CNA experience in private home setting versus retirement home!

[ellesmith01]

Hello all!

First of all, thank you so much for reading my post and I will take any advice I can get!

Question: I recently became a CNA and am about ready to apply into nursing school this year. Considering this would be my first job as a CNA without any experience- it seems it would be very difficult to find a job in a hospital setting, as many hospitals don't even have openings for CNA positions. I was highly considering working in someones' home as a private care giver because the pay is higher and the ratio of CNA-patient is much less than a retirement home would be. This leads to my question: Would working as a private care giver be less credible compared with working in a retirement home?

I am seeking the experience needed to help me increase my chances of getting accepted into a nursing school- so I am a little worried that working in someones' home may not be as credited as working somewhere else.

Thank you so much for reading my long post!!

Elle

[mvm2]

I work as a home care aide/cna. I love it. I started working as an aide with no experiance at all, and then 6 months later was able to take their cna class.

I dont know about your question that working as a home care vs LTC is more or less crediable. but Id be careful of working privately vs a agency. You wont have liability coverage like you would working for a agency. I feel you are taking more of a risk working on your own. Also if there wasaproblem if you work for a agency there is always a nurse to be able to talk to right away. I can not tell you how many times I saw something in my clients and was happy I could talk to one of our nurses right away.

[Missingyou, CNA]

I don't think working private duty would matter as far as credibility and your chances of getting into nursing school.

When you work home care, you wont get as much experience. I've done home care as a CNA for a few years, and most of my clients needed only housekeeping and assistance with showering. There was NO challenge. No "new" skills to learn or discover. However, if you plan on going to nursing school, this might be ideal for you since you will most likely have time to study (while your client naps....).

Like mvm2 said, it would be better to work through an agency if you decide to do home care because if something goes wrong (patient falls on your shift) it could create some legal issues for you.