so I wanted to know if there is anyone out there that hated being a CNA prior to becoming a nurse. I want to become a nurse, I am actually in the midst of apply to a few RN programs. I got certified as a CNA and got my first CNA job in a nursing home and I absolutely hated being their. I did not hate the patients obviously but I hated what the job entitled.
I feel bad because if I hate, this will I hate nursing? Ive been around nurses for a while and I would love to do what they do. But now I feel guilty because I hated being a CNA. It kind of scares me.
have any of you hated being a CNA before you became a nurse?
This makes me sad. CNAs do important work. I'd hate to be on the receiving end of a caregiver who felt demoralized. In fact, seeing the cnas and techs you work with as grunts who have the worst job probably hurts the whole care team, dontcha think?
I think I may not have been clear in my earlier post. CNAs and techs do EXTREMELY important work, and it's demoralizing that it's paid so poorly. I don't think the work itself is what makes the job "the worst." I'm mad that management gets away with paying such important people such meager wages, is all!
I'm sure you will make a great nurse if you truly believe it is what you want! There is some good advice throughout these comments! So take note, and then find the avenue of nursing that is a right fit for you!
If doing that type of work really bothers you, then nursing may not be your thing. Being a nurse means doing everything a CNA does plus more (though, depending on whether or not your unit has a CNA, you may be doing it less often, but not "getting out of it").
If working in a SNF is what bothers you, frankly, it would bother me, regardless of my position. Most nursing jobs would make me happy, but that would not be one of them! I'm really happy in mother/baby, where I'm currently precepting, but I am definitely doing the work of a CNA as part of my nursing duties. Lots of linen changes, peri care, filling waters, tidying rooms, etc, in addition to my assessments, teaching, breastfeeding assistance, and so forth.
It's really a matter of WHAT it is about being a CNA that bothers you. If being hands-on with patients bothers you, nursing is NOT the career for you. If you feel underpaid for what you do, nursing may or may not be for you. If you feel like you want to be able to do MORE with patient care than what a CNA does, then nursing is fantastic. If being in a SNF bothers you, that may just not be the area of nursing for you. Have you considered looking for a CNA position elsewhere, to see if a different environment will feel different for you?
WOW...Thank you guys SO MUCH for your advice!! It has been extremely helpful! Looking back, I do believe that I disliked the CNA position because it was in a LTC. The environment alone was horrible! I have decided to give it another shot and applied to a few CNA positions outside of an LTC. I am potentially being hired for in home services. I am actually excited about this and at the same time terrified I will not like it. But I will for sure take this experience and time to see if Nursing is for me.
I do want to be come a nurse as they hold so much education that they offer patients along side with care. I am not repelled by doing "CNA" duties because Like one poster said, "What if it were someone I cared about?" I do like caring for people, but the one thing that I absolutely love about nursing is educating patients; Which is one reason why I want to go the Nurse Practitioner route.
But thank you guys so much for your advice it really helps me a lot along this journey! I will definitely be taking this new CNA position as a deciding factor.
WOW...Thank you guys SO MUCH for your advice!! It has been extremely helpful! Looking back, I do believe that I disliked the CNA position because it was in a LTC. The environment alone was horrible! I have decided to give it another shot and applied to a few CNA positions outside of an LTC. I am potentially being hired for in home services. I am actually excited about this and at the same time terrified I will not like it. But I will for sure take this experience and time to see if Nursing is for me.
I do want to be come a nurse as they hold so much education that they offer patients along side with care. I am not repelled by doing "CNA" duties because Like one poster said, "What if it were someone I cared about?" I do like caring for people, but the one thing that I absolutely love about nursing is educating patients; Which is one reason why I want to go the Nurse Practitioner route.
But thank you guys so much for your advice it really helps me a lot along this journey! I will definitely be taking this new CNA position as a deciding factor.
There are specific nurse educators, which might be appealing to you, like diabetes nurse educators. School nursing also involves a lot of patient education, as you're in the classrooms teaching sex ed, nutrition, etc.
I'm an RN. We frequently work without CNAs. When that happens I'm about 1/3 nurse and 2/3 CNA.
I don't mind the physical labor. I don't mind the personal care. I just really hate to be ordered around like I'm the maid. I've noticed when I have my nurse hat on, the patients treat me with more respect than when I have my CNA hat on.
Even that wouldn't upset me too much if I were allowed to reciprocate the disrepect.
I did volunteer work as a homemaker. Then I got my LNA (CNA) license. I worked doing home care and then switched to LTC working with Alzheimer's and dementia specifically. I loved my job! I loved my residents and clients. Granted I didn't enjoy the parts where I got hit and pinched but I truly enjoyed my "folks".
The biggest problem I had was not how my supervisors or residents treated me but how my coworkers treated me.
Coming into a floor with people who had been there 15 years left little room for someone new. They made it known they disliked me and made every effort to get me to quit. It was a happy day when I could put in my notice and go to school full time :)
LTC is not or everyone but I don't know how I could enjoy being an RN if I had disliked my work as an LNA.
I think there are some clarifications about being a CNA that I had to do before I went on to being a nurse.
I LOVED being a CNA. Loved the patients, loved the interactions, and loved the caregiving. I felt like I belonged in patients rooms, that if someone was going to have to help in those raw moments, that was going to be me, and I loved it.
I HATED the conditions. Hated the double shifts, backbreaking labor hauling people around, the burnouts and coworker calloffs. and the general attitude of disregard that's applied to CNAs.
So I know what you're talking about. But I definitely didn't hate being a CNA. I jut hated the way the system took advantage of CNAs, more than anything.
No you won't hate nursing if you don't like being a CNA. Its probably just the conditions you are working in. I actually like being a nurse now better than I was a CNA. There is a lot more responsibility, yes, but you are not ordered around like a dog and get treated more with respect. It will also make you a better nurse, believe me. Plus the pay is doubled. I still help my residents with toileting and help my CNAs answer the alarms. I just hated it when I was a CNA and the nurse would always blame stuff on me when I am busting my butt not to have any falls and the nurse would be charting in the nurse station and ignore alarms. The best nurses I ever worked with as a CNA were CNAs themselves once.
Since this post is a year ago, hopefully you considered nursing school.
RNsRWe, ASN, RN
3 Articles; 10,428 Posts
Nah, a "life-ism"! Never heard that expression? Soup to nuts refers to the whole meal--starting with soup, ending with nuts :)
But where nursing is concerned, you never want to ask "what's in the soup" and you SURE don't want clarification on the "nuts"