Hire a Nurse Tech | Washington State Board of Nursing

Hire a Nursing Technician

A nursing technician (nurse tech) is a nursing student licensed to work in hospitals, nursing homes, or clinics. They can provide nursing care to patients and can help with your staffing needs.

Dr. Alecia Nye talks about the benefits of hiring nursing students.

Nurse techs must be licensed and work under direct supervision of a registered nurse. Nurse techs can perform a wide variety of nursing tasks including:

Gather information about patients
Perform specific nursing functions
Provide care to patients
Work to their verified level of skill and education

Benefits of hiring nurse techs

Nurse techs who work in health care settings are eager to learn and practice their skills.

Hiring nurse techs can:

Jenny Weaver talks about her positive experience of being a nurse tech.

Fill critical staffing needs
Create a hiring pool of future licensed RNs and LPNs
Promote partnership with local nursing programs
Give future nurses valuable experience
Help nursing students meet graduation requirements

“The experience that they (nursing students) get as a nurse tech or CNA even before that, has been so beneficial for them in their nursing programs that I just feel it's a win-win all the way around. For employers to cover tuition costs to help get people into the CNA program, and have a guaranteed employee for a period of time, it's a great way to recruit people into the field of nursing and ensure staffing.”
– Jeannie Eylar, MSN, RN, WABON Pro-tem, former Board Chair

Laws governing nurse techs

Review the Washington State nurse tech laws to learn more about working with nurse techs:

Sample nurse tech job description

Download a sample nurse tech job description and use it to create one for your organization.

Find nurse techs

Contact the nursing programs in your area to find and recruit nurse techs.

Nursing Schools and Training programs