CNA as a career?

babbz · Jul 30, 2007

I currently work at a hospital in Brooklyn, NY and I know some CNA's who have gone on to make quite a good salary with benefits for their families. Although they are professional and you would never know, some are educated and some are not educated beyond an 8th grade level. They work for so long at the hospital though that their tenure affords them a decent salary with great benefits.

Many, due to family obligations (elderly parents and young children) are not able to return back to school and others choose not to. They make that decision and just go with it. After some years the hospitals may sponsor them for added EKG or Phlebotomy cert's which elevates their skill level and pay scale.

The work can be very physical but for some, this is their choosen career and I really applaud them. When I become a nurse (current student) I hope people don't wonder why I did not choose to be a MD, lol.

amanda1229 · Jul 31, 2007

Where I work, a LTCF, it is known that CNAs are treasured! I am a CNA, but I also plan to go on to my LPN and RN, so I'm in different shoes. But there are many, many CNAs who are not going on, and from my view they are all loved the same.

We are told many, many times how much our work means to everyone and how we are one of the most important steps at the facility. It's all about finding a great place to work, and I did well on my first try!

ETA: There are so many other ways to go with your CNA, too. Like some other people said, you could get EKG or phlebotomy training. Or, especially in LTCF, you can take the classes to be a Certified Medication Aide to pass meds, or a Certified Restorative/Rehab Aide, and work as the "exercise lady" (as we deemed her in our facility). If I wasn't going to be an LPN in a year anyway, I would definitely look into either a CMA or CRA certification, and am really considering the phlebotomy training to get into a hospital job!

cute-1 · Aug 3, 2007

I am starting my RN program in 3 weeks.But,I do know many CNA's that make 40,000+ a year.My best friend makes 17$ an hour for agency here(CHICAGo).She signed up with like 3 agencies.She works full time and I know she made 42,000 last year because I did her taxes.

Add in her 17 + differentails and a few overtimes here and there....

The last LTF I worked in payed 12hr..+2 NOC+3 weekend pay..so I basically ONLY worked weekend 2 16 hour days getting 17 an hour..Not bad.....

Don't get me started on the CNA's from back home (CALI)..A friend that works in the county hospital started at 15 an hour and he has been there for 7 years now he makes 21 an hour due to annual raises...Cost of living is high in both places but I believe in roomates..

You can make CNA a career especially if you live near a big city with lots of agencies......

metalhead · Oct 8, 2007

at where i work at i asked another cna about how long she has worked there and she replied 9 years..i told her i was new to the whole cna thing and she told me how come i don't aim for lvn..i told her i wanted to try cna for a year or two then pursue the lvn thing..then she told me that i should better myself by going for lvn or rn...alot of cna's don't like their job

ari3sdog · Oct 8, 2007

I will be a brand new CNA in September, but I plan on working for a year or two and then going on to LPN, then RN. But I know that there are many people who make CNA their lifelong career, and there's nothing wrong with that! It takes a very special person to be a CNA.

True to that...because CNA does the bathing, shower, feeding. I barely see RNs do that =D

peridotgirl · Oct 11, 2007

I will be a brand new CNA in September, but I plan on working for a year or two and then going on to LPN, then RN. But I know that there are many people who make CNA their lifelong career, and there's nothing wrong with that! It takes a very special person to be a CNA.

I agree with u.. But being a CNA is more than that. It's about the pts and when one has to do a dirty job, it just has to get done. you know the saying " It's a dirty job, but someone has to do it." I'm a CNA and I'm only 17. I will continue my education to become an LPN and eventually to an RN. I wish you and everyone else on this forum and numerous others good luck and may we all be successful in life and to the healthcare field! Yay go nursing!!! :nurse: :nurse: :balloons::)

metalhead · Oct 18, 2007

I will be a brand new CNA in September, but I plan on working for a year or two and then going on to LPN, then RN. But I know that there are many people who make CNA their lifelong career, and there's nothing wrong with that! It takes a very special person to be a CNA.

the ones that are in the cna field for a long time usually really hate their job

DreamyEyes · Oct 18, 2007

the ones that are in the cna field for a long time usually really hate their job

That's not necessarily true. I know a woman who has been a CNA for 25 years and she loves her job. She was a nurse for a year and she hated it, and went back to being a CNA.

SteveNNP, MSN, NP · Oct 19, 2007

I was a CNA for a year while working through NS. Once in a while I had the feeling I was being treated better because I was in NS, but then I always worked my butt off, and there were a lot of CNAs there that were the laziest people I have ever met. My body and living standard could not handle me doing the job of a CNA as a career. Now that I am a nurse, and in grad school to become a nurse practitioner, I find that I am looked down upon and talked about by some of the nurses I work with, because they think I'm "too good" to be a nurse. Don't get me wrong, I love nursing, but there are things I can only achieve as a NNP. So there's an example of it happening at a different level.

melmiche · Oct 28, 2007

Okay I may be burned out here, as I am also a CNA and a full time nursing student working in a Boston hospital however I have to say why anyone who would want to be a "career CNA" is clearly not in their right mind... Before I get sandblasted for saying that there is no money in it, little respect of any and all the scut work one can possibly imagine... Why would anyone want to be so low on the totem pole? before I knew the deal I would tell all of my friends "be an aide, get the expereince" now I tell them wait "you are going to do adL's and cleanup when in clinical". I tell all of my nursing student friends this now.. If we were treated anything like the nurses it would be a different story but the reality is, this is a going nowhere job if people are happy staying where they are making no money and getting zero respect, I say go for it but if you have higher aspirations you would be very wise or get out of the profession completely.. You can make much money getting treated better and the same satisfaction doing others things. My reason for staying a CNA one would wonder after reading such an email... The Boston connection.. I smile say "I love my job" go home and that is my reward for going to heck each and every shift I get 16-18 patients with ZERO help from the RN's while they shop on online and complain about how busy they are.

