CNA via Nursing Home Training or Community College?

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I have decided that I want to become a nurse. I actually have been considering it on and off for a few years now and after a 2 years of college studying CIS I decided to move to California to do nursing school. So now I am here in Southern California and every school I am looking at a "ladder system" you must get your CNA (.5 year), then your LVN (1 year), then RN (1 year).

I have the option of getting on the job training and getting my CNA working at a local Nursing Home, I would get paid and get my CNA. Or I could get it at the school but that would cost about $2000. Does it look better to get it at one or the other? Or does it not really matter?

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

Welcome to AN! The largest online nursing community!

moved to CNA for best response....:)

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Hello! I am going that same route, personally the cna, lpn, rn ladder is easier for me (and easier to get into). I decided to take a two week, 8 hour a day cna program vs a 6 week program at a local CC. My lpn classes are through a year long program at a local Cc.

Good luck!

Oh, and at least in Ohio it doesn't matter.

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Take it at the nursing home! It's the same training. And if you're getting paid?? What more could you ask for! I got my cna training free at a LTC and was paid for the last two weeks of clinicals. I now have a job with new York state at one of our state run hospitals!

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Around where I live near Los Angeles, nursing home CNA training was hard to find when I was searching a year ago. The only one that I found near my home required a contract where you will have to work for them for a year after they provided you the CNA course.

If that is something you can commit to, I recommend it. Although friends and coworkers have told me that community college CNA training was much more detailed and helped them feel more comfortable working at an acute setting, I believe you can get a great education anywhere and it really depends on the instructor or the school.

I always recommended the public adult schools that provided CNA training since it is usually much cheaper (city funding) and have better instructors from what I have been told from many different coworkers.

I took mine at a private school and although my instructor was not well experienced in teaching the hands on portion (practical portion of the CNA exam) the school provided practice written exams near identical to the official written portion of the CNA exam.

I don't remember to well, but many people passed the written portion, but the practical portion a lot of students did not pass on the first try.

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Specializes in Aesthetics, Med/Surg, Outpatient.

If your school would permit the LTC training option, then by all means go for it. But if you want a relationship with the school; thats another option there... whatever you do, it'll be a great stepping stone

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