Advice for a Nursing major

llg, PhD, RN · May 17, 2012

Being CNA certified will enable you to get a job as a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) while you are a student. Some employers may hire nursing students in similar roles, but you won't be eligible for those nursing student jobs until after you have completed a certain amount of your nursing classes.

If you are interested in working as a nursing assistant in the next couple of years -- and there are good CNA jobs available in your area, that can be a very good thing. You'll make some money and get some experience under your belt that might help you in school and/or help you get a nursing job after graduation. A lot depends on the job availabitlity in your area and the type of nursing work you are interested in doing after you graduate. If they are a good fit with each other, that's great.

However ... the type of work you would be hired to do as a CNA might not be the type of work that you are interested in as a nurse. For example, the only CNA job you might be able to find might be in a nursing home. If you like that type of work, great ... but if you don't, it might "sour" you on a nursing career because you could find yourself hating your CNA job.

How interested are you in working as a CNA while you are in school?

nursingstudent222 · May 17, 2012

The thing is I'm not entirely sure I am interested in working as a CNA while I'm in school, but if it helps me with my career in the future I am willing to do it. Would I need to be CNA certified at a later time anyways?

brillohead, ADN, RN · May 17, 2012

Around here, you can get an "aide/tech/associate" position (doing CNA work at CNA pay without the CNA certificate) once you have completed your first Med-Surg course and clinical. (All three hospitals in my area hire like this -- you'd need to check with hospitals near you for their hiring policy.)

As for working as a CNA, it *can* give you a foot in the door at a facility in the event that you want to work at that facility after graduation, but it is by no means required in order to get a nursing job in general.

If you don't *need* to work for financial reasons, I wouldn't until you get your feet under you academically. Nursing school is unlike any other type of course I've experienced, and you may need every spare minute of your time for studying until you figure out how to study for nursing tests. Don't give yourself even more stress by adding a new job into the mix if you don't have to.

melizerd, ASN, RN · May 17, 2012

In my area it is required to be a CNA to get into the nursing program. I really think that the class and becoming certified helped me my first semester of nursing school because I had a good base of knowledge for basic total cares of patients.

I just finished my first semester of nursing school today! I would have not liked learning those basics while doing the other nursing work/reading required.

LindaBright, MSN · May 18, 2012

I think a lot of it depends on the area you want to work in, location-wise, that is. Like melizerd said, some nursing programs do require a CNA cert to enter the program, others don't. If you want to work while in nursing school, it's a great option that will help you gain experience. CNAs do a lot of the basic functions of nursing, the techniques you may learn during the beginning of a nursing program, or even those you could learn while shadowing or volunteering. I think its an option, but, if possible, remember that the commitment to nursing school always comes first