17.1 Skills-Test Format, Critical Elements, and Measurement Skills
Key Takeaways
- Colorado Credentia assigns five skills in 30 minutes, gives a 5-minute warning at 25 minutes, and requires Satisfactory on all five. Hand Hygiene is always one of the five.
- One of the four remaining skills is always a measurement skill: electronic blood pressure, ambulatory weight, urinary output, radial pulse, or respirations. Record the result digitally in the Candidate Results box.
- A bold Critical Element Step must be performed correctly, and you must also complete enough remaining steps to meet that skill's cut. Perform the instruction card in listed order.
- Arrive 30 minutes early. Ask equipment questions only during the evaluator's pre-test walk-through. Bring an analog watch with a sweeping second hand; do not bring a personal gait belt.
- Light-duty or restricted-activity candidates cannot sit skills until they have documentation of return to full duty. The wash after the last skill is hygiene only, not a sixth scored skill. A failing report lists missed step numbers.
17.1 Skills-Test Format, Critical Elements, and Measurement Skills
Quick Answer: Colorado Credentia assigns five skills in 30 minutes, warns you at 25 minutes, and you must pass all five. Hand Hygiene is always assigned. One of the other four is a measurement skill. Bold Critical Element Steps must be correct and you must complete enough remaining steps to meet the cut. Follow the instruction card in listed order. Arrive 30 minutes early. Ask equipment questions before the evaluation starts.
Why process is a scored subject
Chapters 7–15 taught the 23 Credentia Colorado skill cards. This section is the test itself: how the Skills Evaluation is built, how it is scored, and what can keep you from sitting. A candidate who can wash, transfer, and count a pulse still fails if they treat four-of-five as a passing line, bring a personal gait belt, ask the evaluator mid-skill whether the cuff looks right, or sit skills while on light duty.
The National Nurse Aide Assessment Program (NNAAP) Skills Evaluation is given by a Nurse Aide Evaluator in a room set up like a work setting. The client is another candidate volunteer. You must pass this part and the written (or oral) examination before the Colorado Board of Nursing can list you on the Colorado Nurse Aide Registry. Skills are in person. Official results are pass/fail in the Credentia Platform, not a percentage.
Format: five skills, 30 minutes, pass 5/5
Before the evaluation begins, the evaluator gives you an instruction card that lists the five skills selected for you. Hand Hygiene (Hand Washing) is always one of the five. The other four are randomly chosen from the remaining skills in the Colorado handbook. One of those four is always a measurement skill.
You have 30 minutes to demonstrate all five. When 25 minutes have elapsed, the evaluator tells you that you have 5 minutes left. That warning is a clock, not coaching and not permission to skip locks, recordings, or a call light. You must receive Satisfactory on five out of five skills. One Unsatisfactory skill fails the entire Skills Evaluation, even if the other four were strong.
Perform the skills in the order they are listed on the instruction card. Do not rearrange the card because you prefer transfers last or because a classmate said measurement skills should go first.
Critical Element Steps versus the cut
The NNAAP skills list breaks each skill into steps. A step printed in bold is a Critical Element Step. If you leave it out or perform it incorrectly, you do not pass that skill. Performing only the bold step is not enough. You must also correctly perform enough of the remaining steps to meet the passing standard (cut score) for that skill.
This chapter does not recopy every skill's step list. Those lists live in the skill chapters. What you must remember here is the scoring logic:
- Bold step wrong or omitted = that skill is Unsatisfactory.
- Bold step right, but too many other misses = that skill is still Unsatisfactory.
- One Unsatisfactory skill = the Skills Evaluation is a fail.
If you fail, the Failing Score Report lists all five skills as Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory. Any Unsatisfactory skill is a failed skill. Failed skills show missed step numbers. Use those numbers against the handbook skill listing when you retrain. The numbers are a study map. They are not a permission slip to skip the rest of the card on a retake.