CNA for career THINK AGAIN!

peridotgirl · Oct 28, 2007

Hello, melmiche, I'm a CNA and I do not plan to work as one. I'm ultimate goal is to become an RN. I'm currently enrolled in an LPN program at my high school. I do agree with you that some people treat CNA's badly, but some people, are CNA's because they are probably old and think that it's too late to go back to school to become anything higher than a CNA. Some people have families and loads of stress, so they can't go back to school, so they stay a CNA. However, I do believe that it takes a lot of courage to be a CNA. After all, we all started out as CNA'S and made our way to the top.

ari3sdog · Oct 29, 2007

Okay I may be burned out here, as I am also a CNA and a full time nursing student working in a Boston hospital however I have to say why anyone who would want to be a "career CNA" is clearly not in their right mind... Before I get sandblasted for saying that there is no money in it, little respect of any and all the scut work one can possibly imagine... Why would anyone want to be so low on the totem pole? before I knew the deal I would tell all of my friends "be an aide, get the expereince" now I tell them wait "you are going to do adL's and cleanup when in clinical". I tell all of my nursing student friends this now.. If we were treated anything like the nurses it would be a different story but the reality is, this is a going nowhere job if people are happy staying where they are making no money and getting zero respect, I say go for it but if you have higher aspirations you would be very wise or get out of the profession completely.. You can make much money getting treated better and the same satisfaction doing others things. My reason for staying a CNA one would wonder after reading such an email... The Boston connection.. I smile say "I love my job" go home and that is my reward for going to heck each and every shift I get 16-18 patients with ZERO help from the RN's while they shop on online and complain about how busy they are.
CNA for career THINK AGAIN!

Some people are satisfied with their lives. My friend is a CNA, I'd like him to push his limits, but some people are afraid to leave the box. Unlike me, I always push my limits. He said that he can't handle the stress, if he has the money and time, then he will pursue. That's one thing is stopping him to leave the CNA job.

For me, I made it through. I applied a lot of loans before I went to school. I made it, but my credit got pawned. So, when I was in Nursing school. I try not to think of the bills, late fees, getting my credit pawned. I was getting enough a lot of stress for the first month getting bad grades already. I also got sick during the first month. I developed boil on my butt, so I was really getting sick. I didn't have health insurance since I only work 2 days a week on my CNA job. So, I was admitted to ER. Another bill, after that. So, it is hard to be in my situation. I was telling myself, I'm doing this for a purpose and I will keep going until I make it through. After I graduated this year, I have to study for my NCLEX for 3 months, my bills are pilling up. I thought I will be in court any time soon, and I was afraid that I will not get my license because my record will show that I have a court. So far, no-one is suing. I manage to pay some of my loans, little by little. O'ya, I was admitted to private Nursing School, which is intense short program. I can't imagine myself reading pharmacology 7 chapters per day, and getting tested everyday besides having tested for Medsurg. I almost fail that class, I manage to get 76 percent at the end, I got 71 on my finals, good thing I didn't get 70 on my finals because I will end up getting 74 and fail the program, then I will be drop from the program. The passing score by the way is 75 percent. I didn't get financial aides because that school is not affiliated to government like community college.

My co-worker is a CNA, she is a mother with 3 kids and her kids are RNs and Doctors. Do you think she will be interested being an RN? No, because she is satisfied now because she manage to give her kids a good future.

For me, I push my limits to be in the nursing school. I don't want to work 2 jobs anymore. It's very tiring. I don't have any kids to support, I have a sister who helped me to stayed in her house and loan the rent. I can't afford to work full-time which is you already know that the program is very intense. In our culture, nothing is free.

Sorry for the long post. I just wanted to clarify you that there a lot of reasons why some people stayed as CNA. I just told my story. This is what most people fear of. Some of my co-worker reasoned that they are old to go back to school. They say that they are not smart enough. So ya, many reasons. One of my co-worker say that she wanted to go back to school but she needs to take care her kids and her husband is on disability.

I was CNA for 6 years. I'd love do career it, but because of financial issues, I need to go back to school. I didn't like working as a CNA in hospital (I quit and work in LTC instead), some RNs do really look low upon on CNAs, I can't imagine what kind of school of nursing who taught them to think that way. I think, that's one of the reasons why I went back to school. I remember the first time I was oriented at the hospital, this girl asked me what's my job, I said CNA, after saying that she went "Ow"...then she never spoke to me again. What the H___!!

I'm glad that I had a experience working as a CNA. I can't believe that a person will think of herself as a "GOD"