Basic Nursing Skills

35% of the CNA exam · blueprint NNAAP Written (Oral) Examination Content Outline, effective April 2024

Short answer

The largest area on the written exam at 21 of the 60 scored items, more than a third on its own. It covers infection control, safety and emergency procedures, therapeutic and technical procedures, and data collection and reporting — which in federal terms means vital signs, height and weight, the resident's environment, recognising abnormal changes and reporting them, and care when death is imminent.

Why it matters on this exam

Thirty-five percent. If you study one area properly, study this one. It also overlaps heavily with the skills evaluation: radial pulse, respirations, blood pressure, weight, urinary output and PPE are all in the skills pool as well as on the written paper.

Key concepts

Infection control. Hand hygiene as the single most important measure — and the reason it is the one skill that is always drawn in the practical evaluation. Standard precautions apply to every resident. PPE donning and removal has its own skill in the NNAAP listing.
Safety and emergency procedures. The federal curriculum at 483.152(b)(1)(iii) names the Heimlich maneuver explicitly, among the content that must be taught before any direct resident contact. Fall prevention, the signalling device within reach, and the bed in the low position recur constantly in the skills checklists.
Therapeutic and technical procedures. Vital signs — counting and recording radial pulse and respirations, and measuring blood pressure either electronically or manually depending on your state. Measuring and recording height, weight and urinary output.
Data collection and reporting. Federal curriculum 483.152(b)(2)(iv): recognizing abnormal changes in body functioning and the importance of reporting such changes to a supervisor. The aide observes and reports; the licensed nurse assesses and decides. That boundary is examined repeatedly.
Care when death is imminent, named at 483.152(b)(2)(v).
The resident's environment — clean, safe, and arranged so the resident can reach what they need.

Common mistakes

Answering as though the aide interprets findings. A nurse aide reports an abnormal reading; deciding what it means is outside the role, and the exam tests the boundary as often as it tests the number.
Forgetting the closing steps of a procedure. Signalling device within reach, bed in the low position, hands washed — these are scored steps in the practical evaluation and they show up as written items too.

Worked example

An aide counts a radial pulse and records a rate well outside the resident's usual range. The correct action is to report it to the licensed nurse, not to recheck repeatedly, not to record it and move on, and certainly not to decide what it signifies. That reporting duty is written into the federal curriculum at 483.152(b)(2)(iv), and it is the reason "report to the nurse" is so often the keyed answer in this area — not because it is a safe guess, but because it is the scope of the role.

Original practice questions

Basic Nursing SkillsDifficulty 2/5

A nurse aide measures a radial pulse well outside the resident's usual range. What should the aide do?

AReport the finding to the licensed nurse without interpreting it
BRecord the finding in the chart and continue with the assigned care
CRecheck the pulse repeatedly until a value in the usual range appears
DExplain to the resident what the abnormal reading is likely to mean

Show answer and rationale

Correct: A. Federal curriculum 483.152(b)(2)(iv) names recognising abnormal changes and the importance of reporting them to a supervisor. The aide observes and reports; the licensed nurse assesses and decides.

B — Charting is not escalating. An abnormal finding needs both the record and the report.
C — Repeating until a convenient number appears discards the finding rather than reporting it.
D — Interpreting a clinical finding for a resident is outside the nurse aide's scope.

Basic Nursing SkillsDifficulty 1/5

Which measure is the single most important for preventing the spread of infection?

ADisinfecting the floor of the resident's room at the start of each shift
BHand hygiene performed before and after contact with each resident
CWearing gloves continuously throughout the entire working shift
DPlacing every resident with an infection in a private isolation room

Show answer and rationale

Correct: B. Hand hygiene is why it is the one skill always included in the NNAAP practical evaluation. Infection control is also among the areas federal rule requires before any direct resident contact.

C — Gloves worn continuously carry organisms between residents exactly as unwashed hands do.
D — Isolation is used selectively and does not address transmission by staff hands.
A — Environmental cleaning matters, but hands are the principal route of transmission.

Basic Nursing SkillsDifficulty 2/5

An aide has finished a procedure at the bedside. Which closing actions are scored steps?

ABed in the high position, signalling device on the bedside table, door closed
BVital signs recorded, family notified of the procedure, chart left at the bedside
CSignalling device within reach, bed in the low position, hands washed
DCurtains opened fully, bed rails raised on both sides, lights switched off

Show answer and rationale

Correct: C. These three recur at the end of nearly every NNAAP skill checklist. They are safety steps, which is why they are scored even when the procedure itself went perfectly.

D — Raising both rails can constitute a restraint, which federal rule directs aides to avoid.
A — Leaving the bed high is a fall risk, and the device must be within the resident's reach.
B — Charting and family contact are separate duties, not the closing safety steps of a skill.

All 5 Basic Nursing Skills questions →

Tools for this topic

NNAAP skills randomiser — Draws five skills from the NNAAP listing with hand hygiene always included, exactly as the real skills evaluation does. Federal rule requires the draw to be random, so practising a favourites list is a strategy the regulation is built to defeat.
CNA skills evaluation checklist — The preparation the candidate handbook expects, and the federal entitlements most candidates do not know they have — including the right to choose an oral examination and the rule that an employing facility may not charge you.

8 flashcards for Basic Nursing Skills

Practice this topic

Blueprint-mapped questions with full rationales for every choice.

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Primary references

The 2024 National Nurse Aide Assessment Program (NNAAP) Written (Oral) Examination Content Outline — Credentia Nurse Aide LLC · primary · retrieved 2026-09-22, verified 2026-09-22
42 CFR Part 483 Subpart D — Requirements That Must Be Met by States and State Agencies, Nurse Aide Training and Competency Evaluation — Office of the Federal Register (eCFR) · government · retrieved 2026-09-22, verified 2026-09-22

Last reviewed: 2026-09-22Next review by: 2026-11-06Draft — pending editorial reviewHow we verify facts