Unlike a career as a registered nurse or nurse practitioner, a nursing assistant or aide can be trained in a vocational school or community college career education training program. Nursing aides must pass a background test and limited physical fitness requirements along with competency exams. The duties of a nurses aide are much more limited than those of other nursing professionals. Nurses aides administer medication, bathe patients, prepare patients for exams and procedures and perform other support tasks for doctors and nursing professionals. In 2006, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, www.bls.gov, reported that the median hourly wage for nursing assistants was a little over $10 per hour. The highest paid nursing aides earned over $15 an hour.