CNA required before becoming a licensed Nurse???

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What do you guys think? Should Nursing Assistant training and clinical be mandatory throughout the program?

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Specializes in hospice and home health as a CNA/ HHA.
What do you guys think? Should Nursing Assistant training and clinical be mandatory throughout the program?

I would have to say yes, but before application for nursing school. I have my CNA and am currently working on my LVN, and that training has really helped me. It also keeps me humble. I do not want to be one of those nurses that treats CNAs like dirt because they are "lower on the food chain." CNAs actually know the patients/ clients. They spend more time with them. (Feeding, dressing, showering, etc) If there is something amiss with a patient/ client the CNA would be the first to notice. With bed-bound patients/clients they are the ones keeping them from getting pressure ulcers. (Less pain for patients/clients and less work for nurses.) I think the best nurse is one who has been a CNA before. Those nurses seem to be more respectful and grateful for their position as a nurse. Having to work your way up also inspires team work and compassion. That is how the medical field should be. That is what our patients/clients deserve.

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Specializes in 10.

I agree with everything Nurse Justice has said, she summed it up nicely.

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No I don't think it should be a requirement. I love my patients and I wasnt a CNA before I went to nursing school, the school I went to our clinicals was basically doing CNA work plus any other nurse duties that the nurse allowed us students to do. I agree SOME nurses do get a little conceided but not all the BEST nurses are the ones who were CNAs before.

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