What Is The Difference Between A Caregiver and a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA)
Understanding the Caregiver’s Roles at BrightStar Care of Salt Lake City
What Care Can A CNA and Caregiver provide in your Salt Lake City Home?
So, what’s the difference between a working caregiver and a CNA job? Sometimes the terms “caregiver” and “CNA” are used interchangeably (which is confusing!), but these positions are different. Here are the nuts and bolts of each position, as well as the similarities and differences:Caregiver and CNA jobs differ in education.
The main difference in caregiver and CNA jobs is the required education and training. Certified nursing assistants (a CNA for short) must complete a specific CNA training course, which consists of 75 to 100 hours of classroom and clinical training, and then pass a certification test in order to practice in the specific state.
Caregivers, on the other hand, don’t need certification to work. Generally, a high school diploma or GED is the only educational requirement. Caregiver training (sometimes as little as 10 hours per course) is available for career advancement.
Responsibilities for caregiver and CNA jobs
Caregivers and CNAs both provide care to clients who can’t fully care for themselves, mainly seniors. Both positions report on the client’s daily physical and mental health, as well as provide comfort and companionship. Caregivers perform non-medical tasks, while CNAs do the non-medical tasks and are licensed to assist with basic medical care. Basic medical tasks include taking vitals, measuring weight and other statistics, helping clients with medical equipment and more.
Pay rates for caregiver and CNA jobs
CNA jobs offer higher pay rates than caregiver jobs, due to the required education. Please learn more about our home health care careers at BrightStarCare.com
To summarize, caregivers and CNA jobs have similar functions, but CNAs have more education which enables increased job functions and pay. Caregiver jobs provide care and comfort like CNAs, but without the medical assistance, and are a great starting point for those looking to become CNAs. Source: https://www.mycnajobs.com/blog/caregiver-and-cna-jobs-whats-the-difference/#.XNx9UqR7lPY
BrightStar Care of Salt Lake City provides a full continuum of in home care services comprised of special needs disability care, pediatric care, companionship, personal care, dementia care, transportation, medication assistance, skilled nursing and more to improve the lives of those living with disabilities, and care needs.
Source: https://www.brightstarcare.com/salt-lake-city-east