Nurse aide (CNA) students do their supervised practical training in nursing homes and other long-term care settings, often within weeks of starting. Short programs and frequent cohorts make clearance timing tight: a missing TB result or background check can keep a student out of the first clinical day.
Nurse aide training programs are approved by the state under federal rules for long-term care facilities. Your state agency, clinical sites and affiliation agreements decide the exact list, so treat this as a starting point.
What nurse aide students usually need before clinical training
- TB screening. CDC recommends baseline screening for all healthcare personnel and no routine annual testing without an exposure, but many clinical sites still set their own schedule. (source) See TB testing requirements.
- Immunizations. CDC recommends hepatitis B, MMR, varicella, Tdap and annual influenza vaccination for healthcare personnel, a group CDC defines to include students and trainees, proven by records or titers. (source) See titer testing explained.
- CPR / BLS certification, tracked to its expiration so a lapse is caught before a rotation, not during it.
- Background check, often with healthcare sanctions screening for hospital placements. See student background checks.
- Drug screen, usually a 10-panel urine screen (ours includes oxycodone) before the first placement.
What’s specific to nurse aide programs
- Training hours. Federal rules require state-approved nurse aide programs to provide no less than 75 clock hours of training, including at least 16 hours of supervised practical training; states can require more. (source)
- Training before resident contact. At least 16 hours of training, including infection control and safety and emergency procedures, must come before any direct contact with a resident. (source)
- The nurse aide registry. Each state must maintain a nurse aide registry that records findings of abuse, neglect or misappropriation of property, and facilities may not employ or otherwise engage individuals with such findings. (source) (source)
How Drug Free Schools handles it
Everything below runs in one clinical compliance tracking portal shared by all of your school’s health science programs.
- One portal, your requirement list. Set how each item renews: flu by season, CPR through the end of the printed month, Tdap every ten years. Add another way to meet a requirement, or a declination pathway.
- Every upload reviewed within 24 hours. If something is wrong, the student sees the exact reason and what to upload instead.
- Upload guides for every requirement: an example of the right document, the common reasons for rejection, and a blank form to download.
- Deadlines and reminders by email and text, and a dashboard that shows anyone not cleared for an upcoming rotation.
- Clinical sites built in. Track affiliation agreements, assign students to rotations, log clinical hours, and block anyone who isn't cleared from being placed. Send a site exactly the records it needs through a secure link with an access code that expires in 30 days.
For nurse aide programs: Set a short deadline for each cohort, track TB and the background check first, and use the dashboard to see who isn’t cleared for the first clinical day. State rules differ: see Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama and Kentucky.
Fingerprints: Drug Free Schools does not take fingerprints. When a board, state or site requires a fingerprint-based check, students use the provider it names, usually Fieldprint, IdentoGO or the local police department. We handle the name-based background check, the drug screen and the tracking.
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Students: online training courses (Healthcare Bloodborne Pathogens, HIPAA, Workplace Fire Safety and HazCom, from ProTrainings) are available for individual purchase. See the online training courses.
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Set up in about 5 minutes with your program’s requirements. No meeting needed.
Support 7 days a week by phone, text or email, for students and school staff: call or text (901) 517-7450 · josh.smith@drugfreeschools.net
See the director dashboard (3:06)
Recorded in the live portal: the rotation check dashboard, document review, requirement rules, clinical sites and rotations, and secure links for sending records to a site.
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Frequently asked questions
What do CNA students need before clinicals?
Long-term care sites typically ask for TB screening, immunization records, a background check and a drug screen, and some ask for CPR. The exact list comes from your state, your clinical sites and your affiliation agreements.
How many training hours does a nurse aide program need?
Federal rules set a minimum of 75 clock hours, including at least 16 hours of supervised practical training, and at least 16 hours of training before any direct contact with a resident. Some states require more.
How much does the compliance portal cost?
$30 per student, one time for the whole program, not a yearly fee. Administrator and faculty accounts are free, and the school can pay instead of the student.
Can one portal cover all of our health science programs?
Yes. Each program gets its own requirement list and renewal rules, while the school has one portal and one support line, 7 days a week by phone, text or email, for students and school staff.
Sources
- CDC/ACIP: Immunization of Health-Care Personnel
- CDC: TB screening of health care personnel, 2019
- 42 CFR 483.152, nurse aide training program requirements
- 42 CFR 483.156, nurse aide registry
- 42 CFR 483.12, freedom from abuse, neglect and exploitation
This page summarizes public accreditor, federal and CDC documents as of October 2026. Requirements vary by school, clinical site and state; confirm against your current standards and affiliation agreements. Quest Diagnostics is a trademark of its owner.