New Mexico Nursing Assistant / Nurse Aide Guide
Is a License or Certification needed: To get certified and work as a nursing assistant or nurse aide in New Mexico, you need to complete a nursing assistant program and pass a nursing assistant competency exam.
Who Grants Certification: The New Mexico Department of Health has contracted with Prometric to administer state exams to nurse aides in New Mexico. Once certified, New Mexico nurse aides are listed on the New Mexico Nurse Aide Registry. Prometric handles the listing to the registry as well.
The Qualifications to become Certified: There is more than one route to qualification for receiving a nurse aide license in New Mexico. These include:
- You have successfully completed a New Mexico state-approved training program
- You were previously certified in the state of New Mexico, your certification lapsed and you are retaking the test.
- You are an RN or LPN student
- You were trained or certified in another state.
How to Apply for Certification and to take the Exam: In order to apply for the nurses aide registry in New Mexico and apply to take the exam, review the forms on the Prometric website.
Test Content: The test has two parts, a skills evaluation and a written section. Both parts must be passed to be listed on the New Mexico Nurse Aide Registry. The written section is 60 questions in length. You will have 90 minutes to complete the exam. Take these with you to the test:
- Your Social Security card
- Your driver’s license
The written exam questions are based on the New York state-approved test plan. You must score 70% or higher to pass the written exam. Content topics include:
- Role of the Nurse Aide
- Promotion of Safety
- Promotion of Function and Health of Residents
- Basic Nursing Care Provided by the Nurse Aide
- Providing Specialized Care for Residents with Changes in Health
The skills evaluation will be a 31 to 40 minute time period given to complete 5 randomly selected nurse aide skills, depending on the skills assigned. A clinical skills checklist can be found here. You will need to practice these skills. They will not need to be absolutely perfect, but you will need to be deemed competent in these skills.
For the first three skills you will also be tested on the actual process of washing your hands with each skill and for your indirect care of the patient, meaning the parts of care associated with the patients:
- Infection Control
- Communication with the resident
- Rights and preferences
- And safety, comfort and needs
You may find further details in a candidate handbook.
Certification Renewal and Continuing Education Requirements: According to New Mexico law, to renew your license, it is required that you have worked 8 hours at your place of employment in the paid role of a nurse aide during the past 24 months. This must be paid employment, not volunteer work, and in a nursing environment such as a nursing home, home health setting or a hospital.
You can renew your license with Prometric and the New Mexico Nurse Aide Registry here.
Contact
NM Nurse Aide Registry
5301 Central Avenue NE
Suite 1510, Room 11
Albuquerque, NM 87108
Phone: 505-861-9680
