Is being a CNA imperative?

nursefortheLord · Oct 29, 2015

I worked as a CNA for a year at a hospital and learned a ton, but I also wore myself out physically. CNA work is hard labor. I'd recommend keeping your regular good-paying job and work per-diem as a CNA. Best of both worlds.

Xlorgguss · Oct 29, 2015

My school let's us challenge the CNA exam after our first semester of nursing school. That's a good way to save money for the class

Princess Bubblegum · Oct 30, 2015

The schools around where I live consider CNA experience "extra points" when choosing program applicants. I think it's a requirement for application at some schools, actually. For me personally, I feel my CNA experience has been incredibly beneficial, but I know a lot of great nurses who never worked as CNAs.

pgee313 · Oct 30, 2015

I work as a CNA. I just got accepted into an ADN program. It all depends on how much time you have and the lifestyle you lead. Working as a CNA I have made more than any other job I have worked at. But I am only 22 and have not had much experience in other fields. Working as a CNA will give you better connections and a much higher chance of being hired as a new nurse. New nurses who have no experience often have difficulty finding positions.

weirdscience · Oct 30, 2015

I worked a better paying job throughout NS. I learned the CNA stuff hands-on my first year as a RN (we went over some of it, very generally, in a prerequisite for NS but there was very little hands-on training, so it didn't really stick.)

In retrospect, it sucked sometimes to feel like I was behind on the basics...but making $11 or $12/hour would have sucked more.

sjalv · Oct 30, 2015

You will feel more comfortable as a new grad nurse with CNA experience because you can focus on nursing-specific tasks as opposed to things you'll need to know that you'd learn as a CNA, such as changing a bed with a patient in it, quick ways to do bed baths, etc; very basic care aspects. But, you get over that small learning curve quickly, especially if you're somewhere like the ICU where nurses are mainly responsible for those things as opposed to techs. I am speaking from experience as someone who did not work as an aide before becoming an RN.

applesxoranges, BSN, RN · Oct 30, 2015

In my area, you can work as a CNA or even take the test after the first semester of nursing school.

Phleb is not a licensed or certified position so they could in theory train you to become a phleb. I was trained in this manner as a phleb in an ER.

Any job will be helpful within the hospital. Doing multiple roles was super helpful to me in the ER. I was constantly working as much as I wanted. I was a paramedic/unit clerk/phleb

I'll say this though... I suck at making beds. Ask me to make a hospital bed that isn't fitted? Um. Ask me to do those corners? Um? Ask me to give a bed bath, I can manage that ok but I'm not quick. Ask me to start an IV? Start an EKG? Take a peek at the EKG? Teach paramedic students drinking drugs for ACLS? Straight cath a person? Going that route was more helpful for the role I am in as an ER RN than working as a CNA. I never really stocked because I triaged a lot or was drawing blood.

sjalv · Oct 30, 2015

Going that route was more helpful for the role I am in as an ER RN than working as a CNA. I never really stocked because I triaged a lot or was drawing blood.

How did you triage as a CNA? I didn't think a tech could fill that role. Granted, my only ER experience is as a nurse extern in my last semester of nursing school.

Twinmom06, ASN, APN · Oct 30, 2015

I found that those of us that were aides prior to graduation were far more comfortable with patient care as new grads than those of us that weren't. Several of us worked as per diem aides through NS and had no problem walking into a room and dealing with pts.

Anna Flaxis, BSN, RN · Oct 30, 2015

How did you triage as a CNA? I didn't think a tech could fill that role. Granted, my only ER experience is as a nurse extern in my last semester of nursing school.

I work in a small hospital, and our techs can start the triage process if the nurse is tied up with another task. The RN must complete the triage, however, by assigning a chief complaint and ESI Acuity Level.

In the larger ER I worked in, the triage tech would room the patient in a triage room and measure vital signs, then the triage nurse would come in and perform the actual triage. The triage tech would collect repeat VS on anyone waiting in the waiting room for more than one hour, and take turns with the RN keeping eyes on the waiting room.

JerseyTomatoMDCrab, BSN · Oct 30, 2015

In my state, after the first semester of clinicals we could sit for the exam without any classes. It's pretty helpful.

All of the CNAs who worked on my floor during school were offered positions after licensure. It's my understanding that a lot of hospitals do the same. From a preceptor POV, I will say that the new grads who worked on the floor previously had a MUCH easier transition. They already knew all the staff, the layout of the unit, where things were located, and were comfortable interacting with patients and their families.

Nothing can prepare you for how much of an adjustment floor nursing is. But working a real hospital floor as a CNA certainly makes it a little easier. If you can balance the work with your school schedule, I say go for it!

Bob Loblaw · Oct 30, 2015

Where I live new grad jobs are scarce, those who worked in hospitals as CNA's and ED techs usually started as RNs the day after license in the unit they had been working- they already knew everyone and how everything was done.