Did being a CNA make you NOT want to be a nurse anymore?

Nursing Students CNA/MA

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I'm just curious, because I'm working as a CNA and am really having doubts about whether or not nursing is for me anymore. For now, I'll blame it on the fact that I'm new and am HATING life. I hope it improves. What was your experience?

Thankyou I will definitely look into that.

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Yes, but not for the reason you may think.

I would love love love the job of a nurse, because I love being an aide, but being an aide has taught me I can't handle the schedule. All the evenings, nights, weekends, and holidays weren't a big deal when I was 17, but now being married, my priorities have changed.

i work with some people that put their career above all, and that's their choice. I work with people that don't want to be at home, and that's their choice. But it's not mine.

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Specializes in Certified Vampire and Part-time Nursing Student.

I used to want to be a nurse early in my time in college as an undergraduate but I've since then changed my mind. I had a biology professor who used to be a nurse strongly caution against students becoming nurses in this day and age and I've actually met a few RNs in my classes going back to school so they can get another degree and quit their job as a nurse. I now work as a CNA in an ALF for patient experience hours and have had more than two nurses ask me my career goals and then tell me to not become a nurse. Being a nurse is pretty bad because you do a ton of work and don't get paid enough, which can be said for a lot of jobs but it is especially true in nursing. Not that there are no good nursing jobs but I think a lot of nurses feel like they are walking talking med dispensors and first in the line of authority to get yelled at when a patient is upset by anything, even if the nurse has absolutely no control over it. At least that's how it seems from the nurses I've spoken too and what I observe at my workplace.

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I know it's been quite awhile since you wrote this comment, but I'm actually getting into nursing now from being a holistic practitioner of many modalities for the last 5 years. Honestly, I'm giving up the notion of trying to be a "professional hippie". It takes more time and effort just to try and convince someone why receiving Reiki would be beneficial for them, or to take a yoga class (and actually regularly attend!), or to come to meditation (all of these are modalities that I've worked with), than you actually get clients or enough students to make a living, or really to feel like I was even making the kind of difference I want to make in people's lives. The only moderate success I've had is with herbalism, and I still make and sell my own herbal products. However, it is nowhere near a liveable income, although people love and appreciate my products a lot!

I don't mean to discourage anyone, because even though I'm entering the field of nursing and starting my pre-nursing classes tomorrow(!), I'm still keeping my values and my knowledge that while the body is an amazing part of us, we are way more than our bodies. I'm looking forward to maybe being able to synthesize my holistic knowledge with nursing in some way, especially the cardiac yoga therapy training I've received, which was amazing!

Oh, and based on the stories I've heard, youtube videos I've watched, and forums I've read, there is no freaking way I'm going to CNA at an LTC!!! It's unfortunate and totally the opposite of how I felt before I started researching it, but now I'm definitely going to only pursue being in a hospital. I'm definitely questioning whether or not I want to CNA before starting nursing school but I think I'll gain a lot of really valuable experience.

I see nursing as my way to help people on a real and tangible level while also making pretty good money, which is a win-win for everyone! At least where I'm looking CNAs and RNs get paid very well. I'm hoping I'll get lucky and have an awesome work environment instead of ending up in a job where everyone bullies and nobody is nice to each other!

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My previous comment was meant to be a reply to a woman thinking about investigating the holistic side of things, oops. To add though, I think it's worth everyone's while to learn about holistic/alternative medicine too instead of just western pharmacology!

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I had days like that, but when I sat down to analyze what it is about my job as a CNA that makes me unhappy it's things like this:

1. The nurses have zero respect for us (some of them---it depends on who I'm working with) and think we're Certified Nurses Slaves, not Certified Nurses Assistants.

2. I absolutely hate giving bed baths. I do it with a smile on my face, but I hate every second of it. (on a funny note, the nurses here think I'm awesome because my baths are always done by 10am, but truly it's because I just want to get it over with LOL!)

3. I hate pushing beds... I'm terrible at it. I am seriously a "woman driver" when it comes to that.

I realized that my issues are things that are CNA related, not nursing related. Of course, I know that I'll still have to do those things as a nurse, but it won't be nearly as much.

I'm sooo not looking forward to bed baths!

Your comment makes me actually optimistic though....I think I'll learn a lot being a CNA, but I definitely can't wait to be an RN!

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I always wanted to be a nurse since I was very young and when I became a CNA recently it completely opened my eyes to residental care nursing. I don't think I would ever want to be a nurse in a nursing home. Maybe you will like nursing in a hospital or in home care as it is very different from what I've gathered compared to nursing homes.

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I am in nursing school right now, but I am also a PCT. I did my CNA certification and we did all our clinicals at a nursing home. I hated doing my clinicals at that particular nursing home. However, I have friends who work at a different nursing home as CNA's and LOVE IT. If someone is truly interested in being a nurse, I would suggest being a PCT at an acute care hospital. At my current hospital to qualify to be a PCT you need to have a CNA certification or be a nursing student. I had no prior healthcare experience, no connection to the hospital, and I was hired at a magnet hospital. The posting stated prior healthcare experience preferred, but I applied anyways. Keep applying to these jobs even if you think you don't qualify. I applied to every PCT job I found one week and the one and only one that gave me an interview hired me. So my point with this is, hospitals do hire people with no paid health care experience!

So for those of you who are CNA's at a nursing home and second guessing a career as a RN, try working at an acute care hospital first before jumping ship. LASTLY, nursing has so many avenues you can go into. You can be a school nurse or work in a clinic. I have another friend who is doing consulting and never touched a patient after nursing school. Nursing is not just bedside.

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If anything, being a CNA has kindled my fire to become an RN.

Yes. I agree. As a CNA working with bad/lazy nurses when you become a RN or LPN you don't want to be like those nurses. CNA's have a closer relationship with the residents because they help them everyday and know when they are acting not like themselves. If you want to be a RN/LPN in the future just remember being a CNA is just a stepping stone to where you want to be. It is only temporary. Keep going through school, even if you have to stop for while (I did, years actually) then pick up again (doing that now, back in school) until you get that RN/LPN license. You are doing this for you.

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Specializes in Psychiatric, Med-Surg.

Yes. For the first 11 months of being a PCA/CNA, I did NOT want to be a regular floor nurse. Now that I'm half-way through my nursing core, and I've seen that not all floors/specialties are as nasty as the one I'm in (a rather old medsurg unit), I have reconsidered.

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I've been a CNA for about seven years now and honestly I have days that I want to just stop. I believe the people you work with makes it either better or worst. I have a great group of women and nurses that I work with and actually helps me to love the career evn more. Im in school for social work but I think you should try and create your own experience. I think once you chosen the nurse field your wanting to be in than you would love it. I believe you can do it! Med Surg

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I think being overwhelmed and feeling incompetent is an experience that most new CNA's can relate to, especially when you really care and want to do things correctly. In nursing homes, CNA's often have way more patients than can be cared for properly. If a CNA does really care and knows her patients in and out, she's usually working at warp speed and exhausted at the end of her shift.

The feeling of being overwhelmed doesn't last forever. After you discover a routine that works for you work will become easier. You'll know exactly how many minutes you can spend in any one room, where your patients need to be at what time, and how much time you have to do it in. You will become the consummate time management expert.

Even though I was initially the "slowest" CNA, I always loved my job and became better. In my experience, working in a hospital is a cake-walk compared to working in a nursing home.

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