can you work as a nurse while beeing rn student? and if so..as what....cna?...thanks!

Nursing Students LPN-RN

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can you work as a nurse while beeing rn student? and if so..as what....cna?...thanks!..also the salary would be the same with the cna salary or bigger? thanks a lot!

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CNA's are certified nurse assistants, not a nurse.

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

Generally to work as a nurse it is required you are license so that would indicate LPN or RN. CNA is not a nurse but a nurse assistant

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can you work as a nurse while beeing rn student? and if so..as what....cna?...thanks!..also the salary would be the same with the cna salary or bigger? thanks a lot!

I'm not 100% sure I understand the question, so I restate it as it seems to me...

It seems like the question is "Can a person work as a nurse while studying to become an RN. If so, would it be as a CNA." "What would the salary be, would it be equivalent to CNA or more?"

In short, the answer is this, some hospitals will hire student nurses to work, but many won't due to the fact that these students are working without licenses, and are therefore open to legal issues should something occur.

Also, it wouldn't necessarily be as a CNA as a CNA has completed a training course, or the fundamentals of a nursing program, and taken a state exam to become "Certified."

Some hospitals will hire UAPs (Unlicensed Assistive Personel), which do similar tasks to that of a CNA but without the certification...

When it comes to salary, it depends. In some areas, CNAs make a substantial amount, depending upon if it is a hospital or a nursing home, etc. If one was able to work as a student nurse, I would imagine that the salary would be around that of a CNA, due in large part to the fact that student nurses cannot work in a full capacity as a nurse (RN or LPN).

Good luck to you! :)

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.

Ummmm.....NO.

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Specializes in Peds Medical Floor.

I worked as a CNA when in LPN school and am now working as an LPN in RN school. CNAs are not nurses, LPNs are. So yes a nurse can work while in RN school....not as an RN though. And I make more than I did as a CNA....does that answer your question?

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

I will be challenging the LPN exam in less than a month. As well.. because i am past my 2nd year BC has an ESN program "employed student nurse" where we can work a certain amount of hours. However this is now backedup until july of 2011... due to budget issues etc.

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I cant belive no one else mentioned this, but after you complete some nursing classes, you can become hired as a nurse tech, which is a glorified cna that can insert catheters. They primarily work in the ed/er

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Yes, you can work as a "nurse" if you are an LVN or LPN.

If you aren't certified, then you can work as a CNA or as student nurse (after 1 semester of nursing school.) However, if you call yourself a "nurse" when you're actually a CNA or student nurse, you'll probably seriously annoy some real nurses.

While I was taking my pre-requisites, I worked as a CNA. I live in Texas and the base pay was $11.11/hr with up to $4.25/hr more for shift differentials (working nights and weekends.) Now that I'm an RN student, I've applied to my local hospitals to work as a student nurse. I hear that base pay is $13/hr + shift differentials.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

I worked as a nurse (LPN/LVN) while attending an RN program. It is manageable and people take this route quite frequently.

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No…. but some programs in some states allow you to take the lpn nclex (can’t remember the exact name of the test). After your first year. Then you can work as a “licensed practical nurse”

You unfortunately hit a sore spot. Most RN’s/LPN’s don’t like it when Aids call themselves nurses, because there is a huge difference in the scope of work and training involved.

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No.... but some programs in some states allow you to take the lpn nclex (can't remember the exact name of the test). After your first year. Then you can work as a "licensed practical nurse"

You unfortunately hit a sore spot. Most RN's/LPN's don't like it when Aids call themselves nurses, because there is a huge difference in the scope of work and training involved.

I myself have a huge problem with it only because so many CNA's seem to feel no qualms as identifying themselves as such. Also, the media is VERY indiscrimanate at identifying CNA's, and PCT's as "nurses", when reporting on some horrible abuse that took place in a health care setting.

Not to say that nurses never do wrong, but I worked damn hard for my license, and I don't want to be lumped in with somebody who studied for 6 weeks for a certification.

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