STNAs provide direct nursing care to residents in long-term care — typically in Ohio under state licensure — handling personal care, vitals, and the hands-on work.
Workdays involve rotating between residents for vitals, personal care, and assistance with daily living. Long-term care has a different rhythm than hospital work — slower, more relationship-driven, with residents you see for months or years.
Collaboration involves nurses, residents, families, activities staff, and others. What's harder than expected is the emotional weight — long-term residents become familiar over time, and end-of-life moments hit harder when you've known someone for years and watched them decline.
Those who thrive tend to be patient, warm, and able to find meaning in routine care. If you find satisfaction in being a steady presence in residents' lives, the role often feels deeply meaningful — long-term care relationships have weight that acute care doesn't. People who can't carry the cumulative grief, or who can't handle the slow pace of long-term care, usually find STNA work harder than they expected.
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Roles with similar work and overlapping career paths
View all Healthcare roles →STNAs provide direct nursing care to residents in long-term care — typically in Ohio under state licensure — handling personal care, vitals, and the hands-on work.
Median pay for a State Tested Nursing Assistant (STNA) is about $40K nationally, with the field ranging roughly from $31K to $50K depending on experience, employer, and metro (BLS).
Core skills for this role include Service Orientation, Social Perceptiveness, Active Listening, Monitoring, and Speaking.
Most people in this role hold a high school diploma.
Employment in this field is projected to grow about 2.3% through 2034, with roughly 1.4 million people working in it today (BLS).
Closely related roles include Nursing Director, Clinical Assistant, and Ward Aide.
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