Is CNA even worth going for?

ILoveHealthCare · Apr 19, 2013

I'm a medical assistant and I'm currently in school for vocational nursing and the medical assistant at my doctors office had that reaction as to why I would go for lvn instead of rn. Each person has their own reason. I don't think it's a bad thing to start as a cna. Many of my classmates did and we have a better foundation with medical experience. Good luck!

It's a beautiful day to save lives.

missnurse01, MSN, RN · Apr 19, 2013

I did not do cna first. It would have deterred me from every doing nursing. I have the utmost respect for people that do that job. I know many nursing programs require it before admission though.

good luck

swarren3 · Apr 19, 2013

In kansas you have to have your cna to do anything in the nursing field. Plus it is a humbling experience that has taught me great patience and real resident care. I plan on workin my way up to bsn but even with that the baby steps you take now make a firm foundation to work from.

ebinbrooklyn · Apr 19, 2013

I did CNA for four years and it's a very tough job but you make some amazing contacts and depending on those relationships sometimes people give you opportunities out of your scope of duty. With just my CNA and several years of experience I ended up working for a plastic surgeon assisting in surgery and helping the RN run the office, so you can make a lot of it and use it as a stepping stone to bigger things!

maddiem · Apr 19, 2013

Being a CNA might not be a pretty job, but if you are going to become an RN one day it will be very helpful when you get to nursing school. The concepts you learn in a CNA class are the very basics of nursing in general. You will be ahead at the start of nursing school and you'll understand your Fundamentals class much easier as well. Plus, it will teach you later on to respect the CNA's you work with when you are and RN. I have a friend who worked as a CNA in nursing school and she is now an RN. She said she was really glad she spent time as a CNA and that it taught her a lot. You get more comfortable around patients and your first RN job might not be as 'scary' because you have already spent time actually working in a facility, not just clinicals.

So I say that you should go for your CNA! Especially if you are going to do it for free. Just be sure to work at a nice facility when you get certified because that will be a huge factor to how much you will enjoy your job. CNA work isn't pretty and can be very hard work, so working for a good facility kind of balances everything out :)

Okie36 · Apr 19, 2013

In my nursing program, it is required to be a CNA to get admitted to nursing program..

NPOaftermidnight, MSN, RN, NP · Apr 19, 2013

Just to say you "started from the bottom" isn't a good reason to do it. Working as a CNA in a nursing home is a completely different job than working as an RN in, say, a hospital. If you want to become a CNA and work in a nursing home, take the CNA class. If you want to become a nurse, go to nursing school. It's really that simple : )

Having experience as a CNA/LPN does help people in nursing school/starting off as new nurses. However, there are plenty of people that get their RNs with no healthcare experience at all and they tend to catch up pretty quickly.

MrChicagoRN, RN · Apr 20, 2013

I was an EMT for about 6 months before entering nursing school.

Years ago, I never heard anyone consider becoming a CNA before becoming a RN. However, now it does provide an advantage over other new grads with no clinical experience.

It's really up to you.

MommaTy · Apr 20, 2013

I think going for a CNA before nursing is the best. You get to see if you really like healthcare. If you can't handle CNA you wont be able to handle being a nurse. I have been a CNA for almost 10 years in May. I like that I experienced a lot. I know for sure that nursing is for me. I just got accepted to the ADN program for fall 2013. Some schools require you to have it before you apply and others who don't require it actually gives you a lot of points toward getting into the program. They look for it because so many people who apply never had healthcare experience and then drop nursing because they had no idea what they were getting into.

missnurse01, MSN, RN · Apr 20, 2013

I am not like MommTy, I would not have been able to handle CNA, but did fine as a nurse. It all depends on you!

I think schools like it because they have to concentrate less on teaching 'basic' nursing care tasks during their program. Also it gives them another way to weed people out if they have hundreds of applicants.

good luck whatever your decision!

RunnerRN2015, ASN, RN · Apr 22, 2013

My RN school requires a CNA course before you start the program and several of us work as CNAs while in school. The majority of us work in hospitals; only a few work in LTC facilities. I enjoy being a CNA! I'm at a pediatric hospital and am grateful for the experience. I am much more confident in clinicals and am comfortable talking with doctors, residents, PT/OT, etc since I encounter them at work all the time. I'm confident when I go into patients' rooms to take vitals, I&Os, etc. I know the computer system that we use in clinicals since I use the same system at work (my school is affiliated with the hospital system I work at). I've already been offered RN jobs from a couple of NMs that I've worked with in clinicals and I don't graduate until 2014! For me, working as a CNA was definitely the right choice for me.