Different levels of nursing?

[DBall]

What are you different levels of nursing? I know of a CNA, LVN (I live in CA) LVN, ASN and a BSN. Are the CNA and LVN nurses the ones who do all the grunt work like the dressing of wounds, or. Catheters? Do the bachelor degree or Associate degree nurses do more of the paperwork?

[azcna]

I didn't "want" to deal with body fluids when I became a CNA, but I just didn't think about it and did it. If you aren't at a point in your life where you feel like you can handle dealing with things you don't want to, pick a field other than nursing. There are many more things that will come up that you don't "want" to do such as working short staffed, discharging four patients and getting four new patients in the same shift, responding to a code during lunch break, not peeing for 12 hours, etc. You need to be able to put the patient first.

[DBall]

Thanks for all the input. Next semester I am taking more science classes and will see how I manage them to see if the health field is a manageable field for me.

[DBall]

Another question. Do they have programs where I can follow nurses around and see what they do? I know all this HIPAA privacy could prevent that?

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

There are programs where you could do that, you'd just be bound by HIPAA laws to protect patient confidentiality. You wouldn't be able to do anything and if a patient requested not to have a student in the room for something, you'd have to leave, but there are definitely opportunities to do that if you go looking. I had high school students shadow me when I was a hospital nurse. Call a hospital in your area and ask.