Hi, have a question about state test

[noni06]

Hi Everyone,

I got my CNA certification about a year ago, but I never took the State testor used it for work. I'm in thiird year of Nursing school and I just started my clinicals, I would like to get a part time job as a CNA in a hospital or a Nursing Home to get some nursnig experience and earn some money.

I called the career center that I got my certificate from and they said I can still take the state test, but I have forgotten most of the CNA skills that we learned in the class. My question is how do I go about preparing for the skills part of the test.

[jb2u, ASN, RN]

If you are a third year nursing student, I would check with your local hospitals. Some will hire nursing students without a certification. Also, you should already have the basic skills down by third year, so that should not be an issue IF you want to take the certification test. The skills are basic...changing a bed (with and without someone in it), bp, resp., pulse, temp, measuring urine output.....stuff like that, nothing major. Good luck to you though. I still say call around first. You may find a hospital more than eager to take you "as-is."

[noni06]

Thanks for responding to my post jb2u. I quess I didn't make myself clear about being a third year nursing student. I go to a private university and they make you take all nursing prerequisites before you can take actual nursing classes, which takes two or more years. I just started taking nursing classes last fall. I finished intro to nursing, patho and nursing assessment last semester, and I'm taking fundamentals of nursing and pharmacology this semester.

You are right, I learned how to take vitals last semester, but I don't know how to turn a patient, do grooming, make a bed, or measure intake and output.

I called a few hospitals and they all wanted state certification.

[adorblepuppy]

You can go to person vues website and they will give you a brocure(sp) of what the skills will be. They are basicly simple. Or if nothing else, you may be able to take a refresher course for the cna. Which shouldn't take but about a week.