CNA training

nursetabitha · May 1, 2012

Call around to the schools and ask what their pass rates are on both the written and skills exams and choose the one with the highest pass rate on skills. The written exam is mostly common sense and is pretty easy as long as you pay attention in class and read your study book. The skills part is harder because there are so many steps to remember. That would be my advice. I had a great school and good instructors so I passed the first try, but some of my classmates who didn't pay much attention in class and didn't practice their skills, failed the skills exam.

RunnerRN2015, ASN, RN · May 1, 2012

If you're getting your CNA because you need it for nursing school, MAKE SURE your CNA class is acceptable. My school requires a certain number of class/clinical hours or they won't accept it. A few students have tried those "CNA in a day" courses and while they were able to pass the state test and get listed on the state registry, the admissions dept didn't accept their certificates. They had to sit out a semester and take an approved CNA course first.

darrek · May 28, 2012

I had the same trouble when I was trying to decide a course that was good for myself I used some tips I found on this one site which helped quite a lot but the biggest thing I can tell you is that when trying to figure out what colleges offer the best programs you usually have to physically go there. There is important tips you can learn from websites but the best way to find out how good a course is and how well the teachers are is to take the time to meet them before signing up. I have a friend who didn't do that and it turned out that after she was finished with her program her certification wasn't valid and she had to go to another school and take the certification course all over.

mindyfromcali · May 29, 2012

Go to the california department of public health web site and find good ones. I lived in the East bay but I went to Vallejo nursing school. It was an approved school. I've heard good things about Nightingale nursing in Hayward. Relatively inexpensive, but the classes aren't starting constantly all the time like the more expensive schools. There is one in SF in the mission, i forget what it's called, but they do the CNA and HHA at the same time, and it's pretty worth the cost.

mindyfromcali · May 29, 2012

http://www.cdph.ca.gov/services/training/Documents/CNATrainingPrograms.pdf

There you go, Alameda is at the top of the list of counties.

If you go to the San Francisco county part of it, Arriba Juntos is the one I think that does the CNA and HHA.

That is the official list of approved CNA schools in California straight from the CA dept of Public Health web site.

As far as school reputations, I don't know if that makes a difference. I didn't look at that, and I got a job right away.

IEDave, ASN, CNA, LVN · May 29, 2012

Evening, locutus:

Can't say much about Bay Area CNA courses, since I live well south of you (San Bernardino/Riverside area).

As far as the classes - there are significant differences. For instance: my niece took her training through CRY-ROP; longer course (9 weeks), less intense, breezed through. I took my training through the Red Cross; shorter course (5 1/2 weeks), very intense, difficult (and I'm a college grad). We both passed our skills & written on the first try, though. She took about 6 weeks to find work - I had a lead on employment in 2 days, job offer in 4 days. As always, YMMV.

My take - it really depends on why you're looking at CNA training. If you're looking because you need a job right now, and you're not picky about where you work, really any of the programs will do. Try and find out where they do their clinicals, because their clinical site will be more likely to snap you up than somewhere else (if you present yourself nicely during clinicals, natch). If you have a specific place you want to work, see which schools do their clinicals there (if any) & choose from those. Far as name recognition - well, haven't found that the Red Cross name has been much of a help or hindrance for me; it's really more a matter of which facilities are affiliated with a given program, and frankly who's looking for CNA's at the time you're applying.

One thing I can offer is this - http://www.calqualitycare.org/ This is a site that has ratings (including average salary info) for the majority of the LTC facilities in California; it'll help you sift through the bad sites & pick a good place to work.

Other than that - ditch the Borg implants; no Collective participation allowed.

----- Dave

lolabutterfly · May 29, 2012

Hi IEDave,

I've been lurking on the forum for awhile now, I am considering becoming a CNA and I find this all so very interesting. I live in the Inland Empire and I see your posts all the time about the CNA courses in the area, you are so helpful to everyone that I was hoping I could talk to you.

I am considering the Red Cross training course, because it seems so straightforward, but you are actually the first person on the net that I have come across that has an inside opinion/review of the San Bernardino CNA class.

How difficult was it to actually get into the class? Did they turn away applicants due to being overfull? Overall do you consider it to be a good investment? It seems like you had some bad feelings about the course and or instructors, I would really love to hear all about it.

I looked up the school you said your niece attended, do you happen to know if there are ones like that closer to our area? I live in Ontario. I moved to this area last summer, So I am somewhat unfamiliar with all the schools and areas of service, I am trying my best to learn though.

Anyway if you are able to reply I would greatly appreciate it,

Thanks for your time, and all of the great posts you put up on this forum!