Measurement skills and digital recording
One of the four random skills is a measurement skill. Colorado's measurement set for the recording box is:
| Measurement skill | What you enter in Candidate Results | Accuracy you already practiced |
|---|---|---|
| Measures and Records Electronic Blood Pressure | Both numbers exactly as displayed | Displayed systolic and diastolic |
| Measures and Records Weight of Ambulatory Client | The weight | ±2 lb / ±0.9 kg |
| Measures and Records Urinary Output | The volume | ±25 mL/cc; if between lines, round up to the nearest 25 |
| Counts and Records Radial Pulse | The pulse | ±4 of the evaluator |
| Counts and Records Respirations | The count | ±2 of the evaluator |
You record on a digital form in a box labeled Candidate Results. You must make the measurement and enter it. A correct count that never reaches the box does not receive full credit. The evaluator provides the recording sheet or digital box at the site. For weight, you must know standing and non-digital bathroom scales and how to set both types to zero. Manual blood pressure is a separate skill on the 23-skill list; the always-one-of-four measurement group uses electronic blood pressure.
Bring an analog watch with a sweeping second hand. A digital watch or smartwatch is not allowed. Pulse and respirations are counted against that second hand. Do not try to use a phone timer.
Arrival, equipment, and when you may ask questions
Arrive 30 minutes early for skills. If you are late, or you do not bring required materials, you will not be allowed to test and fees are not refunded. Skills times are approximate; you still check in. Bring two current, signature-bearing IDs, one of them a government-issued photo ID. Names must match the application or bring legal name-change proof. Missing ID still counts as an attempt because you were unprepared.
Before the evaluation begins, the evaluator shows you where the equipment is and answers questions about using that equipment. Ask then. During the Skills Evaluation the evaluator will not answer questions, will not tell you whether a skill was correct, and will not coach. A mid-skill "Is this cuff on right?" is a question the evaluator will not answer. If you have a question, it belongs in the equipment walk-through.
Do not bring your own equipment, including a personal transfer/gait belt. Use the site belt. Phones, study sheets, and extra bags stay out of the examination room.
Who plays the client, language, and clothing
The client is a candidate volunteer who acts like an elderly nursing-home resident. Speak to that person as you would speak to a real client. Talking is part of quality care and it keeps you from freezing.
English Skills Exam: you must speak English so the evaluator can score. If either of you gives or receives help, or you talk in another language, the test is stopped.
Spanish Skills Exam: you must speak Spanish. Help or a language other than Spanish stops the test.
You will also act as the volunteer client for another candidate. Wear:
- Flat, slip-on, non-skid shoes
- A loose-fitting top with short sleeves that can be rolled to the shoulder, or a tank top
- Loose-fitting pants that can be rolled up
You put a gown over your clothing. No one removes clothing down to undergarments. Tell the evaluator before you start about a food or latex allergy, soap or lotion sensitivity, or range-of-motion limits. Do not come with open sores; reschedule.
Light duty and the closing wash
Federal rule: candidates on restricted activity or light duty for medical reasons cannot take the Skills Evaluation. They may take the written or oral examination. You need medical documentation of return to full, unrestricted duty before you sit skills. You cannot skip transfers and call that a modified skills test.
When you have finished the five skills, the evaluator tells you to wash your hands. That wash is a hygiene measure. It does not affect your score and it is not a sixth skill. Skill 1 (Hand Hygiene) was already one of the five scored skills.
Colorado scenario
Dani arrives at a Credentia regional site in Aurora 10 minutes before skills, wearing a smartwatch, carrying a personal gait belt, and still on light duty after a wrist sprain. She plans to skip transfers and to ask, during the pulse skill, whether her count looks right.
None of that works. Arrive 30 minutes early. Leave the personal gait belt in the car. Wear the analog watch. Light duty cannot sit skills until a clinician documents full, unrestricted duty; she can sit written/oral today if that part is scheduled. Equipment questions belong in the pre-test walk-through. She will get five skills, including Hand Hygiene and one measurement skill, in 30 minutes, with a warning at 25. She must pass 5/5. After the last skill she will wash again only as hygiene. If she later fails, the report will list missed step numbers, not a percentage.
Exam traps
- Treating 4/5 as a pass.
- Rearranging the instruction card.
- Doing only the bold step and ignoring the rest of the cut.
- Asking the evaluator mid-skill.
- Digital/smartwatch or personal gait belt.
- Sitting skills on light duty.
- Treating the closing wash as a sixth scored skill.
- Speaking a language the assigned exam does not use.
On the Colorado Credentia Skills Evaluation, how many skills must you demonstrate, how long do you have, and what is the passing rule?
When may you ask the Nurse Aide Evaluator questions about equipment on the Colorado skills test?
Which statement about Colorado skills-test logistics is correct?