My 16 year old daughter thinks that she wants to become a RN in a neonatal unit. We live in Utah and her high school counselor told her that she would have to take a CNA course....that it is required to enter into a RN program. So I thought, maybe its just the state college / universities that are requiring that so I called a private college and they said the same thing.

Here is my problem with her taking the CNA....

As a RN, she wants to work in neonatal...taking care of babies. Or I am sure she wouldn't mind a position in say at the Childrens Hospital. I think she just wants to help kids. So, I don't see how wiping and cleaning a grown man's butt and genitals is going to in anyway help her. Changing a diaper on an adult is a lot different than changing one on a baby or young child.

Do all states / schools now have this CNA requirement in order to enter an RN program? Or are there some programs where you can do clinicals at childrens hospital instead of a nursing home?? Can you go straight to RN training or do you have to become an LPN first?

I am trying to help my daughter make the right choices with her school schedule and the direction she might want to go after graduation. She is a junior and I had let her sign up for the CNA program at the local tech school that is conjunction with her school. She is supposed to start it next semester. But, I didn't realize that, at 16 years old, that she would be asked to wash a grown man's genitals....that just doesn't seem right to me and I don't want her doing it.....not at 16. But I don't want to totally discourge her from becoming a neonatal RN if that is truely what she wants to do. I told her that I at least wanted her to wait a year on the CNA thing. If I can find a school that doesn't require the CNA or has clinicals at a childrens hospital, then I could send her in that direction after graduation.

Does anyone know if there is an RN program somewhere that is geared toward childrens care??

Thanks!

I can see why you would feel uncomfortable with your underaged daughter working as a CNA...I know I would. No nursing programs do not generally make you become a CNA before becoming a nurse. What I would do is check the websites of the nursing programs she is interested in attending and see what the requirements are. Generally there are prerequiste classes she will need to take prior to her nursing classes, such as anatomy and physiology, microbiology, and chemistry. Each program is different in their requirements, so your best bet would be to check them out! Good luck

Most schools do not require CNA before RN, however, even through RN school she will be "wiping old men's butt's and genitals" as well as females, you can't just say you want to be a neonatal RN and do nothing but work with babies through clinicals. You have to go through it all and work with it all and that is just part of it.

Generally nursing programs do not make you have your CNA before becoming an RN, but I know there are some out there that do, so I would do your research. Going through RN school, your daughter WILL "clean up" adults and change incontinence briefs on them. I know it's not something that she probably will want to do, but we all have to start somewhere. Nursing programs are "general" - you get a whole variety of things while you're in the program - nursing care of adults/older adults (med-surg), postpartum/maternity/labor & delivery, mental health, community health, critical care, and your preceptorship. I think that's because they want graduates to be "well-rounded" and schools also try to give you a "taste" of everything to help you decide what kind of nursing you want to go into.

Beyond additional training that might be required for a specific field of nursing, I have never heard of a nursing school that is geared only to pediatrics.

my Daughter was determined to be a nurse at an early age. she worked in a nursing home at 15 in food service she loved the residents. she paid for the CNA course herself and found her first job herself. I decided I would not stand in her way. she never missed a day of work graduated from the LPN program at 18 and she did the LPN program post secondary. she is currently 29 years old and just started the pre req for RN.

it's a requirement in il. too. hopefully her clinical instructor would choose proper patients for her considering her age

Even if she does not need it, I would recommend it. Experience never hurts on college applications, or on resumes.

My school didn't require Previous CNA experience, but understand she will have to do a whole lot before she makes it to her specialized unit and that CNA experience can come in handy. I know a lot of the Childrens hospitals and NICU units here require 1 year experience first in something like Med/Surge so although she won't be doing that in her long time goals she WILL be doing it through nursing school and gaining experience.

I can imagine how it must feel as a mom and if you are worried about it being sexual at all I can assure it's not. Our first semester of clinicals were at a LTC unit basically doing CNA work and now after actually going through it, I would not hesitate letting my 16 year old do it. It sounds a lot worse then it is and it truly is a non issue.

The skills she will learn will help her in her first semester of nursing school a lot. That also won't be all she will be doing. If this is something she really wants to do I don't think you should stop her based on your own fears, let her try it and see how it goes and if she is uncomfortable and tells you she is not ok with it then ok, but at least let her have the chance. Also while she goes through the nursing program she might change her mind about what she wants to specialize in, or she might after doing NICU for a while she might want to try various feilds.

I started nursing school dead set on what I wanted to do. I had it in my head for YEARS AND YEARS what I wanted to do. Now going through school I have found that their is a lot of fields I now want to persue.

My opinion of course.

It is definitely not required here. Though it would give her great experience that would help her in her future studies. Getting a job in a specialty area as a new grad can be tough so working at a hospital as a CNA would get her some seniority and an "in" for when she graduates! I would say it's a good idea!

It is not currently a requirement back East where I am from and licensed and have worked in PA, DE, NJ, MD, DC.

However, this summer I did a travel assignment RN in Salt Lake City, Utah. IT IS REQUIRED for any RN program in the state of Utah to be a CNA first. I inquired as to the rationale and was told by the Assistant Director of Nursing at a Prominent Hospital that they had new graduate nurses without skills. Therefore that requirement was put in place Be very careful about some of the private for profit colleges out there. Most do not have a high NCLEX pass rate for licensure and some are on probation with the State BON or are not accredited. They accept ANYONE without alot of standards and require FULL tuition up front before starting class day one. Good Luck. CNA experience is an asset prior to RN school. RN school requires learning about ALL areas of healthcare and taking care of people across ALL segments of LIFE in all age groups.

Actually, the only program I know of that requires a CNA in Utah is Weber State. The U of U, Westminster, SLCC and BYU do not require you to be a CNA. I am not sure about UVU or Dixie's program.

It is not required by the state or by any hospital I know of that you complete a CNA program/state certification before becoming an RN. If your daughter does complete the CNA program she can get a job at one of the hospitals as a CNA and possibly qualify for the nursing education program. If you are full time equivalent at the U for 6 months she could get half tuition to the U's program or participate in the partner program they have with SLCC. IHC and St Mark's both have partnership programs as well.

I know that Ameritech and Stevens-Henegar graduate many nurses each semester. However, I am not sure what their NCLEX pass rate or hire data looks like. Both of these programs are very expensive.

If she wants to work in NICU maybe she could start volunteering at Primary's and eventually get a CNA job there if she completes the certification program. Otherwise it is difficult to get your foot in the door since everyone I know wants to work at Primary!

It is not required in my area - upstate NY. But like others have said, she will have to take care of adult patients in nursing school. Of course by then she will be 18.

With all due respect, you can not go into nursing with the mind thought that you will only EVER take care of a certain population. This is not at all realistic. I'm NICU nurse and the standard to entry is at least 3-5 years experience on a medical surgical floor, which will include caring for people of adults of ALL ages with a wide variety of health issues. Most schools now require this certification which is good, because in all actuality one can say they want to be a nurse but lack real life experience to back up their desire. CNA work provides this experience and a lot of other skills (both physical and interpersonal).