Help!!!!!!

I am a CNA in a LTCF. I make beds, feed the resident, change the resident, toilet the resident, do ADLs and basic cares, bathe the resident, transport the resident, and other things. I do not do much medically oriented things, except for reporting anything to nurses (behavior changes, BM charting, or any physical changes).

I have never worked as a CNA in a hospital, but I'm trying to get there -- I've heard it's much more experience, you see a lot more of what you'll do firsthand. In a LTCF, you work under a charge nurse, but most of her medical duties for the day are just passing pills, applying creams or ointments, administering breathing treatments, treating skin tears or decubiti, or rarely giving shots.

I would shoot for a hospital if I were you, that's what I hear seems to be the best. Especially if you don't plan to work in a LTCF with your RN!

It's harder to get hired in hospitals as a CNA than it is in LTC, at least that's what I'm hearing from my friends who are both CNA's. A lot of times they want CNA's who are experienced. BUT, some people HAVE gotten jobs in hospitals right after getting certified, so it does happen! I think both settings prepare you for nursing school, depending on what area you want to go into, but hospitals definitely have a wider variety of areas and I think you would learn a LOT as a CNA working in a hospital.

After I complete my LNA (we call them LNA's in NH ) course, I'm planning on working in a nursing home or assisted living facility first for at least a year, then hopefully working in a hospital before I start nursing school.

It's definitely harder to get a hospital job than a LTCF one around here -- I applied at countless jobs at the hospitals, but I was hired on the spot at my first LTCF application! I love my LTCF job and I love my residents and the people I work with, but I know it's not what I want to do. I'm just trying to accumulate a little experience, so I can get my foot in the door at the hospital!

One of the things I'm considering doing is getting phlebotomy training to help edge into the hospital jobs -- how well does this increase chances, anyone have any idea?

I have heard that CNA work is difficult in LTC (a.k.a. nursing homes) due to the high patient loads and full care that is required. I work at a nursing home that is chronically understaffed, and sometimes we must split 80 elderly patients between 4 CNAs. In other words, our CNAs sometimes must care for 20 patients apiece.

If you want to be a nursing home RN, then the nursing home CNA experience will be of the most use. If you want to be a hospital RN, then the hospital CNA experience will be most useful. Believe me, the nursing home where I am employed has many floor RNs and supervisors, and they pay more competitively than the local hospitals.

I've done both, at different points during nursing school. After sophomore year, with only fundamentals clinical under my belt, I worked for the summer in LTC. It was the perfect thing to do at the time, because it helped me get comfortable with the skills & in general with interacting with patients/residents. This summer (after my junior year, with MedSurg, Peds & Maternity under my belt) I'm working on a medical floor in a hospital, which is allowing me to see and do a lot more. I do all the same skills as in the nursing home, but additionally I admit patients (Ht, wt, vitals, set up the rooms, put their belongings away), discharge patients (pack up their belongings and take them downstairs), d/c SL's, d/c Foleys, set up tube feeds, do EKGs, put people on tele, do some dressing changes with the nurses, etc. I think I worked in the nursing home at the perfect time, but the hospital is best for me now.

What everyone has said so far is true. If you want to work in a hospital as an RN, go to the hospital to be a CNA (while working toward your RN) and vice versa. I work in a hospital (got hired two weeks after graduation) and I get to do a lot more there than I would ever get to do in LTC (where I did my clinicals).

Amanda, taking phlebotomy classes will definitely help your chances in getting a job at a hospital! Any extra experience is definitely beneficial. I think that's a great idea and I would definitely do it.

I have worked both in a LTC and a hospital as a CNA. I definitely liked the hospital better. I think that the hospital was easier, but only because I didn't really have any lifting. Plus in the hospital I had a machine to take the vitals so I did not have to manually listen to take bp. I also got to see more in the hospital. I floated on several floors and think that will help when I have to adjust to new areas later on. (I plan to work agency as a RN so you have to be very flexible to new work environments all the time). When I worked in the hospital I worked 7p-7a and sometimes it actually got boring! After doing vitals and bedchanges plus any baths that had to be done, we would all sit in this huge central room with a tv and the nurses would do their charting. If a call light went off we would go help out and then do vitals again during our rounds but that was about it. Very different from a LTC where I never got a break. (Not saying I am lazy...I love to stay busy so the time flys by, but I do at least like to eat a meal!)

In the hospital I got to assist the nurse change bandages, insert a cath and had to help get a body cleaned up after a patient passed away.

I would say go for the hospital if at all possible, unless you are planning on LTC work after school.

Good luck!