STNA - Worth it while in college/transferable to another state?

[MollDoll1]

I currently have a job as a business admin. I work about 30 hours a week (plus I need to be available for emails, phone calls, etc. on nights and weekends... all for which I don't get paid), not the greatest pay, no benefits.

I really want a job in a hospital/drs office while working towards my goal of eventually finishing college (in a non-medical related field). I want something where I'll get insurance since I'll be dropped from my parents' next year and something that when I come home from work, I'm home. Not where I worry that I'll be in trouble if I'm away from my phone for an hour or so and end up with a number of important emails from my boss. I know that the job could be stressful (which I feel like I could handle well as I regularly have to try to get 8 hrs of work done in 6 hrs everyday).

Ideally, I'd like something clerical/admin/etc. in a hospital but if an STNA/CNA will help me get in the door, I'm all for being an STNA/CNA. I can get it in 10 weeks going every Saturday, I'm just curious as to whether being an STNA/CNA alone is good enough as a job for a few years.

Also though, I've been thinking about moving. If I've taken classes in one state to become an STNA, do I need to take the classes aver again in another, or can I just take the test?

Thanks

[rort]

If you become licensed as an STNA in one state, then move to another, you can almost always transfer your license. This means you won't have to test or take classes again, but you will have to fill out some paperwork, pay a fee, and oftentimes do a background check and fingerprinting in the new state.

If you are thinking of going to nursing school, STNA experience is invaluable. If you do not plan to work directly in healthcare after school and want a more clerical job, though, you an apply for a job as a unit clerk. Unit clerks (usually) do all the paperwork/computer work -- making new charts, tranferring patients in and out of the unit, clarifying orders, answering call lights, etc. but do not do the direct patient care. That may be a better fit for what you're looking for. It can get extremely busy and stressful while you're at work, but you can leave it at work when you go home in the evening.

[AgentBeast, BSN, RN]

STNAs/CNAs are NOT licensed. It's a certification.

[rort]

You're right...it's a certification, not a license. A simple mix up of words. Either way, the certification is, in most cases, tranferable. You just need to do the forms, background check, fingerprinting, and usually pay a fee.