Benefits of becoming a CNA before Nursing School??

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Would you advise someone to become a CNA before starting Nursing School? Is it really worth the money and time?

Thanks

Specializes in LTC, Wound Nurse.

I was the only one in my class that was working as a CNA during nursing school and I had a big advantage over everyone. I remember being in a pts room with the girl that was top of my class. We had to turn him over and she looked at me all freaked out because she didn't know how to do it. She had no hands on experiance. I was proud to show her how, so I say yes get your CNA and work it, even if it is only one day a week in a nursing home you will gain a lot of skills.

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I am currently a community college student hoping to apply to nursing school within a year. I was wondering if being a CNA part time would help make my application more competitive--I need some sort of leg up because most schools in my area are impacted and getting in is super tough now.

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i'm a cna! i challenged the nc exam. and the exams do not pass nc state line into nc btw. you can retake the exam as a challenger.... i just challenged...to avoid taking the course and to get into the may cna 2 class...

i will be taking my cna 2 starting in may,hybrid. lectures, reading, chapter work, and tests at home/online, the labs one night a week at the local community college, then after the labs 80 hours of clinical work at the local hospital! the clinical are on nights and weekends for working adults! the class is only $215 plus a book which i bough online half price, and they are letting us wear our own scrubs!

i have applied for the fall 2010 lpn program at two local community colleges. their prgrams aren't too costly....

my background: education which i have a 2 year degree in early childhood and over 5 years working experience including special needs but it was time for a change! with this degree i only needed a & p and a 2nd psychology to get into nursing and i've taken everyting but the psy. one school wants one psy. the other another....so i need to wait...

i have applied several places to get my feet wet in the field...i would love to find a nice p/t job for the afternoons while i am in school. the nursing program will be in the mornings. since, i've completed everything except the nursing courses. i hope to hear back this week!

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Hi I was wondering I have done clinicals at my High school and now I'm a aid at a senior living community. Would this experience and some recommendations fro

The DON give me a better chance of getting in nursing school in the next fall of college?

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I think becoming a CNA before nursing school is definitely worth the time and money. For me, I took it to get a CNA job. I didn't have a job at the time, and was planning on becoming a CNA after I got my certificate. I ended up getting another job, but the experience I gained just in 3 days in a clinical setting was enough to really cement the fact that I was on the right career path for me. I think it is a great tool to use to your advantage. It can only help you! Even if you get your CNA and you find out that you don't want to be a nurse. That is more useful than going through an entire nursing program and figuring that out. Our CNA program was centered around geriatrics which was something I was not thrilled about. However, at the end of the CNA program, I welcomed the fact of sometime working in a long term care facility. That exposure and experience was incredible helpful, especially for my confidence!

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I'm HCA student right now, and thinking to go to RPN program after. I believe I made a right decision to do HCA first. I hope I will get a job after my course and will work and study.

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Specializes in None yet..
Hi everyone. I am hopefully getting admitted to a nursing program in September. I asked a friend of mine who is an RN if she thought I should become a CNA while in Nursing school and she said she didnt think it was a good idea because CNAs have to do ALOT more disgusting things ALOT more of the time than a regular RN does and she said that if I were to do that it might put a bad taste in my mouth altogether about nursing. I dont know convinced I am of this. Does anyone agree/disagree?

It might put a bad taste in your mouth about being a CNA for the rest of your life... and it could also make you the kind of nurse-supervisor who could motivate staff and the kind of nursing student who hits the ground running.

I got my CNA because it was a requirement for one of the nursing schools where I applied. The nursing school offered the CNA class; it was formerly the first quarter of nursing fundamentals. Then I got a job as a CNA while waiting to start school because I thought it would help me in fundamentals.

Invaluable. Not only on the physical skills but so much more: working in health care, dealing with other staff, management, efficiency, time management and more.

Not only that, but you'll know how to appreciate, evaluate and support the CNAs you will be supervising.

Curious to know if your friend ever worked as a CNA. If not, I'd toss her assessment out the window. Listen to those who have walked in the shoes.

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Specializes in None yet..
It defiantly is beneficial. You will take a pay cut, but the experience is worth it. Even if you only work the job for a few months, you will have an idea of what your getting into. It would suck to go to nursing school for 2 or 4 years and hate the job. But be careful. Your first CNA job will help you to know if nursing is for you or not. If you work at a terrible facility, it can turn you away from the field. So try not to base it on the facility, but on the actual CNA work. Good luck.:heartbeat

... and try to remember that you will not be doing CNA work when you're a nurse!

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Specializes in None yet..
I completely agree with Spidey's Mom concerning hard working, team players being good nurses regardless of a CNA background.

However, our best nurses are the ones with amazing basic nursing skills (eg. CNA work)! The difference is night and day.

I may be removing someone from a bedpan, and while in the middle of cleaning them up a nurse will walk in during rounds.

Our basic RNs will ask, "do you need any help?", or may just leave regardless of their current workload.

Our amazing RNs will know my level of busyness at the moment, and then make an educated decision on what to do from there. If they're equally as busy, they will ask if I need help. If I'm currently more busy than they are, then they jump right in and just start helping, automatically. They'll grab the bedpan and go clean it, or help with changing the bed if it was soiled. This effectively helps distributes the work across the team. These are the same nurses that will answer the call lights first when we are occupied.

It's no coincidence these nurses are also the most respected, and most of them are our charge nurses.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

What she said.

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Specializes in hospice.
... and try to remember that you will not be doing CNA work when you're a nurse!

No one is above wiping butts. And patients shouldn't be forced to wait unnecessarily. The nurses I work with do CNA work all the time, and with the trend in some places toward not having aides, more future nurses better be prepared to keep on doing CNA work.

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Specializes in None yet..
No one is above wiping butts. And patients shouldn't be forced to wait unnecessarily. The nurses I work with do CNA work all the time, and with the trend in some places toward not having aides, more future nurses better be prepared to keep on doing CNA work.

Apparently, I didn't state my idea clearly. I said, "try to remember that you will not be doing CNA work when you're a nurse." Let me try again..

Try to remember that when you are a nurse, although you may do some CNA tasks as part of your job (and will be beloved by your staff if you do), you will almost certainly NOT be doing the relentless, backbreaking (sometimes heartbreaking) physical work of a CNA. You will not be doing the same range of task nor the same intensity. I've worked only LTC so I'm just guessing that my experience generalizes but in my setting, no nurses give baths, clean up diarrhea floods that soak every piece of clothing and bedding etc, nor do they do the tasks delegated to CNAs for a significant part of their day.

The quality and quantity and sheer muscularity of CNA work is not representative of the work that nurses do. Because if it WAS, there would be no time for residents/patients to get meds, dressing changes, IV care, etc. There isn't enough time in the day for CNAs to do it all. Nurses are also straining to get tasks done... but they are different tasks. And there is a huge difference between doing a physically demanding task (or part of one) once or twice a day and doing it over and over and over and over, sometimes without a break for 7 hours.

Because of this, I'm guessing it's not accurate to use your CNA experience as a predictor of how well you'll like nursing, any more than it would to compare doing yard work on a weekend to living the life of a migrant agricultural worker.

I probably haven't stated it any better this time around 'cause, hey, I'm exhausted from last two evenings of short-staffed CNA work!

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Specializes in hospice.

No, that was way better. :)

And I'd be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to a decrease in physical intensity, but I don't know how big a decrease it will be. :s

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