Certified Nursing Assistant Performance Evaluation: Template and Tips

Certified nursing assistants (CNAs) are invaluable to the daily operations of most healthcare facilities, yet often don’t get the recognition they deserve. A well-structured certified nursing assistant performance evaluation not only acknowledges their essential role but also offers leadership the chance to support their strengthened performance, ultimately elevating the quality of patient care.

If you’re looking to have a productive evaluation experience with your CNA team, we’ve got you covered. We’ll explore the essential touchpoints of the CNA-specific evaluation process alongside clarifying examples and a helpful, customizable CNA performance evaluation template.

The Certified Nursing Assistant Performance Evaluation Process

Performance evaluations are a crucial opportunity for dialogue between staff members and leadership across industries. In healthcare, they can also be a matter of compliance. Federal regulation requires long-term care facilities to perform annual CNA performance evaluations. And though these experiences can often be nerve-wracking for both the nursing assistant and leadership, they don’t have to be.

Utilizing a template takes the guesswork out of the process while helping to eliminate potential biases. Research has demonstrated that CNAs often face social discrimination and prejudice in healthcare workplaces. Leadership needs to be aware of the vulnerability their nursing assistants may feel because of those social factors during an evaluation experience. Standardizing as much of the process as possible can underscore the prioritization of a just culture and help alleviate fears of unfair treatment.

Let’s break down some of the evaluation process steps, keeping the specific needs of your CNA team in mind:

• Provide the option of self-scheduling for evaluation meetings, offering CNAs more autonomy and flexibility given their often nontraditional hours and schedule variability.
• Give a copy of the certified nursing assistant performance evaluation questions in advance to increase comfort and to allow ample time for writing quality CNA performance evaluation comments.
• Complete your portion of the evaluation form and prepare comments for the meeting ahead of time to avoid inefficiency during the meeting or softening feedback in-situ.
• Conduct the evaluation meeting in a quiet, neutral space and consider including a representative who is familiar with the CNA team to enhance the feeling of support.
• File the documentation of your evaluation per your facility protocols and in a method that aligns with regulatory standards.
• Follow-up on action items and goals in a manner that is congruent with agreed-upon measures to ensure CNAs feel respected throughout the process.

Documenting Your Certified Nursing Assistant Performance Evaluation: Examples and Tips

Now that you know the benefits of standardization — especially for your annual or semiannual CNA evaluations — let’s examine each aspect of the certified nursing assistant performance evaluation template. We’ll also provide tips for how to tailor each section to maximize its effectiveness with your nursing assistant team members.

1. Identifying Information

The initial piece of this CNA performance evaluation sample template may seem straightforward, yet it’s essential. With CNA shortages on the rise among healthcare organizations, this is a great spot for highlighting a CNA’s longevity with your organization or to note your appreciation that they’ve joined your team.

Suggestions:

• Don’t gloss over their job title. Instead, leverage this time to exclaim the importance of their specific role and to ask for and review any questions about the CNA scope of practice.
• Highlight the CNA’s length of service — no matter how long — and offer information and resources about benefits that may come with workplace tenure (such as education assistance programs if they’re looking to advance their career in new directions).

Example:

2. Rating Data

Because CNAs face discrimination that’s specific to their job title, it’s important to review the rating scale that will be used within the CNA performance evaluation and to offer CNAs the chance to express any concerns or reservations about the tool. Explain that covering this aspect of the form is part of an ongoing effort to establish a healthy work environment while still pursuing organizational goals.

Suggestions:

• Pause here to allow the CNA to reflect on their perception of workplace culture and belonging. Ask for feedback about additional measures that may help them feel more valued within the organization.
• Acknowledge that data from task trackers (like from within the EHR documentation of ADLs) influences rating decisions of the certified nursing assistant performance evaluation, clarifying that many of the scoring considerations are quantitative, objective, and therefore impartial.

Example:

3. Skills Evaluation

CNAs require a diverse skillset to accomplish their many assigned duties while juggling delegated tasks that pop up throughout their shift. During this piece of the CNA performance evaluation, it’s important to acknowledge that hard work by recognizing some of their best skills before offering suggestions for growth or remediation. In this section’s sample nursing assistant performance evaluation, we’ll demonstrate how you might address some of the following skills:

• Effective communication is crucial because they often serve as conduits between the patient and nurse.
• Keen observation helps them keep the rest of the interdisciplinary team informed of any changes in the patient’s presentation.
• Time and task management are important skills in a busy environment where patient care and essentials can often depend on the CNA.
• Environmental maintenance (like wiping down equipment after use and ensuring patient rooms remain clean and stocked) can have big impacts on safety.
• Compassion is so important to beneficial patient experiences, as CNAs often spend the most time with patients of any care team member.

Suggestions:

• Utilize a CNA job description template to help guide your skillset evaluations. This can also serve as a helpful reminder of the extent of their scope of practice.
• Link highlighted skills of the CNA to unit or even national healthcare goals, using this opportunity to show them how small tasks (such as consistency with patient baths) have far-reaching influence.

Example:

4. Goal Setting

CNAs provide a significant portion of patient care. So, addressing larger goals for improved patient outcomes means involving the CNAs. After all your work in the initial stages of the CNA performance evaluation, examples of their value and contributions should promote readiness for further growth. Harness that readiness to agree upon achievable, precise, and measurable individual goals that also align with the organizational mission.

Suggestions:

• Divide potential goals by category and explain those different categories. This may echo professional development category goals like additional credentialing opportunities (becoming a certified cardiographic technician, for example).
• CNAs have stressful jobs that require a lot of mental stamina and (often) patience. Consider making resiliency a goal and discussing ways that the CNA can protect their mental health or prioritize emotional wellbeing to help them avoid burnout.

Example:

Maximize the Productivity Benefits of Your Performance Evaluations

With these sample certified nursing assistant performance evaluations at your disposal, you’re better prepared for successful employee reviews with your team. Find more ways to develop your staff and support your patients by accessing our latest facility guides and best practice recommendations today.