Does being a CNA really help if you want to become a nurse?

Nurses General Nursing

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I have been wondering about this for a while, people on here say that being a CNA will be beneficial if you want to be a nurse. But my concern is that if all CNA do is do the dirty work that the nurse's don't do. They can't pass meds, they don't really learn that much about patient care like a medical assistant and they make the lowest pay. Then why is it that people tell me to take CNA first, the only thing that they really learn is how to give shots. That's the only thing that has to do with nursing as a whole. Now I know that as a nurse you will have to do some dirty things but you would think that medical assisting would be the first step to being a nurse.

Specializes in ER, ICU, Education.

YES! Not only do you get a realistic view of health care you are practicing the basics of nursing. I learned so much more working as an aide in the hospital while in school.

Good luck.

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You will become an expert at wiping butts and bathing oversized people by yourself rapidly. If your back is strong and don't get injured, it couldn't hurt. I've decided to do it, but I'm just not going to lift one ounce more than anyone else without half the compensation of another person (what they save, win-win for them and me :-). What a deal. And wiping butts? Well, every employee does it figuratively anyway, so what the hell: clean is good :trout:

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Specializes in ER, ICU, L&D, OR.
I have been wondering about this for a while, people on here say that being a CNA will be beneficial if you want to be a nurse. But my concern is that if all CNA do is do the dirty work that the nurse's don't do. They can't pass meds, they don't really learn that much about patient care like a medical assistant and they make the lowest pay. Then why is it that people tell me to take CNA first, the only thing that they really learn is how to give shots. That's the only thing that has to do with nursing as a whole. Now I know that as a nurse you will have to do some dirty things but you would think that medical assisting would be the first step to being a nurse.

wow this is a strange outlook

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Specializes in LTC.

As a CNA (or Patient Care Technician in a hospital setting) you will learn the ground floor, so to speak, of assessment skills. My CNAs in LTC are my eyes and ears and often times are able to tip me off to changes in condition because they are so in tune to the residents. It's invaluable experience even if it seems that all you're doing is feeding, bathing and toileting. You'll learn routine, you'll learn protocol, you'll learn what to really watch for in a global sense. It makes a big difference to me when I am working with an excellent CNA or PCT as opposed to someone who is there to just collect a paycheck.

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Specializes in LTC.

In addition, if you're fortunate, you will meet nurses who love to teach and if you mention to them that you're interested in seeing different procedures, such as a dressing change, etc. you will get no end of extra OJT that many nurses don't get until the first year out of school. Think of everything you do as another deposit into your bank of nursing knowledge and look for those experiences. They will happen.

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Specializes in Emergency Room.
Honey, you are completely wrong...

Let me try to explain a few things and clear up some misconceptions that you have..

A Medical Assistant assists the Doctor.

A CNA assists the nurse.

I was a Student nursing assistant before becoming a nurse. I dont regret one day of the 'dirty work'. I am a darn good nurse now because of it.

I saw a lot, I learned a lot, and since I was a student nurse, most nurses let me assist with things such as dressing changes, starting an IV, etc.

The biggest thing I learned from being a nursing assistant was organization. Within 45 minutes I could have vitals done and charted on 15-18 patients. All just mine. I'd also have half of them toileted.

The other students in my class who werent CNAs were not prepared for a rude awakening. In nursing school you have 1-2 patients tops. Its not like that in the real world. Organization is key.

Not to mention, I learned how the floor ran, how to interact with other nurses/aides/drs/secretaries/etc, and I learned a lot about patient care.

To address a few things you mentioned:

CNA'd do not give shots. At least not anywhere that I have ever seen in the hospital setting..

Everyday in nursing is a dirty day. If you dont want that, I suggest you rethink nursing. If you find a patient covered in feces, are you going to leave it and wait for the CNA to come along? I'd hope not.

You have to feed people, change them, bath them, and nurse them back to health. Each one of those tasks are beyond important.

Feeding a person allows you to assess ability to swallow, bathing allows for assessment of skin integreity/ breakdown, and all of them allow for you to talk with a person to see if they are alert and oriented.

I dont pass meds all day. I'm coughed on, spit on, I clean up poop, vomit, urine, blood, you name it.

I love my job, and wouldnt change any aspect of it.

If you do continue to choose nursing, I wish you luck..

i love your post. this is the true reality of bedside nursing that many people are not prepared for. although i am a ER nurse and i don't do alot of things that the floor nurses do, it is still VERY DIRTY work. you have to want to help people and want to be a nurse. if every nursing instructor reinforced your description of bedside nursing, we would have a lot less people giving up on their career less than 1 year into it.

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Specializes in ALF, Medical, ER.

I can only tell you from my personal experience that I really wanted to be an aide first before I got really involved in the nursing program. I wanted to make sure that not only could I handle the job physically, but emotionally as well. I tend to get very emotionally involved with the people in my life and I knew that when I would become a nurse, that I would have to watch people I cared for die. I needed to make sure that I could handle that aspect of the job before I could become a nurse. For me I also needed the experience of prioritizing my day, handling numerous patients with various needs and be able to walk out the door that day feeling as tho I did the best possible job I could and provided the best care I was able to. Being an aide in the hospital setting also gives you a good background on which to build your nursing career. You get to see how nurses interact with the patients, how the nurses interact with each other and just get a general feeling as to how a shift goes. I can't imagine having my first day in a hospital be when I am doing clinicals. I needed the background first. But thats just me.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Med-Surg, Cardiology.

