Should I get my cna or emt?I'm a nursing

Specialties Emergency

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I'm a nursing student and I'm planning on going into emergency nursing once I graduate. Should I get my emt or my cna?

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At our hospital we hire CNA IIs in our ER because they can do more than CNA Is. we will hire paramedics but only if they are also CNA IIs. But that will vary from hospital to hospital.

With that being said I would recommend getting your CNA if you still have a few years to go before graduating from your nursing program rather than your EMT for several reasons. First off, it will give you a lot of basic nursing skills that you'll use throughout your nursing career. Sure, we deligate a LOT to CNAs as nurses but at the end of the day those are nursing skills and there have been plenty of shifts in the ER when we've been short techs and medics or it's been faster to just do a so-called "CNA" myself.

Secondly, I knew I wanted to work in the ER from day one. I had EMS in my background but had been out of it for awhile but kinda knew floor nursing probably wouldn't be my thing. But I also knew at the end of the day new grads sometimes have to take what we can get and that experience as a CNA that I got would be invaluable to me should I end up working somewhere other than the ER starting out. Heck, I did start out in the ER as a new grad and it was and is still invaluable to me.

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What are some of the nursing skills that have been delegated to CNAs?

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Specializes in Emergency, CNL.

For clinical techs in our ED they do EKGs, venipuncture, blood sugar checks, urine dips, flu/strep tests, iStats, wound care, vitals, etc...

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What are some of the nursing skills that have been delegated to CNAs?

Pretty much everything.......

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