Hospital or nursing home?

putmetosleep · Feb 3, 2008

If you think you'll want to work in a hospital once you have your nursing license, I'd say be a CNA at a hospital. You'll get exposure to the pace, and you'll get exposure to medical treatments you probably wouldn't in a nuring home (IVs, surgical drains, you'll get much better at taking and interpreting vital signs b/c you'll be doing them more often, etc). In a nursing home, CNAs do a lot of personal care for the residents (bathing, feeding, ambulating, etc). You'll benefit from either setting, it just depends what your goals are. In either setting, CNAs work very hard, congratulations on beginning your career path! Good luck!

trmr · Feb 3, 2008

I think there would be a lot more skills for you to see and learn about in a hospital setting rather than a nursing home setting. Especially just starting out, it is better to get as much info/ experience under your belt!!!!

Nursebarebari · Feb 3, 2008

I would suggest you work in a hospital. You would learn from what you and the nurse do, and that will help you a lot in school and as a nurse in the future. I love working working in the nursing home and that is where I started as a CNA like you, but the truth is I did not learn much there. I moved to the hospital before I graduated as a PN when I saw the difference between hospital/nursing home CNA. On my CNA orientation in the hospital, the CNA showed me the different types of tubes for blood draw, NG, chest tubes and many more things. They don't use them, but they expose to those kind of things and they always pick them up for the doctors and nurses.

Good luck to you where ever you go.

EmmaG, RN · Feb 3, 2008

I misread your title as 'Hospital nursing or home?'

I thought "Hey! That's a no-brainer!"

Then I read it again.

Drat.