Assembly bill would reduce CNA training hours from 120 to 75; some raise concerns

MADISON -- A bill introduced in the Wisconsin Assembly is aimed at bringing certified nursing assistants' instructional requirements in line with federal standards, and some in the industry have spoken out about it.

Assembly Bill 76 would reduce the number of hours needed for CNA training from 120 to 75 (the federal standard).

Those for the change said it could allow Wisconsin to recruit CNAs from other states.

Mary Herker

Others said they're concerned about the amount of training time that would be lost -- especially when it comes to elderly care.

"So you need to look at temperment, professionalism, communication, the ability to triage, to multi-task and these are things we train in the 120 hours," said Mary Herker CNA, Quality Healthcare Options.

Currently, training typically equates to about 16 days for CNAs.

Under the bill, training would be reduced to about nine days.