A different job...

nograd · Oct 2, 2001

hi pixxel have you ever concidered ob? i am a cna (also in chicago area) and went directly to labor and delivery upon completing the cna program. it is awsome i absolutely love my position, have learned tons of assesment, surgical and fetal monitoring skills, which have helped me with clinicals in school (i am on my first rotation). to top it all off, i a priviliged to witness and participate in the birth of a child. this has been an increadible experience for me and invaluable. at the hospital i work in now, the scub techs on l&d are not required to be certified (no extra classes) and are taught on the job. i think the same applies to a few other area hospitals. it is scarry at first because you become so vital to the outcome of this family when there is an emergecy going on. but it is very satisfying. it is a critical care area and you are very involved with the patients. anyways i have gone on enough, but if you have an interest i highly suggest looking into it. :)

btw i know that radiology requires a two year program to become an xr tech and may be longer for us/ct/mri. also there is not a lot of pt care. where i am at you can take a few week course in phlebotomy, and would be valuable. you could also look into different care areas like er or or, maby ccu/icu you will learn alot of assesment skills in these areas.

what ever you decide, good luck

nicole

KristaB · Oct 2, 2001

Hi pixxel,

Phlebotomy is definitely not a year long course. My sister did a phlebotomy course, and I think it was only a few weeks long and it was also only evenings. You should check around, there is probably something like that near you! :)

Krista

BrandyBSN · Oct 2, 2001

how about certified Med Tech? Not all hospitals use them though, but its only 2-4 8 hour classes, last time i check anyways :)

BrandyBSN

pixxel · Oct 2, 2001

hmmm... I haven't seen any short courses areound here.. I know x-ray takes super long, so that's totally out of the question. And anytime I see a phlebotomy course at any local colleges it seems that they require things like med terminology and a bunch of other stuff that I haven't gotten to yet and would prefer to wait on...

Nicole - Do you know of any hospitals on the northside or near UIC that hire CNA's for L&D? I'm nearly sure that mine doesn't, but I'm certainly going to ask the nursing supervisor this week just to be sure...

Brandy - The med-tech idea sounds good, but I haven't come across any classes... maybe I'm not looking hard enough.. can you suggest a good place to start doing some research?

boy of boy.. I'm just full of questions tonight!

Thanks for the help!

BrandyBSN · Oct 3, 2001

To become a Med Tech I would check with area nursing homes and group homes. They are the ones that offer it around here.

Good Luck!

BrandyBSN

nograd · Oct 6, 2001

Pixxel,

My tittle at work is OBT (Obstetrics Tech). We are non certified sugical scrubs that are trained at the hospital. We are only able to scrub for C-sections, Tubal ligations, post partum D&Cs and emergency hysterectomies. You might want to inquire at your institution if their hire/train OBTs. I know that Advocate hospitals use OBTs as well as others. Try looking for an area Advocate or Northwestern Healthcare owned hospital for openings if this appeals to you. I think that Rush uses them as well. Check around, it is a fun position to hold:)

As for phlebotomy try Malcolm X college, I think they have a course.

Good luck in your search, keep us posted:cool:

Nicole

EXOTIC NURSE, RN · Oct 9, 2001

I too am located in Chicago I am a LPN and I am in the ADN Program with graduation pending in December. Nicole has a very good idea going there........I work for Advocate and I notice that they have in house training for certain positions......Maybe you should take Nicole's advice and look into some positions at Advocate.

nograd · Oct 9, 2001

Hello Exotic Nurse!

I am in the Northwestern Healthcare Network and we do a lot of inhouse training for different positions. Makes it nice to advance and aquire new skills. Congrats on your upcoming graduation! I'm jealous!!!!! I am just at the begining with some 18 months to go:rolleyes:

Pixxel--Hope you got this thread and find something that intrests you. I am finding the more skills I aquire at work the easier the clinicals and labs come. Not as stressfull, yet;)

Nicole

pixxel · Oct 10, 2001

Wow, the people from chicago are coming out of the woodworks, eh?

Well, thank you both for your advice... I'm still considering everything that's suggested to me, but I guess I'm going to stay at my current position at least until the new year just to get as much out of it as I can. I'm antsy to try something new, but don't want to rush into anything and lose the good thing I have going for now (I love my co-workers and my schedule).

As for Advocate, I applied to a few of their locations in the beginning of last June, but never heard anything back - presumably due to my lack of experience. I'll certainly take your advice and apply again when I feel totally ready to.

Also, I'm keeping a list of all the different things I want to try, so if you think of anything else that might sound promising, feel free to let me know...

Thanks again!