Should I or Shouldn't I?

[belabelisa]

hi everyone!

i applied for a cna class way back in january and never heard anything from the facility. today, i got a phone call to inform me that i am scheduled to start cna classes on july 29th! the program ends on august 25th.

the problem is this... my bsn program starts on august 28th. i really think that it would be very helpful for me to take a cna class before school starts. i think it would give me great hands-on experience that would be useful in my classes and it would make me more comfortable during my clinicals. to be honest, i think being a cna would make me a much better nurse when i eventually earn that title.

but... i had planned to take august off to regroup and get prepared for the long road ahead. if i take the cna class, i'll be in training from 8-4 m-f until 3 days before nursing school starts. :doh:

what should i do? do you think experience that i'd gain taking the cna class would be worth giving up my last month of sanity before nursing school starts?

[mariedoreen]

Are you going to learn all the CNA basics in the first term of your nursing program? If the answer is yes then I wouldn't take the class myself. Where I live you have to be a CNA before you can apply because they don't cover any of those skills in the program. If we had spent months recovering what I'd already learned (and in your case just weeks prior) I think I would have gone insane.

Call your school, are they covering CNA content starting out? If yes and you don't want to work as a CNA right away, then take this break and get yourself organized for your RN program.

My .02

[belabelisa]

Are you going to learn all the CNA basics in the first term of your nursing program? If the answer is yes then I wouldn't take the class myself. Where I live you have to be a CNA before you can apply because they don't cover any of those skills in the program. If we had spent months recovering what I'd already learned (and in your case just weeks prior) I think I would have gone insane.

Call your school, are they covering CNA content starting out? If yes and you don't want to work as a CNA right away, then take this break and get yourself organized for your RN program.

My .02

Good Point GMD, Mariedoreen, hikernurse, and Tweety. I'm taking a class called Health and Gerontology this fall and the description of the class reads...

Focuses on the normal aging process and related health care issues from an interdisciplinary perspective. Incorporates concepts of health promotion, prevention, and adaptation for those who are aging and their families.

So, I guess that would be all of the stuff I'd learn in CNA class. The only difference, I suppose, is that I would be practicing on students rather than on patients... and there's only so much you can do with your fellow students without crossing the line of appropriateness.

Is LTC usually a part of clinicals? If so, I would eventually get the hands on experience there. Our clinicals start 2nd semester.

[belabelisa]

Thanks for all of the great replies! :redbeathe You guys are the best! I still don't know what I'm going to do, but I have until next Friday to make my mind up.

[charlies]

I had the same question at one time. The basic pieces that helped me make my decision were:

At the end of the first semester, you have the same qualifications, more or less. Where I live, after 1st semester, students are qualified to work as CNAs or PTs.

The summer may be better spent polishing your understanding of A&P concepts (acid/base balances, heart/pulse/blood-pressure, etc). Also pre-reading nursing school texts and familiarizing yourself with references may be helpful.

So I decided to wait and study. However, I did consider that working in the field might put me more at ease in the clinical setting, and help me develop skills related to interpersonal relationships in the clinical workplace.