really do, how to get trained in North Dakota, and what comes next in your career.

Important: Answer all questions honestly. This is just for you—there are no wrong answers.

What is a Certified Nursing Assistant?

A Certified Nursing Assistant, or CNA, helps sick and injured people in hospitals, nursing homes, and clinics. CNAs work with nurses and doctors to take care of patients. They do hands-on work like helping patients wash, eat, and use the bathroom. This is an entry-level job in healthcare. You work under the supervision of a Registered Nurse (RN) or Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN).

A person receiving care, a CNA, and a nurse connected as a team. — CNAs help people and report changes to the nurse.

Four care settings: top left, a CNA beside a person in a hospital bed; top right, a blood pressure check in a clinic; bottom left, support for a person using a walker in rehabilitation or assisted care; bottom right, care for an older adult at home. — CNA care settings: hospital or bedside, clinic, rehabilitation or assisted care, and home care.

What Will You Actually Be Doing Every Day?

Here are the real tasks CNAs do:

Help patients take baths and get dressed
Assist patients with eating meals
Help patients use the toilet and change bedpans
Take vital signs (blood pressure, temperature, pulse, breathing)
Record vital signs and patient information on charts
Help patients move and change positions (lifting)
Change bed sheets and keep rooms clean
Watch patients for changes in their condition
Report changes to the nurse right away
Talk to patients and listen to their concerns
Work with the nursing team to help patients feel better

What You Need to Know: This is hard work. You will be on your feet most of the time. You will lift and move patients who are heavy. You will help with toileting and deal with bodily fluids. Some patients are confused or angry. You might work nights, weekends, and holidays. The work is physical and emotional.

A vital signs monitor, a chart, a meal plate, and a speech bubble represent checking vital signs, recording information, helping with meals, and listening. — CNAs help with daily needs, record information, and listen.

What Training Do You Need in North Dakota?

An open book, a learner with a guide, and a skills checklist represent classroom learning, guided practice, and exam preparation. — Build skills through learning and guided practice.

The Requirements:

Take an approved Nurse Aide Training Program (NATP)
Complete 75 hours of training:
- Classroom learning (online or in person)
- Hands-on practice in a skills lab and with real patients
- (Important: 16 hours of training on safety, infection control, communication, and patient rights must happen BEFORE you work with patients)
Pass the North Dakota Headmaster exam (the state test)
Register with North Dakota Nurse Aide Registry

Timeline and Cost:

Item	Details
How long does training take?	About 4 to 7 weeks at most colleges (Lake Region: 4 weeks; Bismarck State: 5 to 7 weeks)
How much does it cost?	About $850 to $900 at Lake Region and Bismarck State (2026, textbook included). The state exam costs extra. Costs vary, so check with the program.
Do employers help pay?	Yes! If a nursing home hires you (or offers you a job) before you start training, it cannot charge you for training

Where Can You Get Training in North Dakota?

Bismarck State College (Bismarck; in-person or hybrid)
Lake Region State College (Devils Lake; online classes with in-person lab and clinical)
North Dakota State College of Science (NDSCS)
Williston State College (online)
Dickinson State University (Dickinson)
Career and technical centers, and some nursing homes and hospitals. Ask ND Health and Human Services for the full list of approved programs.

What is the Headmaster Exam?

After you finish your 75 hours of training, you take the Headmaster exam. This is the North Dakota state test for CNAs. Here is what it tests:

Written Knowledge Test:

This part tests what you learned in the classroom:

How to keep patients safe and prevent falls
How to stop germs from spreading (infection control)
How to talk to and help patients
The body and how organs work
Laws and rules for CNAs
How to keep yourself healthy and safe at work
When to report problems to the nurse

Skills Test (Hands-On):

You show that you can actually do CNA tasks. The test includes things like:

Take someone's blood pressure correctly
Help a patient wash their hands
Help a patient use the toilet safely
Move and turn a patient in bed without hurting them
Talk to a patient who is confused
Keep a patient's room clean and safe
Follow all safety rules

About the Exam: You get three tries to pass both parts (written and skills). If you do not pass in three tries, you must take an approved training program again before you can test again.

How Much Money Will You Make?

