Job type during Nursing school?

CaLLaCoDe, BSN, RN · Jan 27, 2007

i worked as a cna in a stepdown unit which involved a lot of turning of patients,oral care, feeding, butt wiping (never got used to this task! butt someones got to doo doo it!) we also got used to dealing with a lot of tubes on our patients...ie vent tubing, peg tubing, picc lines, and rectal tubes. i can say that it was a great introduction to the nursing field; saw a lot of things i'd never would have seen in a restaurant (ie, steril wound changes and crashing patients) and, i don't hesitate to do simple cna tasks if my cna is down the hall and busy. cna work taught me to be effecient with patients and not dally around issues i see some rns on the floor do; like getting a posy jacket on a clients early before they end up on the floor.

CaLLaCoDe, BSN, RN · Jan 27, 2007

:melody:

butterfly26pn · Jan 27, 2007

I did private duty. I was able to work part time and go to school full time. My pt. allowed to me study all the time. Plus private duty pays more than hospital or nursing home.

bopps · Jan 27, 2007

EMT- I work as an ER tech. Many ER'S hire EMT'S as techs. You get a lot of experience, because the ER sees a wide variety of pt's. And the money isn't bad either 10-12 per hour. And you will be light years ahead of your fellow students in some things. Just my 2 cent

MIA-RN1, RN · Jan 27, 2007

I think you should look not only at what type of job but what hours you are offered. Do your best to find something flexible and that uses only a smallish part of your brain because you are going to be very busy learning and doing.

I don't think it matters what field you work in while you go to school, as long as you have that necessary flexibility with the hours (like able to take the night off before a big exam!) and that you don't have to work too hard to learn the job on top of what you are learning in school.

I was a medical assistant before I even considered nursing school and all thru it. By the time I started school, I had my job down cold and so it was easy to keep doing it. And the summer between the two years, I worked as a tech in the ED. Honestly, I learned more about nursing from the NP's I worked with at the clinic than I did in the ED.

I know other people that just kept their old jobs in lots of different fields. Its just what works best for you.

eyelalwaysluvher · Nov 27, 2007

Remember the cabin, remember the cabin.......

RNperdiem, RN · Feb 14, 2008

I worked as a CNA on weekend nights and a couple of evenings a week. By the second year of school, I cut down my hours and worked per diem in the hospital med/surg floor. I lived at home and went to community college, so financially this was possible. I earned 4$/hr as a CNA in the mid 1990's.

cgun101 · Feb 14, 2008

when i was in school, i worked in as a security officer and it was very comfortable for me bcuz of schedule flexibility. I spent most of my time studying at work anyway.

pagandeva2000, LPN · Feb 15, 2008

To be honest, I would work in nursing informatics if I had the opportunity or experience during nursing school, simply because the nursing programs can be very hard on the body, demanding on time, and a great deal to study.

As someone else pointed out, being surrounded with nursing issues all the time may drive one for burn out. This may not apply to you, but I know it would have for me. Good luck in whatever decision you make!