MY sister "wants" to be a nurse? I don't think she should!

Nurses General Nursing

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well since i have been a cna and will eventually be an lvn, my lil sister got it in her head that she should be a nurse also. well at first i was very excited for her and encouraged her to continue. she took the nurse exam and passed and was accepted to the program. Problem is, now i dont beleive that she wants to be a nurse or that she is even capable of being one. i want to get my plebotomy cert and now she wants to do that while she is waiting to go to school. i told her why not just take the cna course, it costs the same in time and money. she started getting mad and saying "NO no no, i'm not gonna be a cna!!" i said you have to learn all that basic stuff anyway, and she was adiment about NOT being a cna! i was very angry with her because i then told her "you dont want to really be a nurse then, you think that you will never have to change someone? or help them to the restroom?" she just getting angrier and angrier, i dont understand, why she would think that she didnt have to do what cna's do! REDICULOUS! Now i am resenting her because i dont think that she would make it, that she would waste time and alot of money for nothing, and that she wouldnt make a good nurse, also because i dont have the time and money right now to get my lvn and she has all the time and money to go, idk, also i told her she should try to get some kind of expierence and got her an application for home health, she didnt even bother with it! what do ya'll think? am i getting upset over nothing?

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Specializes in Oncology.

I'm a nurse and pretty darn sure I couldn't have been a CNA. I don't mind cleaning patients up and helping to the bathroom and such, but if that were all I did, I'd lose my mind.

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Specializes in Oncology/BMT.

I worked as a NA for 3 years while going to nursing school and did not enjoy working most days! But I am a RN now and LOVE my job! And yes, I wipe butts and ambulate to the bathroom!

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i know that nurses dont do it ALL the time, but they need to know how to do it and will eventually do it, so why not get expierenced at it? doesnt make sence to me.

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Specializes in CCU,ICU,ER retired.

Not everybody wants to be a CNA I was and a monitor tech to boot I liked it but there of a lot of people that don't like it. Why be mad at her for wanting to do it her way

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Specializes in Nurse Scientist-Research.

I've said it many many times, I'm going to say it again: We don't need to concern ourselves with other people's worthiness to be a nurse. Nursing school will wean out the majority of those not fit to be nurses, and if a few make it through, lord knows the first 2 years of nursing will wean out all the rest.

I personally don't think I would have wanted to be a CNA. This from someone who rarely let CNA's do any cares on my patients, I'm too controlling I guess, so I tended to do almost all cares except maybe one set of vitals per 12 hr shift. I turned my own patients, cleaned them, bathed them and took them to the restroom, so it wasn't a lack of willingness to do unpleasant tasks. But to do all the scut work and nothing but that all shift and have several nurses telling me what to do? I don't think I could have handled that. I do admire good CNA's that stick with it for any length of time.

I don't have a sister, but it sounds like maybe you have some common issues that I had regarding my younger brothers, that they didn't work as hard at school as I did, or my parents didn't enforce rules a strictly with them, or whatever.

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no, i am not telling her to be a cna, i am saying that she doesnt want to do CNA STUFF, and i told her that she will have to learn it anyway, and if she cant do that, or doesnt want to do it, then how can she be a nurse??

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Specializes in EMS, ER, GI, PCU/Telemetry.

don't stress yourself out.

let her try her hand at nursing. if it's not for her, she'll know.

we lost half of our class not only because of bad grades but because they just knew it wasn't for them.... believe me, your fundamentals clinical is ALLLL grunt work... and there is no getting out of that. nursing instructors don't show much mercy on those who do not want to do primary care on their patients and often seek out the smelliest assignments for them... i had one instructor who made anyone whose care plans were late the CNA for the day.

one girl fainted when she did her first accucheck and another threw up when she saw her first decub. they didn't come back.

i worked as a tech in nursing school and i didn't mind it.

i do think that great techs make great nurses and that it truly does help you to appreciate them more when you've walked in their shoes... but it's not a requirement. it's a hard, backbreaking job. as long as she's cool with the fact that she OWNS the poop the CNA is cleaning, she'll be fine. she just won't have too many friends.

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Specializes in home health, dialysis, others.

I was never a CNA per se, but I did work as a 'tech' while in nursing school. Just because your sis doesn't want to be a CNA has nothing to do with wheter or not she'll be a good nurse. Seems like you have some other issues to work out, and your resentment about her circumstances comes thru. Each person takes their own route to happiness - you need to find yours!!

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I agree with letting your sister do it her way. I think taking the phlebotomy class is a great idea.

I didn't become a CNA, on purpose. But I do believe in working as a team and patient care is part of that.

She may end up in an area where there isn't a lot of direct patient care and that is ok too.

Let it go. Just support her, give her a hug and let it go.

steph

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Specializes in Operating Room.

Just because someone was a CNA beforehand does not mean they'll make a fantastic nurse.Sure, I had quite a few classmates that did great that first semester, because of their CNA training. But, it all evened out by the end and actually, some of them were incabable of thinking like a nurse rather than a CNA.

Many of us worked at something other than as a CNA during or before school. Knew a couple of phlebotomists, unit secretaries, pharmacy techs and I was a surgical tech before.Also, should mention that we had quite a few people who had no healthcare experience whatsoever, and they made it through. So, your sister may be fine. At any rate, she'll do it or she won't..I'd just focus on your own goals because you have enough on your plate as it is.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Tele, Critical Care.

I am pretty sure I couldn't be a CNA either. Of course I do bathing/assisting with toileting/bedmaking, etc at work and of course I did it all in school too but I think all night long with 15 or so patients it would drive me crazy.

A lot of people go into nursing with the misconception that it is all starting IV's and passing pills. I think it's natural to be nervous about bathing people and helping them to the bathroom. I think in the back of our minds we are all afraid of being sick or elderly and dependent on others and of course it kind of goes beyond the boundaries of the relationships we usually have with strangers. I mean, before any of us were nurses did we really go around listening to people's chests and touching their feet? She might just be scared of CNA work but maybe when she is exposed to it in school, along with other people who are new, she might get over it. I know I did.

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