Hey Im New! Start Cna School In October

Published

Specializes in Emergency.

Hello everyone, MY name is Jeremy. I am a 20 year old male from Chicago. I was in the Army for 4 years and was Combat Life Saver Medic Certified (which means nothing in this civilian word) with a certification in GSW-C, gunshot wounds to chest. I am also currently an Emergency Medical Technician-Basic, and Emergency Medical Dispatcher, with BLS cpr and AED.

All that said, i really want to be an Emergency Room Technician. After 7 months of working the streets of Chicago as an ambulance tech, I' I want to call it quits.ve been hospitalized 3 times for other cars hitting my ambulance while running code 2 lights and sirens in intersections and doing dead body carries etc...

On a happier note! I found a FREE CNA training program that allows you to work after completing week 2. You have class 3 times a week and can work any other day your off as a CNA. This is a totally normal and approved process here in IL. I start school Oct 1 and am so happy. Im really glad I found this forum.

I had some questions to current CNA's and others who might know the answers: if i repeat anything already on the forum, please just provide the link. :)

1. Is anyone currently an er tech? Or knows an ER tech? and how do you like it?

(I dont know a whole lot about this and strangely this is what I am making my future goal out to be)

2. How long was your CNA program? and how was the test?

3. If you don't mind sharing, what was your starting pay??facility??

Thank you so much again:)

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Emergency.

bump posted early morning

Up Vote Up Vote ×

1. I do not work as an ER tech but i work at a hospital and LOVE IT i work on medsurg and its great!! lots of busy work! I think it would be so exciting to work as an ER tech, you would learn so much and see so many crazy things! i say go for it!! especially bc you already have experience in emergency situations!

2. My CNA program was about two months long i believe, and like three days a week! My clinicals were four 8hour days, and i learned alot but i truly got turned off of CNA when i did my clinicals at the old peoples home! i hated it! hospitals are way better environments!

3. My starting pay was 11.3! with no experience! and after 8 hours i get paid 12.3 for time differentials!

good luck!!!!!!!!!:yeah:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Emergency.

hey thank you for the reply!!! Thats what i'm dreading, the nursing facility, I know somewhere in the hospital will fit me best, i just got to deal with the home because my cna school is a nursing facility:( wish me luck and thanks for the advice:)

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Telemetry.

Hey E-Med,

My C.N.A. course was 4 months long, but was also an intro to the fundamentals of nursing. For the first 3 weeks it was 2 days a week for 8 hours of lecture and skills then the rest of the time was 4 hours of lecture a week and 9 hours of clinical a week. Most C.N.A.s in my area make between 11.00-15.00 an hour. My long term goal is to become an RN. I just got my E.M.T.-B and also have been trying to get a job as an ER Tech. An ambulance Co. sounds interesting, however I'm nervous about the whole safety issue and how unpredictable going on calls can be. Being a mom, your stories are exactly what I'm afraid of. :stone Even though the ED can be dangerous too, it seems more controlled and there is more backup if needed. Unlike you, I don't have any experience other than my C.N.A. and E.M.T. training. I think I'm going to do LTC first for experience so that I can get hired on at a hospital someday. With your experience I think you should have a good shot at getting a job quick. Good luck to you!! :p

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Emergency.
Hey E-Med,

My C.N.A. course was 4 months long, but was also an intro to the fundamentals of nursing. For the first 3 weeks it was 2 days a week for 8 hours of lecture and skills then the rest of the time was 4 hours of lecture a week and 9 hours of clinical a week. Most C.N.A.s in my area make between 11.00-15.00 an hour. My long term goal is to become an RN. I just got my E.M.T.-B and also have been trying to get a job as an ER Tech. An ambulance Co. sounds interesting, however I'm nervous about the whole safety issue and how unpredictable going on calls can be. Being a mom, your stories are exactly what I'm afraid of. :stone Even though the ED can be dangerous too, it seems more controlled and there is more backup if needed. Unlike you, I don't have any experience other than my C.N.A. and E.M.T. training. I think I'm going to do LTC first for experience so that I can get hired on at a hospital someday. With your experience I think you should have a good shot at getting a job quick. Good luck to you!! :p

