Ohio Nurse Aide Registry (STNA)
Check any Ohio certified nursing assistant on the Ohio Nurse Aide Registry. The search is free, needs no account, and is the same record an employer sees. This page covers looking up a license, reading the status, keeping your certification active, and getting listed after your exam.
This is the state's own system, run by Ohio ODH. It is the same database an employer checks, and the only place a certification status is authoritative.
Four ways to use this page. Pick the one that matches your situation.
Ohio Nurse Aide Registry Key Facts
- Governing agency
- Ohio ODHOhio Department of Health
- Lookup portal
- nurseaideregistry.odh.ohio.gov
- Registry phone
- 800-582-5908
- Renewal cycle
- 24 months work hours must be reported
How to Look Up an Ohio STNA License
This section is the mechanics: where the search is, what to type into it, and how to read what comes back.
Ohio keeps its nurse aide records at nurseaideregistry.odh.ohio.gov. The search is public, so you can check your own record or a candidate's record without an account and without paying.
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Open the Ohio registry search
Go to nurseaideregistry.odh.ohio.gov and use the Nurse Aide Search panel. The search takes Registry Number (exact match, full number), or Last Name and First Name, or last 4 digits of SSN (partial values allowed). No login, no account, no fee.
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Enter your details as the registry recorded them
Use the name from the time of testing, and fill in every box the panel asks for. If it offers a nurse aide registry number box, use that as well: the number is unique to one person and a name is not.
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Match the record to the person
Check every identifying detail the result shows, not just the name, before you treat a row as a match. A common surname can return more than one person, and the wrong record can look right at a glance.
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Read the record, not just the listing
Open the record itself. Appearing on the registry is not the same as being current, so read what the record says about standing, whether that is a status, an expiry date, or both, then check it against the status table below.
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Save a dated copy of the result
Print to PDF or screenshot the page showing the name, nurse aide registry number, what the record says about standing, and the date you checked. Employers and agencies usually want that record on file.
How to find your nurse aide registry number
Where a search takes the number, it narrows the result to one person in a way a name may not. If you have lost it, it is on any of these.
- Your certificate or wallet card, if your state issued one after the skills test
- The result page of the registry search itself, once you have found your record, where it shows one
- Your employer's personnel file, because facilities record it when they verify you at hire
- The registry, on 800-582-5908, if none of the above works
What Each Ohio Nurse Aide Registry Status Means
The status field is the part that decides whether someone can work. Wording varies by state, so read the exact term on the record rather than assuming what it means.
| Status | What it means | Can they work? |
|---|---|---|
| Active | Eligible to work. Qualifying paid nursing or nursing-related work was verified inside the last 24 months. | Yes |
| Expired | No verified nursing-related work in two consecutive years, so the record is no longer listed as eligible to work. | No |
Why Your Ohio STNA License Is Not Showing on the Registry
| Problem | What is happening | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Your name returns no results | The registry stores the legal name you used at the time of testing. | Search your maiden or pre-marriage name, and give the search less to match on rather than more. |
| You passed but you are not listed | Results have to reach the registry from your testing entity before a record exists. | Give the registry time to process them, then call 800-582-5908 with your test date and testing entity. |
| The record shows as expired but you have been working | Qualifying hours have to be reported before the record updates, and yours may not have been filed. | Check whether your employer filed the report. If not, file it yourself rather than waiting, then re-check the record. |
| Your employer cannot report electronically | Either you or your employer can file, so this is usually a paperwork gap rather than an access problem. | File the report yourself rather than waiting for the facility, or ask the registry at NAR@odh.ohio.gov. |
| Details on your record are wrong | Name, address and registry data come from the record created at testing. | Contact the registry on 800-582-5908 or NAR@odh.ohio.gov with documentation of the correct details. |
How to Verify an STNA License in Ohio
This section is what the result proves: what a record is evidence of, what to save as your copy of it, and what it means for you specifically. The search itself is the same for everyone.
Verifying your own license after finishing training
Look yourself up at nurseaideregistry.odh.ohio.gov once your testing entity has filed your results. Save a dated copy of the record, because most employers ask for proof at offer stage rather than checking themselves.
Verifying your license after transferring from another state
A certification held in another state does not appear in Ohio until reciprocity is processed. Until an Ohio record exists, employers here cannot verify you, and your out-of-state record is the only proof you have. See transferring a license to Ohio for the application route, then verify the new record the same way.
Verifying someone else's license (for employers)
Federal rules require a facility to check the registry before it lets someone work as a nurse aide. The record shows the certification status. It is not the whole check, because Ohio records findings of abuse, neglect or misappropriation of property on a separate list, so a current certification does not on its own mean there is nothing against someone. The record only covers Ohio, so if a candidate has worked elsewhere, search that state's registry too.
That separate list is the Public Abuse Listing, and it is maintained apart from the Nurse Aide Registry. Check both before you rely on a result.
How to Renew Your Ohio STNA License
Active standing in Ohio continues on reported qualifying work, and either you or your employer can file that report. If the facility has not done it, you are not stuck waiting for them.
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Work at least 7.5 consecutive hours (or 8 hours in any 48-hour period) in a qualifying role
The hours must be paid nursing or nursing-related duties inside the 24 months before your record lapses. Unpaid placements and volunteer shifts do not count. If the work was in another state, ask the registry whether it counts before you rely on it, because states differ.
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Check your employer filed it, then file it yourself if not
Your employer files the report with the registry. You can file it yourself as well, and that is what the state expects if the facility has not.
Do not assume it was done. Check the record first, and file it yourself if nothing has changed. -
Check the record, and read the expiry date
Look yourself up at nurseaideregistry.odh.ohio.gov once the report has been filed. A status of active on its own is not enough, because the previous period may still be running. The expiry date is what tells you the new period has actually started.