I think that it is great that you are gaining invaluable experience in the nursing field. I went into nursing school fresh with NO experience at all. My instructors would tell me that it was great that I had none because they said that students that worked thought that they knew so much and were unwilling to be taught. Many instructors also felt that students with experience would choose the answer on tests that were not reflective of textbook answers but from their experience. Even students themselves would at times regret having chosen answers that was based on their experience (real world), not the textbook. I have seen students with tons of experience before nursing school flunk out the nursing program and/or pass without any problems. I have also seen some students at the beginning of the program not disclose their experience to the instructor so that more was not expected from them. I do think that the healthcare experience gives you great confidence but you must be able to distinguish proper technique from what you may have learned incorrectly from your experience. I am sure that you will be fine. When I did get my student nurse associate job during college, I used it for real world experience but rarely for tests and Nclex-RN.

Good luck!

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I am not a CNA or PCT but I am a finishing up my first semester of nursing school. I would have liked to be a CNA first but I wasn't able to go through any formal training without taking time away from my ns pre-req's. I think it would've have been helpful in many ways, but not necessary. I am keeping up just fine with my fellow peers who are already cna's. If you are fortunate enough to be able to do it, I would say it would be worth it, but if not, you can still make it through ns.

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Specializes in pediatrics.

You have a misconception that nurse's aides don't learn much about patient care than a medical assisstant. I actually think they have an edge on gaining patient care experience because they must act as eyes for the nurse. A medical assistant is mainly dealing with patients in a well setting; the sickest patients they see, in a clinic for example have the common cold or an ear infection. A nurse's aide can work in an ICU, med/surg floor, rehab ctrs, and nursing homes dealing with eveything, even performing post mortem care.

As an aide you learn to assess a patient's condition when you bathe them and help them with ADL's. Depending on the setting (I worked in hospital) you perform vitals signs, fingersticks, monitor I&O's, perform Ekg's and phlebotomy. YOU also learn the needed body mechanics to function as a nurse than would a medical assistant working in a doctor's office or clinic. You gotta try boosting an unconscious patient with a nurse who doesn't know how.:uhoh3:

As a new nurse and a former aide I couldn't stand having a new nurse work with me who could not perform the "dirty work" as you put it. A nurse that puts the patient on the bedpan the wrong way or worse runs around the unit looking for an aide when it would have been faster for her/him to meet you half way and just put them on the pan.

Plus you mention CNA's giving shots? Not here in Conneticut.

Just learn that in the nursing/ medical field you should appreciate everyone elses role because there may be days when you have to work short staff without an aide or a unit secretary. You'll realize just how important they are!

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Specializes in Med/Surg.
Honey, you are completely wrong...

Let me try to explain a few things and clear up some misconceptions that you have..

A Medical Assistant assists the Doctor.

A CNA assists the nurse.

I was a Student nursing assistant before becoming a nurse. I dont regret one day of the 'dirty work'. I am a darn good nurse now because of it.

I saw a lot, I learned a lot, and since I was a student nurse, most nurses let me assist with things such as dressing changes, starting an IV, etc.

The biggest thing I learned from being a nursing assistant was organization. Within 45 minutes I could have vitals done and charted on 15-18 patients. All just mine. I'd also have half of them toileted.

The other students in my class who werent CNAs were not prepared for a rude awakening. In nursing school you have 1-2 patients tops. Its not like that in the real world. Organization is key.

Not to mention, I learned how the floor ran, how to interact with other nurses/aides/drs/secretaries/etc, and I learned a lot about patient care.

To address a few things you mentioned:

CNA'd do not give shots. At least not anywhere that I have ever seen in the hospital setting..

Everyday in nursing is a dirty day. If you dont want that, I suggest you rethink nursing. If you find a patient covered in feces, are you going to leave it and wait for the CNA to come along? I'd hope not.

You have to feed people, change them, bath them, and nurse them back to health. Each one of those tasks are beyond important.

Feeding a person allows you to assess ability to swallow, bathing allows for assessment of skin integreity/ breakdown, and all of them allow for you to talk with a person to see if they are alert and oriented.

I dont pass meds all day. I'm coughed on, spit on, I clean up poop, vomit, urine, blood, you name it.

I love my job, and wouldnt change any aspect of it.

If you do continue to choose nursing, I wish you luck..

Thank you. I agree completely! In my neck of the woods, nursing colleges are requiring ADN students to be a STNA before you are able to get accepted in college. That has to stand for something. I was a STNA and worked in the hospital atmosphere for 4 years before I became a RN. I can honestly say I don't regret one day either! Not only did I learn the basics, but I learned what and how the RNs do the job! I also got hands on experience. Way more knowledge that clinicals in school can provide. If STNA or CNA or PCA work isn't what you think is your "cup of tea": you better get out now, because thats just a very small part of being a RN.:uhoh3:

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Specializes in Home Health.

I was a CNA for 7 yrs before I graduated. It helped because your first semester in the RN program is everything a CNA does. If you feel its dirty work nursing may not be what you really want to do. Bedside nursing that is. I have worked in someplaces where the CNA only did vitals and bathe the pt. Anything else the Rn did or helped the CNA. As a CNA I had a pt who called me Rose cause "your as sweet as a rose with all the small things you do for me" Small things mean alot to people who are stuck in bed for days. Another pt's daughter use to tell me she knew the days I was working because her mother was taken care of and the bed was so neat and perfect. Everyone works as a team to get te job done. and the entire team is important.

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