[Skinny]

Hey all,

This is my first time posting here, having just registered for an account a few minutes ago. I'm a 20-year-old male LPN student from Virginia. I'm on summer "break" now (if you can call it that, what with all the homework we were assigned), and I'll be entering my second year of the program on 16 August.

The second year of our program consists of three days of clinicals and two days of theory. We were assigned all of our book homework for the second year at the end of this one, so that we could do it over the summer and be ahead. I've taken advantage of this opportunity, so basically all I'll really have to do is study for the tests and write up care plans next year.

So, because I'm ahead on homework, I plan on getting a hospital job in August. I was considering being a nurse's aid, but I'm feeling very intimidated by the thought of it, having only had around two months of hands-on clinical experience thus far. A guy who graduated from my program last year did it with no problem, but I don't know, I'm just worried that I'm not competent enough to handle it. I just have these horrible ideas about being turned loose on my own and being told to do procedures that I'm not very comfortable with.

I was just wondering if someone could explain to me exactly what a nurse's aid does? By this I mean, what is within their scope of practice? What would be expected of me? Also, if anyone feels I shouldn't go for this job at this time, feel free to recommend another position to me I could try for (I also had unit clerk in mind). Thanks! I hope I didn't ramble, haha.

[Daytonite]

Hi, Skinny!
The answer to your question is that, in general, a nursing assistant pretty much is the person that directly helps the patient accomplish their activities of daily living. If you're working in a nursing home a good deal of your work will revolve around toileting, bathing, dressing and seeing that the patients are eating. If you're working in a hospital you'll be doing more under the direction of the licensed nurses and helping in carrying out hospital routine and doctor's orders--things like taking routine vital signs, toileting patients and keeping track of I&Os, helping with bed baths and partial baths, those kinds of things.

It is normal to feel worried and concerned when you are first starting out. I'm sure you've already learned a great many, if not all of the basic nursing that you will need to know to work as a CNA. In most states you can get your certification if you are a nursing student without having to go through the CNA training classes. Take a deep breath, make a decision and apply for jobs. We all went through that first day. We survived. So will you. Just use your common sense and remember what you have been taught in school. You will see people who don't follow good principles of nursing when you start working. Let them serve as examples of what you shouldn't be doing. Never compromise the high standards you are being taught in nursing school.

You can find out more specifically what your state says a certified nursing assistant can do by going to their website. Your state nurse aide registry will be administrated by your state department of health, so you can do a websearch for "(your state) nurse aide registry". Or, you can find the address and phone number for your official state agency as well as information about CNAs at this website:
http://nursingassistantcentral.homestead.com/NurseAideRegistries.html
Good luck! Don't be a stranger to the Nursing Student Forums! See you here! I'm one of those weird nurses who actually likes doing nursing care plans.

Welcome to allnurses!

[Skinny]

Hi Daytonite,

Thanks for the welcome and your thorough answer. I suppose I'm just going through what is normal for someone about to enter their first medical job. I was planning on working at the hospital where the majority of my clinicals will be conducted. I'll look into it after I get more of these aggravating drug cards completed, haha. I would go through an orientation phase, though, right?

[Daytonite]

Yes, all acute hospital employees go through some sort of formal orientation. The orientation for a nursing assistant may not be as long as it is for an RN or as short as it is for someone who works in the dietary department. It depends on what the hospital's nursing education department wants to do with new nursing assistants as well. It's something you should ask about when you are being interviewed. Hospitals will often allow nursing students who they hire on as nursing assistants to do more than their regular nursing assistants because they are already studying nursing. Again, you need to ask that at your interview. Hospitals that do that usually give those NAs special orientation and training. As a male NA they may specifically train you to perform male catheterizations. I've seen that done a lot with male nursing students who are hired on at hospitals.

Here is a link to a medication card constructor program. If you're any good at figuring out some of this technical stuff you can print out some FINE drug cards for yourself. I just couldn't figure out how to get my printer to shrink the finished card down any smaller. I'm a neatnik, so I like programs like this that will crank out a nicely organized and printed form:
http://www.edruginfo.com/qthome.htm - e-Druginfo.com's gateway page into Medi-Quik Construct-a-Card. You need to register, but it's free. You have to input all the information yourself. This constructor merely prints it onto a pre-formatted form. In playing around with the constructor I found that you could not go back otherwise you lost your input data. I was able to shrink the finished card down to about 7" x 5" but my printer didn't print any border, or perhaps I just didn't know how to apply a border or shrink the card down smaller.

