CNA or EMT

[Nurse2BeCam]

I'm not sure what category this question would be under, so please move it if it doesn't belong here. Thank you.

Hello everyone,

I have a question regarding what looks better on a resume. Any and all advice will be appreciated. I got out of the Army a year ago and got myself enrolled into pre-nursing courses at my local CC. I was a medic in the Army and I still have my EMT-B certification, but it is expiring soon! (This coming March). I will be finished with my BSN nursing pre-reqs this fall and if I get accepted into a bsn program, the earliest I could start would be summer/fall 2017. ������ I'm a big time planner. Everything is planned so I'm trying to figure out which path would benefit me more in the future. I could either take a few ceu's and renew my emt cert and work as an emt-b until I start nursing school, or take a short CNA course and work until nursing school. I don't plan on working an ER or ICU nursing position in the future so I'm not sure if working as an emt could benefit me much rather than working as a cna for a year before school. My ultimate goal is to become a CNM, so anything near L&D ill fight for.

My big question, what would look better on a new grad's resume? Emt or cna? Thank you in advance for taking the time to read & hopefully answer.

[AshBuggin]

Honestly, I think either would prepare you. For sure, don't let your EMT cert expire. Since you have experience as a medic in the military, I would think you could find an EMT job easily.

People say CNA route is better for nursing, but if I could do it over again, I'd do EMT over CNA. You don't employ a whole lot of thinking as a CNA. There were a few EMTs in my nursing program.

I've been a PCT for years and I've worked with both EMTs and CNAs. From my experience, the scope of practice on a hospital unit is exactly the same regardless of your certification (excluding the ED) . I agree with above that either will prepare you and that you shouldn't let your certification expire.