Type of Pay	Amount
Entry-level (just starting)	About $16.89 per hour (lowest 10% of pay in ND, BLS, May 2025)
Middle (median) yearly pay in ND	$45,820 per year (BLS, May 2025)
Middle (median) hourly pay in ND	$22.03 per hour (BLS, May 2025)
Experienced CNAs	About $51,380 per year (top 10% earn this or more, BLS, May 2025)

Remember: Pay depends on where you work. Nationally, CNAs in nursing homes and hospitals earn about the same (BLS, May 2025). Some employers pay extra for night or weekend shifts. The more experience you have, the more you earn.

Pay by Area in North Dakota (middle/median yearly pay, BLS May 2025)

North Dakota (statewide)	$45,820
Bismarck	$46,720
Fargo area (incl. Moorhead, MN)	$39,940
Grand Forks area (incl. East Grand Forks, MN)	$45,740
Minot	$36,500
Rural eastern ND	$47,110
Rural western ND	$46,270

Areas not listed had too few workers in this job for BLS to report pay.

What Comes After CNA?

Four paths branch from CNA: study to become an LPN, study to become an RN, get training in a care specialty, or grow in the CNA role. — CNA experience can be a starting point for several career paths.

Being a CNA can lead to many different paths:

Path 1: Become a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN)

This takes about 1 more year (3 semesters in the Dakota Nursing Program). You learn more advanced nursing skills. LPNs make more money than CNAs.

Path 2: Become a Registered Nurse (RN)

This takes 2 to 4 more years. You earn an Associate degree or Bachelor degree in nursing. RNs have more responsibility and make more money.

Path 3: Specialize in One Area

You can get extra training to specialize, such as:

Wound care (caring for healing injuries)
Dementia or Alzheimer care (caring for people with memory loss)
Hospice care (caring for people at the end of life)
Pediatric care (caring for children)
Dialysis assistance

Path 4: Stay as a CNA and Advance

Many people work as CNAs their whole career and are very happy. You can become a senior CNA, train new CNAs, or supervise other CNAs. Direct patient care is important work.

Should You Become a CNA?

CNAs are important. You do real work that helps real people.

CNA is a good choice if:

You want to help people and make them feel better
You can handle hard, physical work
You do not mind working nights, weekends, and holidays
You want to start a healthcare career quickly
You want to earn money while you explore other nursing jobs

Think twice if:

You only want this job because you need money fast
You cannot handle being around sick or dying people
You cannot do heavy lifting or physical work
You do not want to work nights and weekends
You are not interested in healthcare at all

The Choice is Yours: Take this assessment honestly. Read your report. Talk to people in the field. Then make the choice that is best for you and your future.

The CNA Career Assessment

Before you spend time and money on training, answer these questions honestly. This will help you decide if being a CNA is right for you.

PART 1: Why Do You Want To Be A CNA?

Choose the statement that best fits you:

Your answer helps you understand your real reason for this choice. If you picked A or C, you may be happier in this job. If you picked D, think about whether you can handle hard work. If you picked E, that is okay! Explore more before you decide.

PART 2: Can You Really Do This Work?

These questions ask about the hardest parts of being a CNA. Answer honestly. There are no wrong answers. This helps you decide.

PART 3: What is Your Plan After CNA?

Think about what you want to do after you become a CNA. Choose one:

Your Plan Matters: There is no wrong answer. But thinking about your future helps you stay motivated during training. CNA is a starting point. You decide where you go from here.

Your CNA Assessment Report

Your Motivation Score

Your Readiness Score

Your Next Step

Recommendations for You

Sources & Learn More

Everything on this page comes from these sources. Each one opens the page the information came from, so you can check it yourself or keep reading.

Career information: Certified Nursing Assistant on O*NET OnLine — what the job involves, the skills it uses, and related jobs.
Pay and employment data: North Dakota pay for Certified Nursing Assistants — from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, May 2025.
North Dakota job outlook, 2024–2034 — state projections from Projections Central.
Education and training: North Dakota schools that train Certified Nursing Assistants — colleges and programs in this state, with how many people finished recently. From the U.S. Department of Labor, using federal college data (IPEDS).
More career exploration: RUReady.ND.gov career planning — North Dakota’s own career and college planning site. An account may be required.

Pay and outlook figures on this page were taken from the sources above in September 2026. Occupation code: 31-1131.00. Numbers are updated by the agencies over time, so check the links for the newest figures.