CNA as a career?

This site was created by a nurse for nurses. All the tabs are nursing related, and so, there is not really a tab to place the CNA forum under (ie: general nursing, specialty, or local). Also, there are a lot of cna's that plan to go on or are presently nursing students. As someone that began as a cna and was fortunate enough to be asked to moderate here at allnurses.com, I find it a great honor to be included on this website.

Sincerely,
Jay

I will be a brand new CNA in September, but I plan on working for a year or two and then going on to LPN, then RN. But I know that there are many people who make CNA their lifelong career, and there's nothing wrong with that! It takes a very special person to be a CNA.

There are many that remain CNAs. Some are just not interested in further schooling; they are fulfulled in what they are currently doing and then, there are others that expand within their current scopes by taking phlebotomy and EKG therefore becoming patient care techinicians/associates. It all depends on you. It is an honorable job. Good luck!

This post might be slightly off the subject. I have observed that some facilities treat CNAs in a crummy manner, if they are aware that you are making a career out of it with no aspirations to further your education. CNAs who are college students frequently tend to be treated more respectably by staff because there seems to be some invisible cultural capital that comes with being middle-class and college-educated, or at least aspiring to become middle-class through a college education that will result in a more prestigious career.

I have known career CNAs and most of them were quite happy with their jobs. The reason most cited for not wanting to pursue nursing education and licensure was the liability, and I can't say I blame them.
I might feel the same if I weren't making twice as much $$$ on the hour as them.

I have seen some CNAs live better than nurses if they are wise with their money. Unfortunately, TheCommuter is correct, to a point. I have seen them treated a certain way if they are not aspiring to attend school, but for some reason, I didn't receive that treatment, personally.

I always wanted to become an LPN because of the mobility and I do enjoy teaching and performing nursing skills, but I didn't think I would have an opportunity to become one. Therefore, I advanced on my skills and did venipuncture and medical assisting classes. When I started working in the clinic, I took on additional skills such as ordering outside supplies, was the major blood drawer of the clinic and was involved with many committees. I was sought after for these things, and no one really bothered me much about attending school. I did have the opportunity to become an LPN and consider myself to be very fortunate for that. But, I guess similar to those CNAs that are not interested in pursuing further education in nursing, I don't either.

Bottom line to me, is that we cannot seek our personal validation from others, because they'll never be happy with us. There will always be someone who will state that we should go further. I had a conversation with a patient care associate (this position is basically the equivilant to patient technician) a few weeks ago and she told me that she is very proud of how far she came. She began as a welfare worker, got a job as a clerk, then, became a CNA, then PCA within 4 years. She is happy with what she does and believes that any level of nursing is too much liability and responsibility. She can't see herself attending school for a long length of time. This woman is very good at what she does and all of us are glad to have her. Again, some of it depends on how we carry ourselves and the rest is our mental attitude and how we take how others think of us.

The liability and responsibility overwhelms me as an LPN, being in the foxholes now, rather than observing from the sidebars. I can understand how they are feeliing about this as well.

I started as a CNA almost 8 years ago. Most CNA's who plan to go on I don't think, stay a CNA for as long. There are many different reasons for me staying a CNA for so long. First and foremost, I am a mother of 4 children. I have just been accepted for the fall for nursing school for my LPN. I'm psyched. However, I recently made this decision. Part of me has always wanted to be a nurse and another part didn't. It's really kinda hard to explain. The decision to become a nurse came when my child fell very ill and was hospitalized. I watched my mother go to school for her RN while we were young and way back then I resented her for time missed with us. But, as I lay my sick child in my arms, I admired my mother more than I'll ever be able to tell her. Iknew then that I needed to go to school and become a nurse. At this point, I don't know in which area of nursing I will ultimately work, but I know nursing is what I want to do. I can't say that I've ever really been treated poorly by any nursing staff, but it's funny with the scheduling office. I used to request days off all the time and it'd be denied. I then requested a day off (with rather short notice, only 48 hours) and I wrote on the request that I had an interview for nursing school. Not only was THAT request approved, but so has every request since then. Maybe just coincidence but I dont' think so. Either way, you are the only one that can make YOU happy. Do what makes you happy and don't regret it. (sorry this is so long, I have a tendency to ramble)

I notice that where I work. Since everyone knows that I am in nursing school right now, I definately get treated "different" from those that are not in school. I can't really explain it but I feel like the nurses that I work with have already accepted me as one of thiers and I get treated with the same respect that they give to each other whereas it's different with the other techs that I work with. I've even had some nurses take me under their wing and teach me nursing stuff that I haven't learned yet. I have to say it's great and I feel really valued there but I'm curious about the psychology of it all. Why some of us are accepted and some not (I don't want to use the word rejected becuase the others aren't, they are just treated diffrently).