Career CNA's

If that's truely what you'd like to do and it's your passion there's nothing we can say but encourage you to continue on get more education so that you can even better take care of patients and get some more money in your pocket in the future.

D you think CNA's make more than Medical Assistants in California?

I went to an MA school in CA. I could of kicked myself for not doing LVN instead. You can find great job as an MA and make pretty good money, now after I moved I think that the MA's make more than a CNA. But, I did work in hospitals as a patient care tech. It can't hurt, to see if some places will hire MAs as a CNA., some do. Can never hurt to put in your resumes in some places and ask around. You never know. Good luck!

Northern CA does not pay the same as Southern CA. Therefore, you should take your specific geographic region into account.

Below is my research on Northern CA:

MAs can wok in small Drs offices and they have good hours there, 9-5 ish M-F. But the pay is low, in my opinion, considering MAs go to school for several months. I've seen pay at 8-10 per hour.

CNA class can be completed for $1000 in 1 month. Pay can be low- from 9-12 per hour. They Mostly work in SNFs and that rate is SNF pay in my area.

LVNs work a lot in SNFs and are paid over $20 per hour--many places start at $24/$26 per hour. LVNs also work in drs offices and clinics. The pay is lower there, but the hours are better. The pay might be $13-$18/hr.

Hospitals pay the best: MAs can make over 20 per hour to start. CNAs make $18-$20 something to start. LVNs start at some hospitals at $18/hr.

I loved being a CNA, I did it for almost three years before getting my MA. I also wish I had gone for my LPN rather than my MA. I'll be applying to a PN program in November cant wait!

Anyway, my day as a CNA was pretty much the same on a day to day basis. I worked the 7-3 shift, so I'd come in, get my patients up & ready for their day, do breakfast, activities, lunch, rounds & changes, and then finish up my books and go home for the day. In between, you'd do bathroom runs with them, answer call lights, report to nursing, etc. However, every day was vastly different in that you're caring for people and their needs change daily, obviously. It's a LOT of work, no time to do any of it really since you get more patients on your assignment than you can handle usually, and the pay will make you angry every time you look at your paycheck. I LOVED EVERY SECOND OF IT THOUGH! And if you're looking to sped a lot of time with the patients, then that's the career for you. If the pay was at all better, I would be a CNA for the rest of my life. Unfortunately, in my area the pay is next to nothing, and it's hard to live on that.

I like responsibility and so I do want to further my education and eventually get my BSN, but I'm FULLY aware (from listening to nurses I worked with) that nurses dont get to spend all that time with their patients. Fact is, they're just too busy. CNAs get to spend "quality" time almost with their patients and can even have conversations and get to know them personally. The nurses I worked with didnt have this luxury (it is a luxury in my opinion). This was in LTC btw. I'm not sure if a different setting would have a different vibe, but that's pretty much how it is in long term.

Good luck in the future!

I've been a CNA since 2008 and also took an acute care course where I had clinicals at a hospital.

Inow I never worked at a voluntary hospital (ie med/surg) but with my certificate I've worked with seniors, adult disability, and currently work as a mental health worker at a rehab hospital. I deal with psych and drug addicts. The pay is $13/hr (night shift) and its 12 hours per shift. Been there for 4 years. I've learned A LOT there far as a deeper level with mental illness and chemical dependency. I've seen lives change and having a family member schizo diagnosed, this job help me understand a little better. I now applying for LVN school. I want to continue to grow. I do like the one-on-one relationship but I think ill specialize in psych. Are there any CNA's who worked at a prison?

If it's available in your state, I've heard of MA-to-CNA bridge programs. Could save you time and money.

I work as a CNA for a Home Care agency and I love it, and am not going to school for nursing. Of course this job is for a second income for the family as well. For my day I only am taking care of one client, which depending on their needs I am giving personal care, sometime a little house work, helping with transfers, ext. For the most part I can be busy, but not frantic busy like in a nursing home. Other times I am even able to just sit and watch tv with my clients. It all depends on who it is and why you are there.

I've been a CNA since 2005. I have worked in nursing homes, home care, and at a hospital. The hospital is my favorite gig, and I've been doing this for almost 8 years now. I'm currently working in the emergency department which has lit a fire under me to try nursing school. If for some reason I can't get into a program or don't pass, I think I'll still be content doing what I am currently doing.

