CNA Training without the experience

[charleybarley]

Hello all you lovely nurses and nurses to be! Undergrad student majoring in Psychology, took me 2 1/2 years to figure out how boring it actually was, and find out that I really want to be a nurse (hopefully)! Im hoping to get into a 2nd degree program in the Philly or Baltimore areas. I'm doing pretty well in the pre-reqs (well except Chem.. but no surprise there), but what I really need is some experience with patients.

I'm trying to get into some volunteering at hospitals- but (because of moving around a lot, and maybe lazy parents) I'm going thru hell trying to find all my immunization records. Anyway, let me get to the point- I was considering do a CNA training program over the summer. I know the Red Cross sometimes gives classes, but I also see that some nursing homes also provide this training for free.

Now what are the details of this? The idea of it being free is not what I care about (yes, mommy and daddy are still supporting me :) ) But I'm supposing that if you do the training at the LTC center they expect you to work there for some time. Since I will be doing this in the summer, I will only have about 2-3 months to work- and I'm guessing that they would not be too happy to train and hire someone who can only dedicate 2 months.

Now lets say I do the Red Cross program- there is one that takes 4 weeks- once i pass that- then what will I do- because again... I don't think anyone will hire me for 2 months. So do you think it is a decent idea to just go ahead with the Red Cross training- but not actually working as a nurses assistant after that? Would schools look at it as helpful to have the training- even if I have never worked the job?

Or, do you think I should just forget the whole CNA idea, and just do as much hospital volunteering over the summer?

Thanks! ( Sorry If i posted this in the wrong area- I'm new so please don't eat me alive!)