CNA Classes & Programs in Tennessee

Before you enroll, it helps to understand exactly what Tennessee requires to become a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA). Meeting these standards ensures you're eligible to test, be placed on the state registry, and work in approved healthcare settings.

Eligibility

• Program enrollment (NATCEP): You must complete a Nurse Aide Training and Competency Evaluation Program (NATCEP) approved by the Tennessee Health Facilities Commission (HFC). Programs are offered through high schools, community colleges, vocational centers, and long-term care facilities across the state. Each program must meet federal OBRA requirements and the state rules at Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0720-18-.15.
• Background check: All candidates must complete a criminal background check before having direct patient contact. Nursing facilities must verify that an applicant has no disqualifying findings of abuse, neglect, or misappropriation listed on the Tennessee Nurse Aide Registry or any other state's registry before employment.

Training Hours & Clinicals

Tennessee programs run a minimum of 75 total hours of combined classroom, laboratory, and clinical instruction. The state rule does not set that total itself. It requires programs to meet the federal OBRA training regulations and refers to "the seventy-five (75) hour training program" as the established standard. Federal rules, not Tennessee ones, require at least 16 hours of instruction before students can have any direct contact with residents. Required topics include communication, infection control, residents' rights, safety and emergency procedures (including the Heimlich maneuver), and promoting residents' independence and dignity. Tennessee sets no classroom and clinical split of its own, so any figure you see quoted for required clinical hours in Tennessee does not come from a state source. Clinical training must take place in a state-licensed long-term care facility under the supervision of an approved registered nurse instructor.

Certification Exam (NNAAP)

After completing your training program, you must pass the National Nurse Aide Assessment Program (NNAAP) Examination, administered by Credentia under contract with the Tennessee Health Facilities Commission. You do not file the testing application yourself. Under state rule the program coordinator sends it to the testing agency, and your training program uploads your information into Credentia's platform. The exam has two parts:

• Knowledge test: 75 multiple-choice questions, available in written or oral format. The oral version is available in English and Spanish.
• Skills evaluation: a timed demonstration of five randomly selected nurse aide skills, including mandatory hand hygiene and at least one measurement task (e.g., recording temperature or blood pressure).

You must pass both exam components to become certified. Candidates have up to three attempts per section within 24 months of completing training. Those who do not pass within this time must retrain in an approved program before retesting.

Placement on the Registry & Working as a CNA

Once you pass both exam components, your name is added to the Tennessee Nurse Aide Registry, maintained by the Tennessee Health Facilities Commission. Employers must verify your active status before hiring. Under federal law, a nursing facility may employ a trainee for up to 120 days while they complete the certification process, provided they are enrolled in or have completed an approved training program.

Renewal & In-Service Requirements

Your Tennessee CNA certification must be renewed every 24 months, and you file the renewal yourself. Create a Credentia account and submit the renewal application with proof that you worked at least 8 hours in a licensed or certified healthcare facility during the past 24 months. Credentia emails a reminder roughly 120 days before you expire. The proof has to be a pay stub, a payroll printout, or a notarized attestation form completed by the facility where you worked, and a pay stub or printout must show the facility's name (not the payroll company), your name, a date and the hours worked. Private duty, sitter and companion work, and private physicians' offices are not accepted. Renewal is free.

Tennessee sets no continuing education requirement for renewal. Separately, federal rules require facilities to provide at least 12 hours of in-service education a year to nurse aides they employ, and state rule requires your facility to review your performance at least once every 12 months. Both are the facility's duty, not a condition of staying on the registry.

If your certification expires you must reinstate rather than renew, which needs proof of 8 hours worked for each year from the year before expiry through the current year. If you cannot show that, you must retrain and retest.

Reciprocity (Out-of-State CNAs)

If you are certified as a CNA in another U.S. state or territory and your certification is in active, good standing, you may apply for reciprocity to be added to the Tennessee Nurse Aide Registry without retraining or retesting. Applicants create a Credentia account and submit a reciprocity application with documentation of their current certification. Tennessee accepts reciprocity from every state except Florida. A CNA certified in Florida must retrain and retest in Tennessee.

Costs & Reimbursement

Exam fees are set by Credentia and paid when you schedule. The current handbook prices the knowledge exam at $35 and the skills evaluation at $87. Under federal law, if you are employed by—or receive an offer from—a Medicare- or Medicaid-certified nursing facility at the time of training, the facility must cover your training and testing costs. If you are hired within 12 months of completing training, the facility must reimburse you on a prorated basis for those expenses.

Sources: Tennessee Health Facilities Commission — Nurse Aide Information, Tennessee Nurse Aide Candidate Handbook (Credentia), Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0720-18-.15 — Nurse Aide Training, 42 CFR 483.152 — Federal Training Requirements, Tennessee state-approved training program list