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Committee eases instructor-experience requirement for CNA instructors, requires annual continuing education
Summary
Lawmakers approved a change to the CNA instructor qualification bill that relaxes the experience window for instructors to one year within the past 10 years and requires eight hours of annual continuing education provided by the Arkansas Healthcare Association.
Representative Bentley presented what she described as a corrective update to a prior, more restrictive bill governing certified nursing assistant (CNA) instructors. The proposal would require CNA instructor candidates to have one year of long-term care experience within the past 10 years, rather than a more restrictive prior standard, and would require eight hours of continuing education annually provided by the Arkansas Healthcare Association.
Bentley said the goal is to ensure instructors are current on long-term care practices while broadening the pool of eligible instructors. "We're gonna get good CNAs if we had good instructors," she said, and the bill pairs a modest relaxation of the experience requirement with an annual continuing-education mandate to maintain instructor competency.
The committee held no public testimony and approved the bill by voice vote on a motion from Representative Allen. The transcript records the motion and that the bill passed; no roll-call tally was recorded in the hearing transcript.
The sponsor characterized the measure as protecting vulnerable nursing-home residents by ensuring instructor competence while making instructor positions attainable for those with recent long-term-care experience and required continuing education.