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Fix a missing report before it lapses
If the hours were worked but never reported, that is correctable, and it is far easier to correct while the record is still active. Contact the registry on 800-582-5908 or NAR@odh.ohio.gov and ask what they will accept as evidence of the work.
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Keep your own dated copy
Save the record showing the new expiry date. If a report is ever missed, that copy is what you give a new employer while the registry corrects it.
| Item | Ohio |
|---|---|
| Active period | 24 months from the reported work |
| Work required | At least 7.5 consecutive hours (or 8 hours in any 48-hour period) of paid nursing or nursing-related duties |
| What counts | Paid nursing or nursing-related duties |
| What does not count | Volunteer shifts and unpaid clinical placements |
| Work in another state | Ask the registry before you rely on it. States differ on whether out-of-state hours count |
| Who reports it | You or your employer. Either report is accepted |
| Evidence of the hours | The registry takes a signed statement from the facility giving the dates and hours you worked, or a statement from a physician or nurse with personal knowledge of the work. Facilities can also list the aides they employ on the Nurse Aide Registration Form (HEA 7713) |
| Renewal fee | None |
How to Reinstate a Lapsed Ohio STNA License
If 24 months pass with no qualifying work, the record stops being active. What it takes to come back depends on which of these you are.
| Your situation | What you do | Retesting |
|---|---|---|
| You worked recently, but the hours were never reported | File the employment verification for that work now | No |
| No qualifying work for 24 months or more | Ohio requires retraining as well as retesting. | Yes |
| You hold an active certification in another state | Apply through reciprocity. See our Ohio reciprocity guide | Usually not |
| You are not working in a Medicare- or Medicaid-certified facility | The federal requirement does not reach you, but other employers set their own rules and many still ask for an active certification | No |
How to Get on the Ohio Nurse Aide Registry
In Ohio you do not file a registry application yourself. You train, you test, and your testing entity sends the application and results to the registry.
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Meet the basic requirements
Ohio does not publish a minimum age for registry eligibility. Training providers set their own, so check with the provider before you enrol.
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Complete an approved 75-hour course
Train with a provider approved in Ohio. See our list of Ohio CNA programs.
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Pass the written and skills tests
A multiple-choice knowledge test and a skills test. Both must be passed. The knowledge test can be taken orally instead of in writing if you ask, which is a federal right in every state and is worth knowing if reading is difficult for you or English is not your first language.
If a facility has already hired you, both tests have to be passed within four months of your hire date. Our free CNA practice tests cover the same knowledge areas as the written test, and the free CNA skills course walks through the skills evaluation itself.
The state charges no application fee. Testing costs are set by the testing entity rather than the state, so ask your provider what theirs are. -
Let your testing entity file the results
The testing entity sends your application and results straight to the registry. There is nothing for you to submit.
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Check that you appear on the registry
Give the registry time to process the result, then look yourself up at nurseaideregistry.odh.ohio.gov before you contact the registry.
Ohio Nurse Aide Registry Contact Information
- Phone
- 800-582-5908
- NAR@odh.ohio.gov
- Mailing address
- Ohio Department of Health
246 N. High Street
Columbus, OH 43215
- License lookup
- nurseaideregistry.odh.ohio.gov
- Registry information
- Ohio Department of Health Nurse Aide Registry
Ohio STNA Requirements at a Glance
| Requirement | Ohio |
|---|---|
| Registry name | Ohio Nurse Aide Registry |
| Credential term used by the state | STNA, nurse aide |
| Governing agency | Ohio Department of Health |
| Total training hours | 75 |
| Classroom hours | 59 |
| Clinical hours | 16 |
| Exam | A multiple-choice knowledge test and a skills test. Both must be passed. |
| Testing deadline | Both tests within four months of hire |
| Application fee | Free |
| Renewal cycle | 24 months, worker or employer-reported hours |
| Testing vendor | D&S Diversified Technologies (Headmaster) |
Transferring an STNA License To or From Ohio (Reciprocity)
Reciprocity is how an active certification held in one state becomes a certification in another. It usually avoids retesting, but only while your current certification is in good standing. A lapsed or flagged record cannot transfer.
The route in and out of Ohio, the documents required and the current processing time are covered in the guide. The tool checks any two states against each other.
Ohio STNA Training Programs
The steps above are the whole route onto the registry. The one thing that comes before them is an approved 75-hour program, because you cannot sit the exam without completing one. The state itself charges no application fee, so training is the cost that matters.
| Program | City |
|---|---|
| Vip Medical Academy | Columbus |
| Tri-C Division Of Nursing | Cleveland |
| White Oaks Learning Academy | Cincinnati |
| Whitmer Career And Technology Center | Toledo |
| Towpath Trail | Akron |
Tell us where you are and we will match you with approved programs. Takes about a minute.
Find CNA programs near you✓ Free Service • ✓ No Obligations • ✓ Compare Multiple Programs • ✓ Accredited Schools Only
Cost, format and city for each one, listed by city so you can start near you.
If you want to prepare before you enrol, our free CNA skills course covers the material the program and the skills test are built on.
Ohio Nurse Aide Registry FAQ
Is the Ohio Nurse Aide Registry free to search?
Why can I not find my name on the registry?
How long does Ohio certification last?
Can I report my own work hours?
What happens if my status expires?
Can an employer see abuse or neglect findings?
Do I need to be on the registry to work in Ohio?
Look Up an STNA License in Another State
Every state runs its own registry, and a certification is only verifiable in the state that issued it. Pick a state to see its portal, its status vocabulary and its renewal rules.