CNA to RN

Nursing Students CNA/MA

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Has anyone gone from a cna to a rn? I start my cna class in one week and already know that I want to further my education. My goal is to be a PEDS nurse. Any tips on going about this?

A move in the right direction for sure. I've been a CNA for a year, and I'm in my second semster as a nursing student. While in my first rotation, many of my fellow students were awkward and timid at approaching a patient. Patient care was a whole new world for them. Part of being a nurse is getting up into someone's personal space, with confidence, and getting the job done. Being a CNA will give you that experience.

This is absolutely true! I've been a CNA for a year and a half now and going to my first term nursing clinicals next week :yeah: I am the only one in my group that has worked as a CNA and it has already proven so incredibly helpful to do this. Like the poster above said, we are used to going into a room and getting the job done and that is one place I see a LOT of timidness in the students who haven't worked as an aide. I can go into the nurses station and get things or ask confidently if I don't know where something is. We did a scavenger hunt last week and I felt like the mama duck with all the little ones quacking along behind me :) Finding the Robonurse (what's that?) stumped a lot of them, as did what is a hoyer. So we do have an advantage there. They will get it and catch up but for now, it's an immense help to not be learning how to interact with patients on top of new nursing skills!

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I'm a little worried now. lol. I have little to no interest in wiping butts or in peri care. Don't get me wrong. Because it is part of the job I will do it to the best i possibly can. But I'd rather not. But I want to be an ER nurse. and i know that the people who are the best at their jobs started at the bottom. So if a little butt wiping is what is needed to get to where I'm going then i shall wipe butts. And people who won't do it need to get over themselves.

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I'm a little worried now. lol. I have little to no interest in wiping butts or in peri care. Don't get me wrong. Because it is part of the job I will do it to the best i possibly can. But I'd rather not. But I want to be an ER nurse. and i know that the people who are the best at their jobs started at the bottom. So if a little butt wiping is what is needed to get to where I'm going then i shall wipe butts. And people who won't do it need to get over themselves.

It's good to take the CNA class that way you can really see if nursing is what you really want to do. Some people don't take the CNA course and don't work as a CNA and then once they get into nursing school they realize that nursing isn't for them, and they quit. But they have wasted all this time on prerequisites and they've wasted space and that space could have been filled with someone who knew for sure that they wanted to be a nurse. So maybe after taking the CNA and/or working as a CNA you find that peri care, and butt wipping isn't your thing, then maybe nursing really isn't for you.

It's good that you're willing to do the butt wipping, and peri care to get over that fear. If your plans are to be an ER nurse then you really need to overcome your fear of butt wipping, and peri care because it's going to be all over nursing. There are certain things that I HATE about nursing. But I do it anyway because that's just a small fraction of nursing. I hate it when I have to clean up sputum, or hear people coughing up a frog. LOL, it makes me gag, but I love nursing and I'm not willing to let something so small take over me like that. One word of advise for you, if you ever become a RN, don't EVER go looking for the CNA to do the peri care or wipe butts because you're going to make fast enemies like that. Always remember your CNAs are your eyes and ears, and they can also make you pay heavily for something so small as wipping a butt, or peri care. So even if you don't like it, and you're the only person around, just do it, don't spend 30 minutes looking for the CNA to do it. You really don't want to be passing a digoxin to a patient who your CNA documented as having a HR of 65 and in reality it was 50, but then again they wanted to get back at you for spending 30 minutes looking for them when it would have taken you 3 minutes to do the job yourself....So never make enemies with your CNA...Just an FYI, and good luck

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Specializes in Med-Surg/urology.
My close friend was a CNA for 5 years. She has a previous B.S. degree in public health and will complete an RN associates degree program very soon. She currently works as an LPN at a nursing home.

She absolutely will not help with the more mundane, humbling tasks. She will sit at the nurses station and read a newspaper or send texts over her cell phone while call lights are ringing. Here are some of the statements that she has made over the years:

"I've got a degree, so I don't have to pass trays."

"I don't wipe butts anymore."

"I was a CNA for 5 years, so I've had enough of wiping ass."

"I don't give showers."

Not all of the nurses with CNA work experience are willing to work hard, go the extra mile, or help out with certain tasks.

Ah yes, I've run into many LPN's at work who do this. One of them told me & another girl I was working with one day " Your work is beneath me. I could never do what you do & I won't !":uhoh3:

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I don't get people who refuse to do peri-care or wipe butts. I wouldn't want to be left in feces, and I'm sure they wouldn't like to either, so why make someone sit in crud and let it dry up? I personally don't mind the butt wipping or peri-care. It just floors me when I get a nurse who will tell me that someone peri needs cleaning up because it looks nasty. THEN CLEAN IT IF IT LOOKS THAT BAD! I hate to see people left in that nasty crap.

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oh i would never find someone else to do something that would take me a few minutes to do. That's just a dumb thing to do. LIke i said, if that's what i have to do, then that's what i do. I'm no better than anyone else and I will do my job to the absolute best of my ability, no matter what it entails, and i've had to do some disgusting things before, not even in the nursing field. lol. so i can handle icky.

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Specializes in Med-Surg/urology.
I don't get people who refuse to do peri-care or wipe butts. I wouldn't want to be left in feces, and I'm sure they wouldn't like to either, so why make someone sit in crud and let it dry up? I personally don't mind the butt wipping or peri-care. It just floors me when I get a nurse who will tell me that someone peri needs cleaning up because it looks nasty. THEN CLEAN IT IF IT LOOKS THAT BAD! I hate to see people left in that nasty crap.

I wish we had more nurses like you in my facility !

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They are out there, but unfortunately you have some of the "I'm above that" type of nurses (RNs and LVNs). Call lights can be flashing and the nurses will sitt on their tushes and just let it flash until they see a busy CNA carrying some linen and ask them to answer the call light. It's pretty bad out there unfortunately. It's wrong, but that's reality. Whether we like it or not, it's always going to be there.

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Being a CNA first is a really good idea. I'm one of the only CNAs in my college class , and it has really helped me in clinical. Everyone else was a nervous wreck, but I've been there done that. (all we did first semester of clinical was baths)

Good luck, I'm sure you'll do amazing in whatever you choose.:)

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There are so many jobs that you can do other than being a CNA while waiting for nursing school waiting lists. A CNA's job has nothing to do with being an RN at all. You are the very bottom of the totem pole and do all of the grunt/foul/disgusting work. I would recommend this job to anyone.

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As a CNA you will interact with your patients more than your nurse does. The CNA job is very important and it's very rewarding. Yes CNAs do a lot of gross things, but you're willing to take the time to do it shows a lot about you as a person and as a CNA. CNAs can be very caring and compationate. I admire the ones who love their job.

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