Being a CNA first

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Is being a cna first a good way to realize if the nursing profession is really for me? I'm starting classes to be a cna in hopes that it will help me make up my mind if I would be able to handle the stressors that come with being a RN. Am I wrong in thinking this way? Any help and advice is greatly appreciated!!:wink2:

Specializes in nursing home.
I think that being a CNA is a good job if you are already in nursing school but not necessarily a good way to judge if you want to be an RN. I am working as a nursing asst now as I go to nursing school. Being a CNA is helping me develop patient priorities & get to see some neat clinical aspects (the RNs will often let the CNAs that are in nursing school do IVs and foleys under direct supervision and also fiill you in on neat/interesting patient cases/explain meds, etc). However, I would in noway relate CNA to RN. The CNA is there to make the RN's job easier. You would help the patient with basics--eating/drinking, repositioning, and bathroom. I have honestly NEVER seen an RN do bathroom duties so please dont correlate professional nurses with college degrees as wiping bottoms or cleaning up body fluids!!!! That is the CNAs job!

cna's are not there to make the rn's job easier, that is ALL WRONG!!!!!!:argue:

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Specializes in MPCU.
cna's are not there to make the rn's job easier, that is ALL WRONG!!!!!!:argue:

Of course, you're right. Ideally, CNA's complete basic nursing care, especially, when my priorities are RN level stuff. But from the perspective of a CNA, it's a valid statement. BTW, I have yet to go through a shift without doing basic nursing care. We are never staffed with enough well trained CNA's to make that possible.

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Specializes in Radiation Oncology.

Wow, I still find it hard to believe that there are RN's out there who think it is below them to help a patient to the bathroom. I guess I was lucky when I was working as a CNA at a hospital in San Antonio. I worked 7p-7a and I did both the unit clerk/unit secretary jobs. We all worked as a team. My main thing as a CNA on nights was to start my midnight vitals at 11pm because I usually had all 44 beds filled with patients and had to get an early start because I wouldn't finish until around 1am. I occasionally would work with an RN who would be sitting at the nurses station and one of her patients would need help to the bathroom and she would page me to do it in the middle of my vitals. But I was lucky, my charge nurse was awesome! She worked her way up from unit secretary to nurse aide to RN and she was the best person to work with. I totally believe that the best nurses are the ones who started out as CNA's or Unit Clerks. It is a very humbling experience.

The trend I have noticed now in hospitals is alot of the combined jobs of CNA/Unit Clerks, especially on the weekends and night shifts when staffing might not call for both. Unit Clerking is also a great way to see the paper side of what nurses have to deal with. It teaches you to learn how to decipher doctor's handwriting on the orders, which is a very important skill to learn!

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Specializes in MPCU.
Wow, I still find it hard to believe that there are RN's out there who think it is below them to help a patient to the bathroom. I guess I was lucky when I was working as a CNA at a hospital in San Antonio. I worked 7p-7a and I did both the unit clerk/unit secretary jobs. We all worked as a team. My main thing as a CNA on nights was to start my midnight vitals at 11pm because I usually had all 44 beds filled with patients and had to get an early start because I wouldn't finish until around 1am. I occasionally would work with an RN who would be sitting at the nurses station and one of her patients would need help to the bathroom and she would page me to do it in the middle of my vitals. But I was lucky, my charge nurse was awesome! She worked her way up from unit secretary to nurse aide to RN and she was the best person to work with. I totally believe that the best nurses are the ones who started out as CNA's or Unit Clerks. It is a very humbling experience.

The trend I have noticed now in hospitals is alot of the combined jobs of CNA/Unit Clerks, especially on the weekends and night shifts when staffing might not call for both. Unit Clerking is also a great way to see the paper side of what nurses have to deal with. It teaches you to learn how to decipher doctor's handwriting on the orders, which is a very important skill to learn!

I'm not sure what you're talking about here. It's not at all beneath an Rn to do anything to promote the health of the patient. We simply need to make choices, if you'd prefer to push dig., I'd like to accommodate, but the state has a different view.

So, If I understand you correctly; you disagree, being a CNA first only means you will have a misconception of the role of an RN. I honestly feel I benefited from my 5 years experience as a CNA. I think most people would need less time, but I'm a little over cautious sometimes.

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Specializes in Radiation Oncology.

No I totally agree that being a CNA helps prepare oneself for being a nurse. I was just talking about the earlier post when someone said they worked with an RN who believed that taking a patient to the restroom was beneath them.

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I'm doing the same thing as you! I will be taking the CNA class in Spring 09. (under a month from now!) I think I want to be a nurse but I want to make sure I enjoy working in the medical field before I go through school again. I also think working as a CNA first will be good work experience. Many programs do require you to be a CNA before entering the program anyway. Good luck!

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Specializes in (Hopefully one day..) neuro/urology ^.^.

I've been planning on entering NS in '10 sometime after my pre-reqs are done and I can save a little cash, but I decided today to also enter into the CNA program this summer so hopefully I can find CNA work in the fall and be a little more prepared for nursing school when I enter it. I don't know why I didn't think of becoming a CNA before attending nursing school but now it's all coming together in my mind. :D

After reading this thread it seems that it's a good choice to make. I'm excited and wish I didn't have to wait so many months for the classes to start!!!

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Being a CNA gives a great opportunity to observe and absorb your surroundings. You go about your business, but you're also a fly on the wall taking it all in.

If you have limited healthcare exposure with direct patient care, it's a great way to gain confidence and learn how to put your game face on before nursing school.

The duties aren't so bad. It all depends on how you approach it. If you tell yourself it's going to be icky, that's how you'll react. It's nothing we don't do for ourselves when necessary.

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Oh I think it is. I have been a CNA for over 15 yrs and I never wanted to be a nurse before that. Once I started work as a CNA and worked with RN's & LPN's and got to see what they do, I knew I wanted to be a nurse.

I think being a CNA gives you a lot of observation in to whether or not you would enjoy being a nurse.

oh and there are some RN's who will take there own patients to the bathroom. Some of them were former CNA's and they just do it because they were CNA's and they never thought about calling a CNA to do it. Some of them do it because they know we are busy and it would be quicker to do it themselves rather than find a CNA. And then there are some who do think that it is the CNA's job and not there's. I have worked with all kinds and those who go out of there way to take there pt's to the bathroom, I thank quite often and when I aske why they didn't call me." They always say Why call you when I could do it myself. "

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Specializes in MPCU.

Most rn's are good to work with, they take care of their patients because they remember that they're there for the patients.

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I think that being a CNA is a good job if you are already in nursing school but not necessarily a good way to judge if you want to be an RN. I am working as a nursing asst now as I go to nursing school. Being a CNA is helping me develop patient priorities & get to see some neat clinical aspects (the RNs will often let the CNAs that are in nursing school do IVs and foleys under direct supervision and also fiill you in on neat/interesting patient cases/explain meds, etc). However, I would in noway relate CNA to RN. The CNA is there to make the RN's job easier. You would help the patient with basics--eating/drinking, repositioning, and bathroom. I have honestly NEVER seen an RN do bathroom duties so please dont correlate professional nurses with college degrees as wiping bottoms or cleaning up body fluids!!!! That is the CNAs job!

My mom is an RN. I've had to go with her to her shifts and I know she does it all. She's in the CCU and they don't have techs at all. After the first day of my CNA class, I called my mom and she said, "Uh, I do it all." The times that she has ever had a tech, they were lazy if I remember correctly. lol

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