As an MA you may want to look into a hospital job. They are flexible and you can get some of the patient care that a CNA does, like helping with ADL's, but also some technical stuff. In the ER I can help with ADL's when needed, but I also do phlebotomy, EKG's, and I can test urine for pregnancy and even do venous blood gas testing. It's awesome and I absolutely LOVE it!

While I'm planning on going to nursing school soon, I've worked as a CNA for a year and a half and absolutely love it!

I work 7-3. When I first get to the floor in the morning, I get a full set of vitals on every patient and check blood sugars. I work on a dialysis floor so every M-W-F we have to push patients beds to and from a big room where they receive treatment. Usually the first 4 patients are in dialysis at 5:30 in the morning. At 8 am I pass out breakfast trays, feed patients, get everyone set up. Usually I have about 7 patients a day to wash up, I'll get started with that once everyone's eating and settled. The first batch of patients finish with dialysis around 10, so we move them back into their rooms and bring the next round in to dialysis. I have to get weights and vital signs on the patients after dialysis at 11 and 12 PM. The rest of the morning I finish washes, answer call lights, and get some patients out of bed. At 11 I check blood sugars, patients eat again at 12. The afternoon is a little more low key, I'll get weights, answer call lights, change any inc patients, reposition, help change dressings, take out linens. At 3:00 I move the second round of dialysis patients back to their rooms and then I am done!

MA's have to go through a year of training in Houston, Texas and CNA's only 6 weeks. MA's make more and have more opportunities.

Here is my experience as a CNA:

Be prepared to be a nurse's play thing. I'll put it like that and I won't glorify it more than it should. I work in a spine, leg, and hip surgery hospital. We take catheters out a day after the surgery so people who are in agony need to walk to the restroom. You need to help them walk and not fall. A lot of times you need to hold them up. Your back hurts, you arms hurt, your legs hurt from supporting people. But mainly the back goes out on you. You bend over to apply socks or stockings because people cant raise their legs. People need to urinate once every hour or so, but some people (mainly mid to late age ladies) need to pee everything 20 minutes no joke. That really is the only hard part of the CNA job type that I have. Where everybody needs to urinate at once and they look at you with disdain for the rest of the day if you aren't there in time because you have 8 other patients you also need to attend to. Patients can be VERY needy to an unnecessary degree. Partly because of loneliness because they are in a room for 24 hours a day alone, partly because they can't get up and do things themselves. It's a mix. The good, the bad, the ugly.

If my job dictated that all of my patients had foley catheters, my job would be great. The only thing is that and the odd patient who likes to abuse you by making you do silly things they could do but just want to feel empowered, or the odd patient that signed to have the surgery but is resistant to any participating in the therapy, letting us do their vitals, etc.

If you can look past that (if you are working at a surgery hospital) then you'll do great. But keep these things in mind:

- Due to the fact you do need to go help 8 patients to the bathroom every hour, and you STILL have to do things like vitals, charting, putting equipment on, emptying various vacs, etc. you start to understand that there's only 60 minutes in an hour

- Be ready for nurses to look down on you. They make mistakes but if you do they will get you like a pack of hyenas

- Impress people. I've been at my work for 6 months and got a raise already for "outstanding work in my field"

- Always smile. Patients will say the harshest words to you. Harsher than doctors. Just the other day a lady thought she knew how to use medical equipment better than I do. Asked me how long I'd been working there. 7 months. Too low for her. The nurse came in and put the machine on exactly like I did and it was okay for her.

- Patients are there for them, not you. If you leave a room and suddenly a patient doesnt want to wear his ted hoes (blood clot prevention stockings) anymore, he will take them off. Nurse comes in, sees this, who is in trouble?

- Patients can distort the truth. The last thing I said to a patient was "Here's your call light. Call me if you need anything." The nurse went in there a few minutes later and came out with a horrid look on her face. The patient had said, "John told me I'm bothering him too much so I'll leave you guys alone." Also, I had a patient who was telling me his life story and said he had been to vietnam. A few minutes later he started having fits. When we calmed him down he had said I kept bringing up war stories that gave him PTSD and anxiety.

Just PLEASE, for goodness sake, know that videos online are not all sunshine and roses. Yes, I COULD do CNA forever. It is a VERY heartwarming feeling when a patient hugs you and thanks you for everything you've done, and surpervisors come to you and praise you for what patients have said behind your back, but there are bad apples in every apple pie. I've mainly said bad things here, but there are good aspects to this job too. Helping people who are actually grateful. If that's a feeling you'd like to have, at least give it a shot for 6 months. If it's not you, at least you found out on your own terms.