CNA Requirements in New Jersey

Becoming a CNA in New Jersey is procedurally distinctive because of two New Jersey-specific quirks. First, the Certified Nurse Aide credential is regulated by the New Jersey Department of Health (NJ DOH), Health Facilities Certification & Licensing — not by the New Jersey Board of Nursing. The Board of Nursing regulates a related but separate credential called the Certified Homemaker-Home Health Aide (CHHA), which is for in-home care work. The two credentials are commonly confused but follow completely different training, exam, and oversight pathways. If you want to work in a nursing home or hospital, you need the CNA credential; if you want to work in patients' homes through a home health agency, you need the CHHA credential.

Second, New Jersey is one of the few states that uses PSI Services LLC as its CNA testing vendor, rather than the more common Prometric, Credentia, or Headmaster. PSI administers both portions of the New Jersey Nurse Aide Examination — the combined fee is $76 (skills + written) or $90 (skills + oral). The exam is scheduled through njna.psiexams.com, and PSI candidate services are at 877-774-4243. Most training programs schedule their graduates' first exam attempt within 2 to 4 weeks of program completion.

The training itself is 90 hours under a NJ DOH-approved Nurse Aide in Long Term Care Facilities Training and Competency Evaluation Program (NATCEP) — 15 hours above the federal minimum, split into 50 hours of classroom instruction and 40 hours of supervised clinical training in a licensed long-term care facility. Most full-time programs run 4 to 6 weeks. Several large New Jersey LTC chains in Bergen, Hudson, Essex, Middlesex, Mercer, and Camden counties sponsor CNA training in exchange for a work commitment. The minimum age for CNA training in New Jersey is 18, and while NJ DOH does not require a high school diploma, most training programs do.