Becoming a nursing assistant after one semester?

Nurse2B2005 · Apr 6, 2005

I am from Michigan and attend a school that offers only a bachelor's program which takes forever!!! I plan to get married though at the end of this month to my army man and move to North Carolina with him for the summer only. Then I will return to Michigan. I want to get a nursing assistant job down there though. I heard that after one semester of clinicals in Michigan you can be a CNA, and then you can get reciprocity in NC. Anyone know how true this is or how I go about getting it all done? I would really appreciate anyone's input. Thanks!

Check with the nursing office at your school. Here in California, our nursing program had the state packets in their office on how to obtain a CNA license through the state. Also, some hospitals also offer a student nurse program, where you don't have to take the state test and they hire you as a CNA (without the 'C') after a semester of fundamentals of nursing. I'm not sure if all hospitals offer this throughout the US, but I know some that do - that could be an option and could save you $ from taking the state test.

AKAKatydid · Apr 6, 2005

Why wouldn't you be able to get your CNA? I don't know about any CNA reciprocity agreements. I go to school in North Carolina, and my school required that we complete our CNA before our first day of class! We had to take a board competency test - demonstrating random CNA skills.

Feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions I might be able to help you with! :)

~*~kendra~*~

armywife2005 · Apr 7, 2005

Why wouldn't you be able to get your CNA? I don't know about any CNA reciprocity agreements. I go to school in North Carolina, and my school required that we complete our CNA before our first day of class! We had to take a board competency test - demonstrating random CNA skills.
Feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions I might be able to help you with! :)
~*~kendra~*~

Thanks guys for your input. The reason I brought up getting it is because in Michigan we don't have to be certified for nursing assistants. We could graduate and have never have done that; its purely optional. So I would have to get certified here and have it transfered to NC so that I don't have to take the board. Those skills are included in our first semester of clinical and we are tested extensively on them.

chilloutrelax · Apr 8, 2005

Where the hospital everyone in my class mostly works as nursing assistants (or patient techs), we don't need to be certified. Completion (passing grade) of 1st semester of nursing school is sufficient.

Gompers, BSN, RN · Apr 8, 2005

I'd check with the state and the hospital you plan to work at. In my state, you didn't have to get CNA certified, but many hospitals required it. I had to take the test after my first semester of clinicals and nursing lab in order to work for the hospital I got a nursing assistant job at.

If you DO have to take the test - do NOT worry about it at all. It's nothing like the N-CLEX - it's just a REGULAR test to show that you learned basic patient care skills. It was SO easy. I registered to take it at the local community college, as they had a CNA class and the final day was the official certification test. Those students gave me such an evil look though, when they saw me because they KNEW I wasn't in their class. Jealous becuase they figured I was in an RN program? I was the first one finished with the test.

bmw804 · Apr 8, 2005

I'd check with the state and the hospital you plan to work at. In my state, you didn't have to get CNA certified, but many hospitals required it. I had to take the test after my first semester of clinicals and nursing lab in order to work for the hospital I got a nursing assistant job at.
If you DO have to take the test - do NOT worry about it at all. It's nothing like the N-CLEX - it's just a REGULAR test to show that you learned basic patient care skills. It was SO easy. I registered to take it at the local community college, as they had a CNA class and the final day was the official certification test. Those students gave me such an evil look though, when they saw me because they KNEW I wasn't in their class. Jealous becuase they figured I was in an RN program? I was the first one finished with the test.

I was looking to take the CNA course. I completed my first semester of LPN school, but I had to take a break until my baby is born. I notice that they have a cna refresher course which is only like $200. I wondered if I could take the refresher course and then take the exam or just take the exam without taking the CNA class. The class is like $750. I would like to take the cna while I am on maternity leave then I wouldn't have to return to my job.