Restorative Care for Nursing Assistants

About this course

Restorative care is how a nursing home keeps residents walking, dressing, eating and moving on their own, and nursing assistants deliver most of it. This course teaches the hands-on practice behind it: how to do with a resident instead of for them, how to read and follow a restorative plan exactly, how to move people safely without lifting them by hand, how to do range of motion and positioning that protects joints and skin, how to retrain dressing, grooming and toileting step by step, how to support restorative dining at the right IDDSI level, how to measure and record progress honestly, in numbers, and when to stop and get the nurse.

It is current to the October 2026 CMS Resident Assessment Instrument (RAI) Manual. You will learn, in plain words, what makes a restorative program count (at least 15 minutes per program per day, and days per week that are recorded honestly), the assist levels nurses and therapists use to measure progress, and why your notes are the evidence. It is built from Impact Training Company’s 2027 Nursing Aide curriculum and draws on federal nursing home requirements (42 CFR Part 483), NIOSH and OSHA safe patient handling guidance, the NPIAP pressure injury guideline, the IDDSI Framework and CDC infection control guidance. None of these organizations reviewed or endorses this course.

Who it is for

Nursing assistants who are already working: CNAs, restorative aides, nurse aides and patient care techs in long-term care, post-acute and rehabilitation settings, and the nurses and staff educators who run restorative programs.

How it works

• 8 lessons with composite field scenarios, plus a practice lab built around one restorative shift
• An 8-question practice quiz after each lesson, unlimited tries
• Final quiz: 25 questions from a bank of 40, 80 percent to pass, 3 attempts, 30 minutes
• Downloads: the Restorative Care Field Card, the plain-language participant book, and the Competency Validation Kit for your supervisor or nurse educator (the online certificate covers knowledge; your facility checks your skills in person with this kit)
• Certificate of completion

Training a team? Department packs for facilities are coming soon.

Your pathway

This course is the first step in the Nursing Assistant Development Series: Restorative Care for Nursing Assistants (NA-1), Charge Aide Leadership (NA-2) and Dementia and Memory Care for Nursing Assistants (NA-3), with Strategic Skill Building beside them. You can take it on its own.

What this course is, and is not

This is knowledge training. It is not a state-approved nurse aide training program or a state restorative aide program, it does not make you a CNA or put you on the nurse aide registry, and it does not change your scope of practice. You carry out the restorative plan your nurse and therapists write; you do not design or change it. Delegation and scope follow your state’s law and your facility’s policy, and your facility’s policy and the resident’s care plan govern. Ask your facility whether these hours count toward your annual in-service requirement.

This course earns an ITC certificate of completion. It is not a state-approved nurse aide training program, it does not change your scope of practice, and it does not promise a job or a raise. Your facility validates your skills and decides whether these hours count toward annual in-service.