CNA dilemma

Comfortably_Numb · Feb 19, 2009

Hello all,
Im interested in getting trained to get my CNA license, however im unsure which is the best way to do so. Should I enroll in CNA classes at a school OR should I get my training through a nursing home? Can you tell me your experiences with this? thanks!

That all depends. Usually the training offered through a nursing home is free, but I think it obligates you to work for that facility. If you go to a school, you aren't under obligation and you can choose to work anywhere you would like. I'm not sure if that is always the case, but I think that's generally how it goes.

Good luck. :)

OzarksgalCNA · Feb 20, 2009

I've done some research on this for a friend of mine who started at our LTC last June and was told she had to work for x amount of time. She was wanting to go work someplace else and was concerned about paying the company back. When I started in September the training was free and I didn't have to commit to any amount of time.

According to the law, if an LTC accepts Medicare/Medicaid, they are to provide the training free of any obligation to stay.

After she asked the LTC about this discrepency (her having to pay and me not) they said "Oh, yeah, we changed that." But they never bothered telling her.

yousoldtheworld · Feb 21, 2009

I will say that you are not always required to work for a facility if you go that route.

I took my class at a local nursing home for free, and was under no obligation to work there for any amount of time. I'd call each site and ask what they require as far as that goes.

While classes at colleges are usually longer, I recommend a class at a nursing home simply because they are more affordable, shorter, and really, you learn the same things. Much of the material covered in a CNA class is common sense, and the rest is not that difficult, just a matter of practicing steps.

No matter where you take your class, you will have to do most of your learning on the floor, because being a CNA is largely a matter of getting to know the routine where you're working. Everyplace I've worked has been different, and starting a new job feels a lot like being a brand new CNA. Either way you go will be fine, so just pick the route that will be easiest and most convenient for you.

Nelle84 · Feb 21, 2009

Thanks for your replies. How do the nursing homes go about teaching the information? Is there textbooks like if i were to go to CNA classes? Or is it just hands on learning?

yousoldtheworld · Feb 21, 2009

Some programs do have textbooks.

In my program, our instructor gave each of us a binder with all of the reading/information we needed in it, and she supplemented it with handouts.

We had a week or so of classroom where we read the information, watched videos, and did handouts and worksheets, just like in any class. Then, we had a few days of practicing our skills - vitals, bedmaking, dressing, etc. That was followed by a couple of weeks of clinicals on the floor, where we had to have each skill checked off by doing the skill in front of our instructor.

(This is just how colleges do it too, they are usually just longer and paced more slowly...but I worked at a teaching hospital where the local college did its clinicals, and each aide had CNA students to train/shadow us for their clinicals).

Nelle84 · Feb 21, 2009

Thats cool. Since you had your training in a facility, did you feel comfortable enough to pass your CNA exam with everything that was taught? I think thats what im nervous about lol. Im scared i might feel like they didnt teach everything. i dunno lol.

yousoldtheworld · Feb 21, 2009

Oh yeah.

The written test was NO PROBLEM. Honestly, I think I could have passed the written test even if I hadn't been through the actual class. And, these places have classes all the time, they know what is on the test and what they need to teach. They want you to pass the test, because they hope you'll work for them!

The skills test is trickier because you have to have steps memorizedin the right order, but that's the case no matter where you take your class. I made index cards - one card per skill, and I named the skill on one side and put the steps on the other side. When I practiced, I said each step out loud, then I did the same thing for the test.

I had no trouble on the test, and of my class of 10, only 2 failed...and they failed because they got in a hurry and left out important steps that they knew (one walked away from a bed with the bed raised and both rails down, the other did something similar), not because of the class.

Nelle84 · Feb 21, 2009

wow @ walking away from a risen bed with the side rails down. Yeah i heard the written portion of the was mainly common sense stuff. If you fail do you get to take it over?

yousoldtheworld · Feb 21, 2009

Yeah, you can retake it. Several people on the board have retaken the test, and the people in my class who failed got to take it about 3 weeks later. They did get to work after they failed the test - I think in most states you have around 6-8 weeks after you take a class that you can work before you pass the test.

Nelle84 · Feb 21, 2009

thats good, ima pass the first time around though

greeniebean · Feb 21, 2009

I really liked getting my CNA through a facility because i'm a hands on learner. The expiriences i've at my LTC probably prepared me way more than 2 clinical days would!!

I passed my test first try, and i felt like i was very prepared for both the written and skills parts of the test.