If an individual that has previously been deemed competent as a CNA (Illinois approved nurse assistant training program; grandfathered in; foreign LPN/RN; military trained; nursing student; or out of state CNA), has a period of 24 consecutive months that the individual has not provided nursing or nursing-related services for pay, the approved certification is lost. Recertification may be accomplished by doing the following:
Pass a manual skills test
An Illinois approved evaluator must administer the manual skills test and the individual must demonstrate competency in all of the required skills.
The individual may contact the registry for a manual skills evaluator in their area.
The individual may contact a community college to see if the college has an approved manual skills evaluator.
The individual may take an Illinois approved CNA training program and take the written competency test. A list of approved CNA training programs is on this Web site.
The evaluator will complete a Manual Skills Evaluation Form and mail it to the registry.
Once the evaluator’s form is received, the registry will verify that the individual passed the manual skills test, meets the background check requirements, and has no administrative findings before mailing a form to register for the competency test.
Pass a written competency test.
If the individual fails the competency test three times, he or she must take another Illinois approved CNA training program before taking the written test again.
For a detailed list of approved CNA training programs go to: https://hcwrpub.dph.illinois.gov/Programs.aspx
For the CNA certification application go to: