Considering cna or phlebotomy

RNin'08 · Nov 15, 2006

A CNA can find a job on just about any shift. Hospitals and nursing homes need to be staffed 24/7, it shouldn't be a huge problem to find a shift to fit your needs. I don't really know much about the hours of phlebotomists, the few I know work in clinics that are open regular 8 - 5 hours, I don't know about hospital work. Best of luck to you!

RNin'08

~my reality check bounced~

mommy2boys · Nov 15, 2006

My friend works as a phlebotomist at one of our local hospitals. She says that phlebotomists work around the clock, but there are fewer shifts for graveyard (there is it is 10pm-6am). You make more money on the grave shift because not many people want to work it.

SHe was hired w/o any education in phlebotomy and the hospital paid her while she was training & getting certified.

HTH

ERin

futurecnm · Nov 15, 2006

CNA's work around the clock in hospitals from what I can tell. Where I live they get about $12/hr. Have you considered LPN or RN?

starlight26 · Nov 15, 2006

Yes, I have but I am not sure if I can go to college right now, at least not full time. It is an option later. I kind of need something I can do soon to help us financially. I am leaning more toward phlebotomy. What I really want to do is ultrasound, but again that requires about 4 yrs of school and not much of the 1 year I have under my belt transfers. I thought maybe I could get in with a hospital doing (first choice) of phlebotomy or (second) cna and go from there doing school part time or waiting until my kids go to school and going full time then. Maybe after I get in with a hospital I will see what I really want to do. The hospitals here pay tuition for nursing if you sign a contract to work for them 2 years after you graduate.

Thanks for the info on phlebotomy and cna's. I kind of figured cna's had to work around the clock. I think from what I have seen the schooling for cna is longer than phlebotomy. I would like to go to a tech school here 2 nights a week for phlebotomy and be done in April. The cna lasts the same amount of time at this particular school, but it is 4 nights week. Since my husband works two of those nights, I would have to get a sitter or drive them to my mom's house.

Alexsys · Nov 15, 2006

I worked as a phlebotomist through nursing school on the night shift. Hospitals have round the clock phlebotomy

starlight26 · Nov 15, 2006

Thank you.

Has anyone worked the night shift with two kids and their dad works day shift? I am thinking maybe I could work 11-7 stay awake until around 1 (when 1 yr old takes a nap) and leave my 3 yr old in the room while I try to sleep or nap (the word is try). She will watch tv. in bed. 1 yr old takes a 1-2 hour nap then likes to watch tv too. Dad gets home at 5 and then maybe I can sleep til 10. Does this sound preposterous?

ann945n, RN · Nov 15, 2006

I worked in assisted living and we had a full night shift of CNA's. They loved the night shift cause most of them would bring in their lap tops and take online classes at night. Our place was real low key, everyone (residents) slept at night and all night shift did was every 2 hour checks and laundry. they made around 11 an hour, seemed nice to me if you can stay up at night

jannrn · Nov 15, 2006

When I was 16, I took a two-week class at a nursing home and then went on to work there for the summer. Maybe that was an exception. It is possible also to find a situation that pays for you if you work there. It was too long ago that I don't know if they paid for me.

Being a CNA can be very rewarding. Just like nursing, you are not stuck in one area of work. There are doctors offices (usually have to go on and get medical assistant cert) hospitals, we had CNAs on the mom/baby ward and they did alot of stuff, even weigh the babies and help with breastfeeding and baby care stuff. there is home health care and working in assisted living places. working with disabled kids, working with paraplegic population in a home, the list goes on, and of course there is the nursing home too. not all nursing homes are the same to work in. I worked agency and went all over town working in different ones. that is a good way to see which ones to avoid and there were some I refused to go to again, and some I really enjoyed working at.

I have worked nights many years and all through when my kids were babies. I'd recommend if you work full-time nights to have a stable out-of-the house child care arrangement. I even recommend that for school-age kids because they can get quite noisy, and boy can they find stuff to get into, take trips to the store etc while you are sleeping. NOT good! It is stressful on the caregiver (husband/babysitter, whoever) to try to keep them quiet while you sleep. (I have 3 boys)

I find that it is best for me to go to sleep by 9 am if I work, otherwise I am half there and no good for the kids, (maybe even dangerous-my reflexes are slow) and I get a wound-up weird feeling that makes me sleep not as well later. You would find what works. also, do a search for "night shift" and you will find lots of discussion on working at night!

starlight26 · Nov 18, 2006

Thank you for your replies. I did a search and found alot of info on working nights, but not alot about with small kids. maybe I didn't go back far enough. Anyway I called a place to try and get some assistance with the class and they said here employers want a phlebotomist ti have cna too, that they cannot stand on their own, although a cna can stand on their own, because they are in such demand. So she said I should enroll in both. I do not know what I am going to do yet though. I may look into the evening and weekend lpn class.

Thanks again!

txspadequeenRN, BSN, RN · Nov 20, 2006

Does anyone know what the organization that provides the national phlebotomy certification is called. Or even better, I was a certified phlebotomist at one time about 8 years ago and wanting to know if I need to retake the course , do a refresher or what if I want to get my cert back....

P_RN, ADN, RN · Nov 20, 2006

National Phlebotomy Association~Education & Certification in Landover, Maryland

Here's the URL. I didn't read the page though. Hope this is what you wanted.