hey thank you for sharing, I hope i can do it. The EMT test was a pain for me and i struggled alot. I hope the CNA test will be what I have heard and expect. But I dont mean to discourage you from working on an ambulance. I enjoyed many patients and have seen alot of things people don't and won't ever see in their lives. I really would say that I now would prefer to work in the ER instead of on the street, out there its just you and a partner and a patient, no text book, no computers, no nurse no dr's. It was rough here in the city but its a job that is not for everybody. I also worked as a dispatcher for EMS and hated not being able to see theses people calling. When there was a shooting at a university here in Southern IL I took the phone call to dispatch 2 rescuechoppers over there before the story hit the news. That was THE LAST day I was dispatcher, i quit. The stress this job can put on your family and friends is intense. I would lash out at people for no good reason and when I went for a check up at my Dr, i had a BP of 160/90 (DANGEROUSLY HIGH FOR 20 YEAR OLD MALE). I was put on multiple medications and have a streak of white in my hairline and a 80% white beard if i were to grow it. I was glad to have served and saved a couple people, and thats what matters.

You can't save everyone, it's just not meant to be, you'll beat yourself up about it but when you bring a man home from the hospital who has been missing since early morning to a family of confused and worried spouses or children and they bust into tears because you got him home safe from a possible chance at death, thats one of the most rewarding butterfly feelings a person can ever feel. Its the rockstar feeling makes you feel like you did something, something people can never understand unless they have done it.

I'm only 20 years old, people my age are working at grocery stores and selling movies, or changing oil, ...you got to think, what is their satisfaction? I chuckle when they meet up and talk about how their job is hard or their job is stressful but honestly they don't even know.

Go for it somebodies got to prolong death.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Geriatrics.

1) Sorry, can't help you out on this one!

2) My program was 2 months long. It was M-F 8-2. The test wasn't bad at all, but the skills portion of it was a little nerve-wracking. It's mostly common sense stuff, though.

3) I'm working per diem while I'm in school, and I work at an assisted living facility. I make $14 an hour, $15 on the weekends, and around $18 if I work nights.. this is per diem, though. I think when I started full time there, I started at $11 an hour and $12 for weekends (on day shift- evening and night are more per hour).

Good luck!!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

i wouldnt worry about doing LTC for your clinicals! You'll get through it and im almost positive you will get hired as a ED tech with your background and knowledge already! I got hired with no experience at a hospital.. my last job was a whopping 7 dollars an hour as a day care teacher!!! (so much more stressful than CNA!!!)

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Emergency.

sounds good thank you for the advice everyone!!!:)

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Telemetry.

Wow, E-Med, you have led quite the life for a 20 year old. I think you will have no problem with the C.N.A. class. The test was much easier for me than the NREMT. I'm sure you'll do great and it will be so much more calm for you. Good luck, watch that BP:wink2: and take care of yourself!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Emergency.
Wow, E-Med, you have led quite the life for a 20 year old. I think you will have no problem with the C.N.A. class. The test was much easier for me than the NREMT. I'm sure you'll do great and it will be so much more calm for you. Good luck, watch that BP:wink2: and take care of yourself!

Hey thanxs alot!!! I hope I can succeed and you guys are all boosting my confidence to make it through even more. I cant wait to start..

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Emergency.
Wow, E-Med, you have led quite the life for a 20 year old. I think you will have no problem with the C.N.A. class. The test was much easier for me than the NREMT. I'm sure you'll do great and it will be so much more calm for you. Good luck, watch that BP:wink2: and take care of yourself!

Thank you so much, i look forward to it, i find out if I m selected for the program tomorrow and i have been told as long as your not a total goof they will enter you into their program. I am nervous, it's like a job interview, which i think i'm good at but im still afraid. If I dont get in to this free program, I have to pay for one, which won't stop me from doing it, but it will take me some time to get the money and register for a new class.

If I DO get in (fingers crossed, knock on wood, etc...) I will start class in just less than a week and a half.

I THANK EVERYONE FOR THEIR OUTSTANDING COMMENTS AND DEDICATION TO YOUR RESPECTIVE HEALTH CARE JOBS

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion