Ohio CNA (formerly STNA) common mistakes
Ohio CNA (formerly STNA) · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
On resident-rights items, the candidate picks the option that sounds most protective (locking a resident's belongings in a closet, restricting phone calls, deciding the resident 'shouldn't' attend an activity) instead of the option that preserves autonomy, even when the resident has decision-making capacity.
Aides are trained to keep people safe, so 'safety-sounding' answers feel right; candidates also forget that rights still apply to residents who make choices staff disagree with, and that restrictions need a documented reason and must be the least restrictive option.
What to do instead
Apply a two-question test to every rights option: (1) Who is the decision-maker here - the resident or the staff member? (2) Is this the least restrictive way to keep the resident safe? If the resident has capacity, the correct answer almost always offers a choice, honors a refusal, or provides privacy and access. Reserve restriction answers for documented, care-planned situations.
Treats gloves as a substitute for hand hygiene - answers that the aide 'put on gloves so no handwashing is needed,' washes hands only before gloving, or wears the same gloves from one resident to the next (e.g., from peri care to the roommate's water pitcher).
Gloves feel like a barrier and are visible, so candidates mentally check off 'I protected myself.' Candidates also memorize handwashing as a beginning-of-care step rather than a step that is repeated at every transition.
What to do instead
Memorize the rule verbatim: gloves never replace hand hygiene. Hand hygiene happens before gloving, after removing gloves, and between every resident and every dirty-to-clean transition. In scenario items, count the hand-hygiene moments; if an option shows gloves carrying something from a dirty task to a clean task, it is wrong.
Chooses answers in which the aide briefly leaves a resident unattended - stepping out to get supplies while the resident is on a bedpan, in the tub, or seated on the toilet - or leaves the bed raised and the call light out of reach 'because it's just for a second.'
Real shifts are rushed, so candidates identify with the efficient version of the scenario and underestimate fall risk; the exam's wording makes a short absence sound harmless.
What to do instead
Adopt a zero-exceptions rule: a dependent resident is never left alone in a bathroom, tub, or on a bedpan, and bed height, brakes, side rails, and call light are checked before walking away. If an option requires leaving the resident, gather everything first or ask for help - that is the answer the exam rewards.
Takes respiratory rate by counting for 15 seconds and multiplying by four, announces 'I'm going to count your breathing now,' or takes an oral temperature immediately after the resident has had hot coffee; also reports a single abnormal reading as a final result without telling the nurse.
These shortcuts are common in practice and easy to remember as 'the way it's done,' so the candidate never learns the rationale; announcing respirations invites the resident to change their breathing pattern without the aide realizing it invalidates the count.
What to do instead
Learn the exam-standard technique: count respirations for a full 60 seconds while appearing to check the pulse, take oral temperature only after 15–30 minutes without hot or cold intake, and document and report any abnormal value to the nurse. Choose the option that reflects correct technique, not the fastest one.
In feeding scenarios, continues offering food or fluid to a resident who is coughing, gurgling, or has a known swallowing problem, or spoons food in quickly to finish the meal; also chooses giving water to a resident on thickened liquids because 'hydration matters.'
Mealtime pressure (trays must be returned, the resident must eat) pushes candidates toward 'get the food in,' and candidates don't connect coughing during eating with aspiration risk.
What to do instead
Fix the reflex: coughing, choking, or a wet voice means stop, sit the resident fully upright, keep them calm, and report to the nurse. Match all food and fluid textures to the care plan, offer small bites, and allow time. If an option continues feeding through signs of aspiration, eliminate it immediately.
Transfer and ambulation items answered without a gait belt or with equipment unlocked - standing a resident before the wheelchair brakes are set, pivoting on a wet floor, or holding the resident by the underarms/arms rather than at the waist and gait belt.
Candidates picture the smooth version of a transfer they've watched someone do, and the mechanical checks feel like trivial details compared to the 'real' skill of moving the person.
What to do instead
Memorize a fixed pre-transfer checklist and apply it to every transfer question: brakes locked, bed at safe height, non-skid footwear, gait belt on, weak side supported, resident told what will happen, clear path. Answers that skip a checklist item are wrong even if the rest of the description looks correct.
Performs perineal care washing from back to front, uses the same washcloth area repeatedly without rinsing, or skips peri care on a resident who 'can do it themselves' but has an indwelling catheter or is incontinent.
Candidates remember the steps of washing but not the direction rule or the reason behind it, and they conflate 'independent with some ADLs' with 'independent with hygiene that carries infection risk.'
What to do instead
Anchor on the reason: front to back keeps fecal bacteria away from the urethra. Wash from the cleanest area outward, use a clean portion of cloth each stroke, rinse and dry thoroughly, and expose only the area being washed. Peri care and catheter care follow the care plan regardless of how much the resident can do alone.
Leaves a resident on a bedpan or commode for an extended period, places the bedpan without warming or positioning it correctly, or fails to report that the resident has not voided or had a bowel movement for a day or more (or that urine is cloudy, dark, or foul-smelling).
Elimination tasks feel routine and low-stakes, so the timing and reporting details get skipped in study; candidates also worry that reporting 'no BM' is trivial and don't realize it is a clinical change.
What to do instead
Treat output as data: note time on and off the bedpan, provide privacy and warmth, position correctly to prevent skin injury, and report promptly any change in frequency, color, odor, or the absence of output. In questions, choose the option that shortens bedpan time and communicates the finding to the nurse.
Argues with or corrects a resident who has dementia - insisting 'your husband died ten years ago' or 'you can't go home, this is your home now' - or answers a distressed resident by promising things the aide cannot guarantee.
Truthfulness feels like a core value, so candidates believe correcting the resident is the honest and helpful response; they don't yet distinguish honesty from arguing with a false belief that cannot be corrected.
What to do instead
Use validation over correction: acknowledge the feeling ('You miss your husband'), redirect to a safe topic or activity, and avoid arguing, quizzing, or making promises. Report distress to the nurse rather than handling it silently. On the exam, the answer that calms and redirects without deception or confrontation is the correct one.
Charts or reports subjectively - 'resident seems depressed,' 'resident was being difficult,' 'resident refused care, noncompliant' - or discusses the resident's condition in a hallway or in front of the resident as if they weren't there.
Candidates write what they felt rather than what they saw, because feelings are what stood out; and casual conversation about residents is normalized on busy units, so confidentiality doesn't register as a testable behavior.
What to do instead
Convert every observation into an objective statement with a time and a fact ('Resident stated, "I don't want to eat," at 0800; ate 10%; nurse notified'). Keep resident information out of hallways, elevators, and shared spaces, and address the resident directly rather than speaking over them. Choose documentation answers that quote the resident or describe what was seen and reported.