If you need to know how many hours of training states require for nursing assistants, or you want to compare your state’s requirements to others, a new table in PHI’s Clearinghouse can help.

Federal regulations require nurse aides to get at least 75 hours of training, including at least 16 hours of supervised practical or clinical training. That’s a good start, but most consumer advocates and researchers who’ve studied direct-care work think more is needed. Most state governments appear to agree, since they require more than the federal minimum.

State Nurse Aide Training Requirements, 2007 (pdf) lists the minimum number of total hours and clinical hours required by each of the states and the District of Columbia. Twenty-eight of the 51 require more than training than the feds, with 12 states and DC requiring 120 hours or more. Thirty states require more than 16 hours of clinical training.

The greatest amount of training required is in Missouri, which mandates at least 175 total hours and 100 hours of clinical.

Elise Nakhnikian is PHI’s Senior Online Editor