Clinicals question??

buenafortuna · May 23, 2007

I will be starting CNA class this summer. Curious as what will happen in the clinicals...do you have to wear scrubs in class also? Who teaches you in the clincals...the instructor or the staff at the facility? Can you wear any scrubs or do they have mandated colors? What do the patients think of students?:uhoh21:
My class is only 2 weeks long so I am curious how they will fit all that in there. I have a job opening at an assisted living after I am done with school and I hope I am prepared.!!!

Hello! I'm currently in the clinical portion of my 5-month long CNA program. Only a few more weeks left! We were required to wear scrubs in the classroom as well as during clinicals. We also have required colors (white top and red bottoms). We were also assigned an employed aide at our clinical site who we shadow for the shift. They are the ones who "teach" us, but mainly they allow us to perform duties and certain procedures so that we can gain experience needed for the board test and for future employment. Most of the patients love the students, and many don't know the difference between the nurses, students, and aides!

Good luck! :balloons:

pagandeva2000, LPN · May 23, 2007

Hi! I don't know if you have started class or finished or what, but I am a CNA in nursing school and our first rule is don't wear a mask unless you know a patient is contagious, it alienates them from you as a caregiver and interferes with their healing process. There are gross things about being an aid, but people who need help with body functions depend so much on us.If you put yourself in their shoes your heart goes out to them and it won't bother you anymore.

They told us the same thing in nursing school as well. I wonder if the glove thing came from CNA school, or was it something I witnessed. We were told to only place on gloves during bathing when we got to the genital or rectal areas, unless there was blood/body fluids present.

beth66335, BSN, RN · May 23, 2007

I wear gloves whenever I do anything to a Patient;we are protecting them from us, as well as us from them. If I clean off a bedside table I wear gloves too, especially for old cups or plates that are disposable or used Kleenex ( that only happens with bedbound patients whose nurse or aid moves the trashcan from their reach!) I also wear gloves when feeding pts. or helping them with toileting, even if they can do it themselves be prepared to help esp. the elderly. Wear gloves if you are doing mouthcare too, it is considered a procedure, esp. if you have to take out their dentures!

elena121 · Jun 1, 2007

I wear gloves whenever I do anything to a Patient;we are protecting them from us, as well as us from them. If I clean off a bedside table I wear gloves too, especially for old cups or plates that are disposable or used Kleenex ( that only happens with bedbound patients whose nurse or aid moves the trashcan from their reach!) I also wear gloves when feeding pts. or helping them with toileting, even if they can do it themselves be prepared to help esp. the elderly. Wear gloves if you are doing mouthcare too, it is considered a procedure, esp. if you have to take out their dentures!

I agree with you.Gloves everywhere.In NJ , the Cna program must be at least 90 hours .Is the law.:uhoh21:

jules3978 · Jun 11, 2007

My class was also a 2 week long class..8 hrs. a day, 5 days a week. The first week was all classroom and the 2nd was all at a LTC. We didn't have to wear scrubs to the classroom portion but we did the clinical...we were able to wear whatever scrubs we wanted as long as we had white shoes. Like someone else mentioned, I also always wear gloves when giving a bath...you never know what they could have on them. I now work at a hospital and only wear a mask when the patient has something contagious..or when their blood count is so low that we are protecting them rather than ourselves.

riotgrrl · Jun 14, 2007

the course i am taking this summer (pa) has to be 88 hours. i do not know which class i am in yet. they are only taking 10 people per class. one class starts on july 16th and goes for 3.5 weeks. only 1.5 is clinical, the rest is theory. it is 4 days a week 9am-3pm except for the clinical which is 7am-1pm i believe. the other class is going to have an earlier start date (school doesnt know when, they are making it up because they have so many people wanting to take the class) but it will be 5 weeks because it will only be 3 days a week 9am-3pm.

anyways we are required to wear white scrub bottoms with a teal top and white sneakers.

melisana · Jun 14, 2007

My CENA Class was two weeks long and I did the class right at the facility that I was hired in at. We did the clinicals at the facility and were assigned to another CENA on the floor and pretty much helped them... We could do everything by ourselves except transfers which we had to have our CENA with us. Our teacher was out on the floor to answer any questions but she was also the scheduler for the facility.