Well, I took CNA as a course in Ohio (we call it STNA here..."State Tested", rather than "Certified") when I was considering going into Nursing after EMT, but before I became a Paramedic. So...roughly 5-6 years ago.
The information is not at all similar to EMS, however, it is very similar to common sense. It is a test of your knowledge on how to assist people. For example: how to get someone out of bed the best way, how to dress someone, shave someone, transfer them to a wheelchair and back to a bed...stuff like that. The information is seriously information around a first grade level. However, what you might find difficult is how simplistic it truly is. You might absolutely know how to shave a man's face, but do you know the "certified" way to do it? It's "certifiable" (pun intended). You might know how to lock a wheelchair and use good body mechanics to transfer the person...but, it's a dumb test..."When transferring a patient from a bed to a wheelchair, do you lock the bed wheels first or the wheelchair wheels first?"
"Uh...it doesn't matter in real life, but there's an actual correct answer for this test, so I'll pick the one I was taught, rather than have my head explode over how silly this is."
The test doesn't really test knowledge, it just tests whether or not you went through a course, were able to study materials at a first grade level, made it through wiping people's asses in a short set of practicals so you know what you're getting in to, and that you have some basic common sense. No joke...there were a lot of kind-hearted people that were dumber than a bag of rocks and it was a huge portion of the class.
A girl sincerely asked, "Excuse me, instructor, do we have to wear gloves during peri-care?"
"Don't you want to wear gloves when you're wiping someone's private parts after they've soiled themselves?"
"Um...yeah, but I'm asking not, should I do it, I'm asking if I have to."
"You don't want to?"
Then the girl looked down and said, "Um, ok. Yeah, yeah, of course." And started seriously writing a note to herself. And seriously asked a similar question during practicals, and forgot her gloves and was seriously going to go without and the instructor reminded her that every room has gloves and that she should change gloves between patients before leaving the room. And, I swear she wasn't "on the spectrum", she was just really, really dumb. Or...had some sort of fetish relating to touching fecal matter.
There were a lot of people like that in the course, and yes, that was an actual question in class.
If you can challenge it, I would, just so I didn't end up taking the course. It's %3 vital signs, healthcare, medicine, etc., and 97% making beds, dressing people and working with people who probably aren't qualified or intelligent enough to work at McDonalds (with the exception of those doing it just so they can go to nursing school, and rare, rare exceptions).
