Future Pediatric Nurse

Specialties Pediatric

Published

I'm a pre nursing student interested in becoming a nurse pediatric in the long run. Right now I plan to finish pre nursing then lpn then RN. My question is being that I am a CNA and interested in pediatrics would it be a good idea to get a job at the children's hospital as a nursing care partner to gain some sort of experience to the field. I know CNA is not an actual nurse but would I at least get a feel for that job field and be able to use that for experience later on.

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Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.

Always a good idea to get some health care experience leading up to/ during nursing school.

Best wishes

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I've worked as a CNA for 5 years in home health. I was wondering should I switch to the children's hospital as CNA or will it not matter being RN and CNA is so different? I was hoping if I switched I could gain some type of experience to the field and it would look good on my resume in the future.

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

Equally as important as experience, working in a Children's Hospital would give you the chance to show them what a good employee you are -- which can definitely help you get a job there after graduation.

Just be sure you really are a great employee. If you don't make a good impression on your managers, etc., you can can really hurt your chances of getting a job there after graduation. It works both ways.

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Okay and thank you for your comment

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.

The gap between CNA and RN will be there, but in the meantime you'll be learning lots of valuable things. Like how to talk to kids to get them to cooperate. Like how to involve parents in caring for their sick child. Growth and development is a HUGE part of caring for kids. You'll get lots of practice at assessing their developmental stages even as a CNA. You'll have role models in the nurses you work with, and you'll figure out what approaches work and which don't. As llg said, having your foot in the door can't hurt... unless you mess up.

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Specializes in NICU.

I guess I'm a little confused. Why do you think working as a CNA at a children's hospital would hurt your chances of working in pediatrics? What are the downsides that you see?

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Specializes in Pediatrics Retired.

...yes...

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Thank you all for your response. I was not saying it would hurt me. I was wondering if I would get benefit out of it.

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That is a great idea! Many nurses love to teach and /or mentor so buddy up with one or two and get some experience! You will also confirm that you truly want to work in pediatrics.

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Specializes in Pedi.

Yes you should try to find a job in a children's hospital as a CNA. Why do you plan on becoming an LPN prior to becoming an RN? You're unlikely to find an LPN job in a pediatric hospital (mine employs precisely 0 in any capacity) but I know many who got their new grad RN jobs by working as a CNA on the unit they were eventually hired on.

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I plan to do lpn first because I'm a mother of 3 and want to have a career started being that only takes a year and my husband and I also want to relocate we live in a small town with no opportunity. We would like our children to have to switch schools at the earliest we are able to get them to. With them being so young and friendly it wouldn't be as hard to adjust to a new school.

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