New cna rant: Being a cna feels so uninspiring

[zara ray]

I'm a new cna and have been working for a few weeks. I know it's early to start ranting about my job and being a cna, especially when they're cna's that have been working this job for years and years. I will get to the back story of my rant here. I became a cna because I have been unemployed for over 2 years without luck finding a job. My stepdad kept bugging me about going to nursing school and being a cna for years since I graduated from high school (I'm 21 now) and told me how stable the job was and how I will always find work.

So after a few years of being bugged about nursing school/cna classes I signed up and completed my cna classes last fall and passed my state test last January. While finally getting a job, making money, and working again makes me happy, I don't like the job title or work. I was never interested in health care in terms of a job or career choice and never cared about going to nursing school like most of my coworkers. I am currently at a 2 year school planning on transferring to a 4 year school for a BA. I want to major in political science (a field I am passionate about).

I find working in a rehab/extended care facility tiresome, uninspiring, and depressing. My work days are interfering with my school days and study time, and I have told this to the lady who handles scheduling. When I told her I wanted to take a day off to study more for school she got snippy with me and told me I have to stay on this schedule for another month. I honestly don't think I will stay there for over 6 months. 3/4 of the staff hate their jobs (even the RNs and LPNs) and complains about it during the breaks and lunch. The facility itself is in bad condition and is run down. The pay is only min wage and we are terribly understaffed. Idk, they're like 2 cnas that actually look like they enjoy their job and I look at them with disbelief.

I listen to some of the most depressing stories about the treatment the residents get and how bad their lives are, I don't know what to do. I hear and see them whale in pain and I can't do anything but get a RN to help them. Idk how some people work this job for more than a few years. Being a cna is too laboring, underpaid, and underappreciated. We also get looked down on by the higher ups (RNs, LPNs, Back office workers, etc) even the cooks in the kitchen look down on us where I work at. Being a cna is like being the janitors of the health industry. We do the work no one else wants to do. This only motivates me to work harder in school to get out and do what I love for a living. Everything feels so uninspiring.

Sorry for my long rant. I had to say something about it. I just feel depressed and uninspired about everything.

[zara ray]

Thank you for the comment Adorris! Yeah, LTCF are tough and going to school full time is too much all at the same time. It's tiring and the attitudes from what seems like everyone is horrid. I would like to work in a hospital (for both the pay and in certain areas) but all of the surrounding hospitals are not hiring CNAs. Idk, I did this job to get a job since it's harder to find something stable but being a CNA is too much work. I wish you luck on becoming a nurse! I know the job isn't for everyone but it's needed. It takes a person who really wants to help another person physically.

[LVNtoRN2012]

I used those emotions as motivation to progress my career into LVN and RN and hopefully into NP. At the end of the day I can say I went through every step of the "ladder" and can appreciate every position as I have lived it. I hope you find out that you are not the only one in this position and that many before you and many after you will have gone through this and hopefully it leads to better things. There is nothing wrong with being a CNA, even when you are in the military you have to do the hard work and feel the same emotions, but as you build through your life and career there is nothing like telling a story that starts with, "when I was a cna" and ends with "that was X' amount of years ago and it feels great to be a Nurse Practitioner now."

[WannaBNursey, ADN, ASN, RN]

You sound like me 2 years ago. I hated working as a CNA and knew that after that experience I would just never be a nurse. Now I'm in nursing school! Things change, I grew up a little. I was actually going for a poli-sci degree, I did an internship at a law office, was offered a job afterward...making less than I made at Home Depot. I would just say, make sure going into a general degree in political science is really what you want to do and what you will love, because it's more than likely that you'll be without work or underpaid for a long while. I'm not encouraging you to go into nursing since, you obviously dislike it, I'm just saying that there are other options, and not all CNA work is like LTC work. There's a variety of things you can do, and since you already have experience in LTC, those options will open up to you.

Regardless of what your major is, school comes first. If your facility can't work with your schedule, find somewhere else to work, or I would suggest going per-diem if you can. What you describe happening at your facility just makes me angry. I've dealt with it myself. If you say that you need Sunday's off to study, you get guilt tripped into working Sunday's or the scheduler will cut down your hours to where you can barely get by. I feel for you. I hope things get better.

[Hygiene Queen]

being a CNA is too much work

But it is for such a good cause.

I'd rather bust my bum in contributing to quality of life of the elderly than bust my bum ringing up toilet paper and Ding Dongs... or figuring taxes (ugh!).

That's just me, though.

It's not for everybody.

But if the reality is that you need a job, then so it is.

[Healing Soul]

Hi OP,

I worked as a CNA for over eighteen years and like you wanted to study Political Science. I ended up completing my master's degree in Public Administration and was hired by a county to work with the unemployed. I am so happy that I stuck it out and pursued my passion. I strongly encourage you to do the same. In my case, I stayed in nursing too long and it impacted the care I was able to give and it left me with a bad taste in my mouth about the whole experience.