Any Tips?

fuzzywuzzy, CNA · Jan 14, 2010

Ehh.... the course is easy. Most of the pleas for advice on this site are about classmates behaving immaturely (just ignore them), and anxiety about the skills test (practice a lot and say the steps out loud during the test; know that if you fail- and chances are, you WON'T- that you can retest). The real hard part is after you pass and you need to look for a job, and trying to keep up with the difficulties of the work after you start the job.

audity3 · Jan 14, 2010

Get as hands-on as you absolulely can during your lab practice time and your clinical time. I didn't during lab (only did the required one-time practice), I watched very carefully and asked questions but did not get my "hands wet" during the clinical experience, and felt completely lost when I started working and was on my own the first time. Experience really is the best teacher; use it to your advantage! The course itself and the material are pretty common-sense. So is the state exam.

fuzzywuzzy, CNA · Jan 14, 2010

Yes I would also use your clinical time to try and see how a nursing home is run. It has nothing to do with the state test but I wished I'd paid more attention to that once I got a job. My clinical sessions were bad to begin with (disorganized, students not allowed to do anything, a lot of time wasted, etc) because the facility had never had students before. It seemed like there was no rhyme or reason to the way things were done, however if I had asked about it, I'm sure I would have learned a lot. So I'd ask the CNAs that work there about the routine, the order that things are done and why, and how they manage their time.