www.drugs.com - at this site you find the drug you are looking for alphabetically and then information is brought up for you. There is information that is written for the general public (easier to understand, perhaps) and information for professionals that is often very similar if not the same entries that are in the PDR. This site has some of the same information printed in the PDR for some medications, but not all. You can check for the PDR information easily by scrolling down to the bottom of this home page and looking alphabetically in the PDR files. They also have some information from other professional sources.

http://www.globalrph.com/ - has drug listings, instructions for IV dilutions in mixing piggyback meds, you can search for specific drugs (uses RXList.com), or chose the "Drug Table" button to get lists of medications arranged by categories. This is the only online pharmacy source that I have found where you can get lists of drugs arranged by their category like this. Clicking on the Infectious disease button takes you to an infectious disease database arranged by disease which give you listings of antibiotic choices that can be used for treatment. There are a number of medical calculators here including one to calculate drip rates on some of the commonly used ICU medications. There are also links to a video library. Scroll down to the bottom of this home page to find more links.

http://www.brooksidepress.org/Products/Military_OBGYN/Pharmacy/Medications.htm - a huge list of medications you can link to for information. So far, this is the only online source of commonly used OB/GYN medications that I have found. From a military source for OB/GYN. Bookmark this site because there is a lot of OB information here that you won't find elsewhere on the internet that may come in handy when you do your OB rotation. There is also a list of links to descriptions of OB procedures at this website.

http://www.drugstore.com/pharmacy/drugchecker/ - from Drugstore.com you can input a list of drugs and then the site will return any drug interactions between those drugs.

[Skinny]

Thanks again Daytonite. And while I do appreciate you giving me the links to drug information sites, unfortunately, ours have to be hand-written (all 500!). It's the most grueling assignment I believe I've ever had. We're the only nursing school in our area that has to handwrite ours. The rest get to buy manufactured cards, or do them on the computer. No such luck for us.

[funnyfarm]

Hello Skinny,

We also have to handwrite our drug cards. Such a joy isn't it?!? I got my CNA two years ago and never used it until now. I have one more year of nursing school to go and I decided to work as a CNA at our local medical center. I felt a little lost in my med-surg clinicals, so I thought this job would help me be more comfortable in the hospital setting. I've only worked two shifts so far (I've already been through a week and a half of orientation though), but so far I don't like it. I'm hoping that as I settle in and find my groove things will feel better, but I'm pretty sure it's just that I don't enjoy med-surg. A big part of me is wishing I hadn't started this job, especially since this last year is going to be intense, but another part of me keeps telling myself it will be good for me. If I had it to do over again, I don't think I would have applied. I would just spend my energy on school and family... just my 2 cents. There are several others in my class who do it and really enjoy, AND they are always the ones who seem most competent in clinicals.

Good luck, I wish you the best! And thank you to Daytonite for the drug links.

[Skinny]

Sorry to hear that you're not enjoying your experience as an NA thus far, funnyfarm. I don't know; it might not turn out to be what I thought it'd be. But as I said, I'm not 100% sure that's the position I'd go for. I'd also like to check into becoming a unit clerk. But my teacher recommended I try being an NA (I told her I was interested in a job at the hospital). She told me it'd be a fantastic experience. I guess part of it is out of curiosity, too. I want to see what it's like to actually work in a hospital.

[omni123]

I am a Nursing Student currently and I am also a CNA. Where I work, everyone knows that the best nurses are CNAs first. This is because nurses that have never worked as a CNA have less understanding of how demanding it is to be a CNA. The nurses I work with that have been CNAs in the past are more likely to work as a team and help out rather than simply give out orders. These nurses are more respected and get along with other staff much easier.

[*Heather*]

Skinny,

Good luck to you as you make your decision on whether to pursue a CNA job while in school. I have pondered this question many times myself. I start my first semester of an ASN program in August & feel like I will be somewhat behind those who already have medical experience. Come January, I may try putting in an application at our local hospital OR...I may be so thankful for Christmas break, I'll not even consider it.

Daytonite,

Awesome post. I have bookmarked the sites you suggested for use this fall. Thanks to you for the interest in helping
us newbies succeed.

Heather

[2bharts]

Skinny

I am a nursing student and work as a NA on our neuro-spine floor. More than half of the students where I go to school work PRN shifts as Nurse Aides. It is the best experience you can get. All of the students I have talked to that have not worked as NA regret it. Work as NA will give you the opportunity to learn so much - and in most cases the nurses will teach you so much. All my nurses are willing to let me watch procedures, they answer questions, they are teaching me so much.

Good luck.

2bharts