First Day of CNA Class!

Nursing Students CNA/MA

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Hey all,

I am still fairly new to the boards, but was so excited I had to post a thread :)

I started my cna class today, which I am hoping will lead to experience and a job while I am working towards my RN. I was so excited and nervous this morning I could hardly stand it! My class is 8 hours a day, 2 days a week, for 8 weeks. It is also across town from me, so I left extra early in case there was traffic.... there wasn't.... I got there an hour early! Oops. Better than late though :)

My class is all female sadly, the other section got all the men! Boo! lol I am not sure how well 15 women will get along enclosed in one room for 8 hours a day for very long!! And yes, 15 includes the instructor! There were only 20 spots for the class, and it was extremely difficult to obtain one of those spots, and then 6 people didn't show today! And one of the students that was there was 35 minutes late! I was waiting for the instructor to give her a thorough lashing, but no comment whatsoever was made.

Of the 14 students, I am definitely seeing cliques and stereotypes even after just the first day.... we have the older know it alls, the younger know it alls, several people who don't seem to know much of anything, the money grubbing spoiled brats, the high school students who dont take the class seriously, a few of us looking for a stepping stone on our way to being an RN, and then there is one girl I couldn't quite peg, who just kept declaring to the class that she just wants to be a nurse and is not sure how this class will help her. Bless her heart, I really do like her, she seems sweet, just confused. I did get some interesting information from the class discussing just how this class will help her though :)

We will have 3 weeks of lecture, then 3 weeks of clinicals in a LTC facility, then a week of CPR class/certification and our final, then the last week is reviewing for and taking the state exam.

We learned to wash our hands today, along with the correct removal of gloves, as well as how to properly restrain someone in a wheelchair using restraints and enablers. Mounds of information today, and mounds of homework for Monday! Along with our first test! It was definitely an interesting day, I can't wait to see what Monday brings! :yeah: Has anyone else had similar experiences?

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hi CONGRATULATIONS!!!! on starting CNA class!!! ive been considering going this route to gain experience and really get a feel for nursing!!! good luck to you in your classes, keep us posted. your first day sounds like it was very interesting!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!! once again

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Hi Congrats to you.... I just started my CNA classes on Tuesday they are pretty intense 2 we go 8 hours a day 5 days a week . we have a total of 17 students 2 instructors . It is alot of information to learn in just 9 weeks we are suppose to have 430 hours in . how bout you how manyhours I know in about 2 weeks we start our clinicals we have to also do an 8 hour CPR course and we got labs 2 days a week anyone elses program running like this? Im loving it its the stepping stones to my goal of becoming an RN......

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Specializes in LTC, Orthopedics.

Hi

My CNA class starts on June 8th. We go Monday - Thursday 8:00 a.m. -12:30 p.m. We end the class July 24th. So that is roughly 7 weeks. We also have 10 people in our class with 1 instructor. Good Luck to all!

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Wow!! I can't even imagine going to class 5 days a week! Our class is 2 days per week, 8 hours per day, for 8 weeks. I think it ends up being around 130 hours or so? Can't remember off the top of my head at the moment. We have 1 instructor, and when we left Wednesday, 14 students, since of the 20 spots only 14 students showed. :(

Our first 3 weeks are spent in the classroom/lab going over material and learning skills, the second 3 weeks are spent at a LTC facility for clinicals, and the last 2 weeks are spent with cpr training/certification, final exams, review for the state test, and completing the state test. I am sure that the 8 weeks is going to absolutely fly by!

I definitely agree about this being a stepping stone-- I am so excited that I have taken the first step towards becoming an RN! :) And thanks to both of you for your congratulations! I will keep updating this thread with my experiences for sure :) My next class is Monday, with 6 chapters including homework for each dues, along with our first test! Eeee! Wish me luck! :)

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Hi, congrats on starting your CNA class! I started mine as well on Tuesday. We go 3 days a week, 5 hours a day.

I'm learning a lot, but... I feel like they shouldn't have put CNA classes on the shortened summer session, and should have instead kept it on the regular summer session. As it is, we're covering everything in 5 weeks, and I just don't see how it's going to happen. Our instructor is nice, and professional, but really, I feel like this is a self-guided course because she only covers about 1/4 of the material and doesn't seem to like to answer questions directly. She does a lot of sidestepping in answering. Like, a student was confused on handwashing, regarding watches and rings, and she told him it was good to be thorough, and wash all the germs off your hands, and keep from cross contaminating. So the student took off his watch and wedding band when he washed his hands, then put them back on after, because she didn't answer his question. He used his best judgment, which in this case wasn't the best thing to do, but he didn't know, and that's why he asked. She should have instructed him properly, and yet she didn't.

I hope also that we get more opportunities with the instructor in the lab. She only got about 2/3 of the class to go and actually change the sheets on the mannequins in the lab, then we were out of time, so the rest of us haven't had the opportunity to practice this with her watching. Most of our hands-on skills have so far been learned by videos, and we've not had the opportunity to actually do much. We get a lab day every week, so I hope next week's lab day we get to go over that stuff again.

