Vegas Pre-nurs student looking for help

[Beldar_the_Cenobite, CNA]

Hello, My name is Jason, I'm new here on Allnurses.com. I live in Las Vegas and am attending CSN for pre-nursing requirements. I'm currently working at a fast food place and a close friend of mine completed CNA school and I thought about doing it. Does anyone know if you can get as much hours as you want or are your hours like fast food? Where you get very little hours? I'm looking for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights only for school reasons like maybe 15 hours?

I'm hoping to make new friends on here both abroad and locally. I served the Air Force and will plan on transferring to UNLV to use my GI bill if I can get into the nursing program there. I hear it is extremely difficult to get in, stay in and keep a job. I'm 6 classes away from getting my associates of science so I'm almost done!

I really want to be a nurse. This is the career I really, really want to grow old with.

I don't know about others, but I hope allnurses is the best place for advice because I come from a very un-resourceful household.

My first job at a hospital didn't really deal with patients per say but we did work in a sterilized environment and made surgical packs for OR rooms. I got burned out making $10 an hour and I wanted a career change specially since the GI bill isn't going to stick around forever so I had to find something to use it on. My manager was a surgical tech and she would tell us horror stories of some of the patients she experienced working in the ER. I asked her for advice and she told me a good career to get into would be nursing as well as other careers like PT, Dr, etc. They're always in demand and unfortunately have a huge burnout. To me it sounds exciting because I'd rather make what nurses make instead of $10 an hour. $10 an hour barely pays rent in my experience. I'm not doing nursing for the money but you gotta think about yourself too you know.

I know a CNA will make close to that if not minimum wage but at least it's a step closer in the nursing direction.

[NICUismylife, ADN, BSN, RN]

If you search for job openings at your local hospitals (they are usually posted online under "careers" on the hospital's website), then you will see the listings with the hours. For example, some of them will be "on-call" or "prn" but others will be "full-time" or "part-time" and they will usually list how many hours you can expect per pay period on the listing as well.

Good luck!

[Beldar_the_Cenobite, CNA]

Thanks for the reply.

[Buyer beware, BSN]

OP: I want you to know that in many ways I was touched by your story. I also want to tell you that due to your very valuable GI Bill benefits you may not know that you are a walking target for many unscrupulous bad actors in the world of nursing education. I will not get into the particulars of my last statement except to say that many poor performing schools in for-profit nursing education would love to dip into those funds leaving them depleted and you without a degree. Go to (collegescorecard.ed.gov) and look up institutions you are considering. Some have terrible graduation and retention rates and for the tuition they charge, that's a crime. For profits spend much more money trolling for "numbers" than they ever did ensuring that students get what they need to succeed in school.

So, I'm not saying CNA is not the way to go but since you have your prerequisite courses done, maybe getting an ADN would be the most efficient cost efficient choice. This would allow you to earn money and have a life. The UNLV option sounds good but what about community college or other public colleges? Don't be in too much of a rush. Take your time and use the net to investigate all schools throughly. Their are sites on the net that are government sponsored that have vetted schools that aren't in the habit of preying on vets. Again, like UoP and South University. Just be careful. There are tons of bad people in higher education today and many no matter how understanding of your dreams and aspirations they appear to be, are not your friends. Going to school should be approached today as dealing with a business and students have to take.charge and know that they are a valued customer. And at today's tuition prices it's no wonder. Good luck and plan then choose wisely.

And thank you for keeping the rest of us often times ungrateful souls safe.

[CanadianAbroad]

I know someone who techs at the local hospitals and makes over $17 per hour. Contact HR and see if you would need your CNA to work as a tech. It is fantastic experience and will get you a foot in the door when you graduate as an RN.