Difference between Nursing home and hospital?

[llonka]

Hello all!! I am getting ready to be a CNA and we had clinicals at a nursing home. I was just wondering what the difference would be at a hospital? I'm not sure i liked the nursing home because the other CNAs were pretty rude and were in a hurry all the time. Is the hospital like that too??

[fuzzywuzzy, CNA]

There are millions of threads about this. I've never worked in a hospital so I can't say from personal experience whether or not you're less rushed, but you usually get to do a lot more stuff than a CNA in a nursing home- they'll train you to do fingersticks and dc IVs and stuff like that. And you're not taking care of the same people day in and day out, so there's less of a routine.

[llonka]

sorry i didn't realize there were lots of threads like this. i guess i will just have to try it at the hospital.

[Girl Scout]

From what I understand, CNAs in hospitals are trained to be Patient Care Technicians. Or, at least, to have many of the acute care skills that Patient Care Techs have.

http://www.pcihealth.edu/education/patient_care_technician.htm

Right now I'm in CNA class, but right after, I start another 5 week course, which is Patient Care Tech (or Assistant, Associate, etc.). I did that instead of just taking CNA because I want to be able to transition to acute setting from a LTC quickly once I have experience under my belt, unless I just flat out luck out and get a job at one immediately.

[fuzzywuzzy, CNA]

And getting that LTC experience is pretty important. It helps you develop time management and hone your basic care skills. When new people start LTC, they're always slow. 6 months later they can whip through HS care without hesitation, they don't have any trouble hurrying people along, and they can remember 274756 things at once while juggling 10 people. It's a good foundation for hospital work, which is less predictable.