The class is moving very fast. Three days in and I feel already like I've gone through about 2 weeks worth of material. I'm nervous that I'm not soaking this stuff up fast enough. You know, I am almost 37 and it's been 16 or 17 years since I've taken a test. We had a test on day 3 and I completely blanked! I couldn't even remember what liability or negligence was. I did my best, but I don't think I answered it "correctly". I honestly feel like I'd do SO much better if she drilled us daily. I wish we had daily short tests or pop quizzes, honestly.

I realize I'm new to this, and the class just started, but I'm scared! I know I can do this... but I had a nightmare the other night that I failed my boards because I couldn't change sheets and I had no idea when to put on new gloves. :eek:

It'd be nice if we could do study groups online or something... I am already starting to hit up youtube for CNA class videos, hopefully I'll find something that can help me get back through this material and soak it up a little better.

Btw... we have all kinds of students in our class, too. About 15 or 16 students. They come from all walks and are all ages. And just at my desk, I have a really annoying older lady on one side, and a ditzy high schooler on the other. The high schooler spends most of her time in class instant messaging someone on her iphone, and the annoying lady talks very loudly and jabs me when she has a question, instead of tapping me on the shoulder.

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Starting the 2nd week of class, and I am much more comfortable in class than last week - and also, I think the instructor and the class have warmed up to each other, so learning is a little easier. Some mild panic is starting to set in with us, though, and the instructor is just trying to reassure us, telling us that we will have the skills and knowledge needed. We've got a 2-day prep in 2 weeks, after we've done 2/3 of our clinicals, that should get us ready for the exam. Then she wants to see if she can get 2 examiners in so she can get us all done on the same day.

We got back our tests from Thursday, and I got a 90%... not what I'd hoped, but I guess it's not that bad for someone who hasn't taken a test or been to university for 16 or 17 years. The questions I missed were really simple ones, too... just not reading slowly/closely enough.

How is class going for the rest of you? We did skills on gait belts and vitals today... taking bp is kind of hard but I think in a couple of months I'll look back on this and laugh at myself. Also, nobody can find the brachial pulse. lol

Omg... test tomorrow morning. I am exhausted but I need to go study!

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Specializes in 12 years exp in corporate healthcare.

Congrats to you!!..it's a great experience! sounds like we've had the same classmates with those personalities omg!..it's going to be an interesting journey just wait and see, keep us posted and good luck to you! :yeah:

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Specializes in Alzheimers and geriatric patients.

Congrats to you all for starting your classes! being a CNA is wonderful but it does take a special person(who isn't afraid of poop!LOL) I wish you all the best of luck!

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Well, I have now had 3 days of classes along with 2 tests, a quiz, and a heck of a lot of studying along with a major lack of sleep! I spent all of last weekend reading, studying and taking notes, and it paid off! :) I missed 1 question on our 'test' Monday, which gave me a 96. The question I missed was one about what ppe you would wear for bathing someone in contact precaution. I chose gloves gown and mask, with the logic that in addition to the gloves and gown (which was the correct answer) a mask should be worn bc if you are bathing someone, you might get splashed in the face. My teacher didnt buy it lol.

Then the 3rd class day we had another test over another 4 chapters, which I aced :) It felt so good :yeah: at least until a couple of the older ladies in class were being pretty.... i guess unsportsmanlike about it. I blew it off and we moved on to more notes and skills, including bedmaking which Ive got the hang of now, but got very confused and flustered when practicing in class bc I had some steps mixed up and was trying to combine occupied and unoccupied lol oops. Then we had another quiz over initial and final steps which will be included in our clinical grade. I had studied these like crazy, repeating them over and over during my whole 45 minute drive to class, so I was pretty confident, and did pretty well. Our teacher had us trade them and check each other's before turning them in, which I was not so much a fan of, simply because one of the aforementioned older ladies had mine and after I had everything correct, started discussing how 'it's just because im young, etc etc' and my response was no it's because I study like crazy, if I am not at class or work I am studying and doing review questions, etc. She and another lady started talking about 'well youre young you can do that we cant do that bc we have too much stuff to do...etc' It was very frustrating!! I have a lot of stuff going on too! I work fulltime, and take care of a house, cook, clean, etc. Whatever I guess!

So the way our grading system works, I have a 100 as of right now after 3/16 classes :) We have 3 more class periods, then 6 periods of clinicals, then 4 classes of cpr, final exam, review, and state test. It's going so fast!! Speaking of going fast, so is my day! Off to study some more, good luck to everyone else in classes! :redbeathe

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Specializes in Med-Surg/urology.

Sounds like you're on the right track :) I wasn't too sure about being a CNA at first either, but I'm glad I did & honestly I'd do it again in a heartbeat. When you start clinicals a good thing to do is try & see if the LTC you will be has any openings. But anyways good luck to you !

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