The Illinois Health Care Worker Registry is maintained by the Department of Public Health and shows training information for certified nursing assistants (CNA) and other health care workers. To check your status on the Health Care Worker Registry you may call the registry’s help desk at 844-789-3676 or access the registry’s web site.
There are a number of state and federal requirements you must meet prior to being listed on the registry as an Illinois CNA. You must meet one of the following requirements in order to be listed on the registry:
- You have successfully completed an Illinois approved CNA training program and passed the written competency test.
- You have been deemed competent on another state’s registry for CNAs, have no administrative findings of abuse, neglect or misappropriation of property on your home state’s CNA registry or any other state’s CNA registry and have no disqualifying convictions.
- You are a nursing student who has not completed all your training to be an LPN or RN but you have successfully completed a nursing arts course such as Basics in Nursing, Fundamentals of Nursing, Nursing 101, etc. You can apply to be an Illinois CNA while continuing to go to school by providing written verification that you have successfully completed the fundamentals of nursing and at least 40 hours of supervised clinical experience in an accredited nurse training program. You must pass the written competency test.
- You have successfully completed a U.S. military training program that includes the content of a nurse aide training program and provide a copy of a diploma or certificate showing evidence of 40 hours of clinical experience, or Form DD 214 showing completion of hospital corpsman or medical service specialist or equivalent training. You must pass the written competency test.
- You successfully completed a nursing program equivalent to an LPN or RN program in a foreign country and you moved to the United States but not taken a licensure exam. You must show that you meet the training and residency requirements, and pass a written competency test.
You can work as a CNA without being on the registry if you are a registered nurse (RN) or a licensed practical nurse (LPN) with a current and valid Illinois license. An Illinois RN or LPN with an inactive license or with a current, valid license from another state cannot work as an Illinois CNA until the registry shows that the individual has met the training requirements.
In Illinois, the state does not issue credentials, certificates or licenses to CNAs and training programs are not required to issue certificates. Any certificate received may be issued by the training program or the testing center as a recognition of work accomplished, however, being an Illinois CNA is a condition that an individual must keep through their work efforts not through an issued document.
A CNA will lose their status of certification if he or she goes for a continuous period of 24 consecutive months after his or her last competency evaluation during none of which he or she provided nursing or nursing-related services for pay. If a CNA continuously works providing nursing-related services for monetary compensation, he or she continues to keep their CNA certification no matter how many years the individual works.
Before allowing an individual to serve as a nurse assistant, a health care employer must receive verification that the individual:
- has met competency evaluation requirements,
- has no administrative findings of abuse, neglect or misappropriation of property,
- has no disqualifying convictions that have not been granted a waiver.
The information on the registry is the only means a health care employer may use to obtain this verification.