CNA vs Nurse Tech?

U.S.A. Michigan

Published

While going to nursing school, I would love to be employed by a hospital. I am thinking about getting my CNA since it's only 90 hours training, which isn't so bad on top of my school.

I did have a question - I have a few friends who are Nurse techs and Nurse Externs. I understand that they get more pay, but what's the difference between them and a CNA?

How do I become a Nurse Tech? I'm assuming I"ll have to get my CNA.

Thanks :)

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You get to be a nurse tech or intern if you are a nursing student in good standing at your school; being a CNA has no bearing on being hired as a tech. Most hospitals will not hire you as a nurse tech or intern until you have taken and passed med-surge I class. The pay for a tech is about $4 more per hour than that of an aide.

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Great Question! I was wondering the exact same thing. I was looking at some job postings to see what I could and was a little unsure. Thanks!

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Thanks for the quick response! Yeah, I saw online that it required that you at least be enrolled in Nursing school to be eligible.

Do the hospitals that hire you train them themselves? And you don't need a CNA certification?

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From what I understand to be an aide in a hospital many will train you (Beaumont, St John, Henry Ford, Mt Clemens General) with no prior experience. To be a CNA you must go to CNA school and take the state certification exam. To be a nurse tech you must be enrolled in nursing school and have already taken and passed whatever required courses (Some want you to have finished fundamentals, some want med-surge one done too) the hospital you are applying to lists in their job posting.

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Specializes in ER/adult gero-NP.

here's my :twocents: ... i am officially a second year student at hfcc, and i am currently a snt (student nurse tech) at the va. from what i've learned from searching for a job as an na (nurse aid) or tech (different hospitals may call it a in or extern), is that most hospitals (99%) will hire you as an na with a year of nursing school completed, some ever after the first semester! but as a tech you must have completed your med-surg rotation, and as a tech you get to practice the skill you learn in school (such as catheters, ng tubes and so on). the pay is similar but tech make a little more. also, most tech jobs are very flexible, because they know you are a student, but i would start calling hospitals a few months in advance, because jobs fill up fast, techs and na. good luck and i hope this helps...

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Specializes in Emergency/Trauma/Critical Care Nursing.

although they DO interchange the terms tech/cna/extern, they are/can be many diff things. on a lot of med/surg floors i did clinicals on they called them nurse techs but they were only CNAs but taught ON the job, they didnt have to take a CNA program beforehand, basically what that job will entail is bedmaking, bedbaths, feeding patients, ehh.. all that fun stuff. in my ER we have ER techs (went to school for ER tech, or was an EMT) and nurse externs (in nsg school, finished our first year of medsurg clinicals), whether we are er techs or nurse externs we do the SAME job i.e. 12lead ekg, NG tubes, Foleys, blood draws, vitals, transport, etc etc. BUT the externs got paid $4/hr more than the techs coz they expected us to graduate and be nurses there, which i was fine with. no contract reqired though. so if ur in nursing school and ur already in ur second year, don't waste ur time being a CNA, u got that experience in clinicals unfortunately, apply in fall/winter and springtime,t hats when they generally do their big hiring for extern positions. i learned more in my 1st week in the ER as an extern than i learned in my entire 2yrs of clinicals! it was nuts!... just a thought...

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Specializes in Pediatric/Adolescent, Med-Surg.

Just a quick note here, ya'll are talking about making $4 more an hr than CNA's. I wish I had worked where ya'll worked, I only made fifty cents more an hour.

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Specializes in Emergency/Trauma/Critical Care Nursing.

well i dont know what CNAs made, we dont have them in the ER, just the ER Techs, and the Nurse externs... no point in CNAs we don't do bedbaths or make beds lol w/the exception of throwing a sheet on a stretcher. so floor CNAs i have no idea what they make, but i was making 14.50 as an extern

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how did get the snt job at the va? i looked on the website and couldn't find any information. thanks

here's my :twocents: ... i am officially a second year student at hfcc, and i am currently a snt (student nurse tech) at the va. from what i've learned from searching for a job as an na (nurse aid) or tech (different hospitals may call it a in or extern), is that most hospitals (99%) will hire you as an na with a year of nursing school completed, some ever after the first semester! but as a tech you must have completed your med-surg rotation, and as a tech you get to practice the skill you learn in school (such as catheters, ng tubes and so on). the pay is similar but tech make a little more. also, most tech jobs are very flexible, because they know you are a student, but i would start calling hospitals a few months in advance, because jobs fill up fast, techs and na. good luck and i hope this helps...
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Specializes in Anesthesia.

ANNIEMC

I have been trying to get back to you regarding the NA jobs at HFH but I don't know how to private message you. I don't think I can with just the basic membership. Anywho, I asked around about open jobs and unfortunately, I was told that they are not hiring anywhere. Sorry it took a while I just can't figure out how to PM on this site.

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SRNAWSU - thanks so much for remembering!

You can still PM someone with a basic account, just click their names on the post that they make and some options scroll down. Sending a private message is one of those messages.

I've been trying to apply at HFH and anywhere else really - but I haven't heard anything back. I even applied at one of the hospital gift stores! :(

Thanks again!!

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