Another question about working in a hospital

[*Bethany*]

I'm wondering if you get to choose where you want to work in the hospital when you apply, or if you're just assigned to wherever they want you to be. On that note, are you always in the same place or do they move you around all over the hospital as needed?

I ask because I'd LOVE to be a CNA if I could work in L&D, post-parpartum, or NICU (if these areas even use CNA's), but that's it. I can't see myself working as a CNA or as a nurse in any other area. My goal is to become a CNM and if I lived in a more midwifery friendly state I'd skip the nursing part and just go to midwifery school. Unfortunately in my state, I need to be a RN MSN if I want to practice midwifery legally. Point is, I want to be around moms and babies, not old, sick, disease ridden pts (sorry if this offends anybody).

[sissyboo]

The hospital I worked at kept CNAs in every unit. The hospitals in this area tend to keep one for the Nursery--pretty well a babysitter. The hospital I worked at, the CNA had a little bit of L&D and PP--but primary patients were the babies. It is a small unit though! I was hired to work PEDS and OB when needed. At your interview you'll discuss which area(s) you will be required to work. Since you're planning on nursing school, I'd try to get into as many areas as possible. I told the CNO (who hired me) that I felt like I'd be better off to stay put in one unit to learn procedure/policies etc..--but that I'd like the ability to be able to float some just for the learning experience of it, and she was very agreeable. Just be sure to let your manager know you're willing to float or want some time in a particular area--if you're a student they're likely to try to accomodate that! I'm an OB junkie too--I spent nearly all of my hospital hours working OB, and became pretty good at it! I want to work there as well...

[casi, ASN, RN]

I don't work in a hospital, but I've noticed that when hospitals in my area post job openings they are always for a specific unit. Occassionally they have float possitions open too.

I like you when I first became a CNA had a very stringent idea of what I wanted to do and I also had interest in becoming a CNM in the future, so it took me a long time to find a job because I was picky with what I applied too. In my area units like L&D are hard to get into because that's what a lot of people want so there is always someone with more experience. Finally after so long of sending out applications and not even getting an interview I started applying everywhere that hired CNAs. I finally got into an Assisted Living working on a dementia unit and endded up loving it! So moral of the story is, try other things you might find you like them.

[purl]

I got my CNA training in a hospital. During the training managers from different departments came and taught different units. It gave us a chance to see them, and them a chance to see us. Then at the end we indicated which units we were interested in, most people got what they wanted. There are very few openings though in L/D, nicu, or peds. The labor and delivery nurse was very up front about the CNA's, she said they would probably have less patient contacts than on some of the other units, do a lot of fetching and stocking, and it was not all rocking babies. Also she seemed less flexible about working around a CNA's school schedule (I am also going to nursing school). So I decided a different unit, with more generalized training and more patient contact was a better choice for me. There is also a float pool, that some CNAs chose, but I thought I would learn more working in a stable environment, though later I may switch to the float pool.