Is nurse aide training necessary for an accelerated nursing program?

[joboll]

Hello,

I'm looking to apply to an accelerated nursing program and I have zero healthcare background. 

Originally, I wanted to go to a local community school and study in their nursing program(associated degree). The local community school has a nurse aide training program as a prerequisite to the RN program. I registered the nurse aide training but haven't started yet. Recently I was told that the RN program in that community school had a very long waiting list that I would never actually get into the real nursing program.

So I decided to change the plan to apply to an accelerated nursing program(Bachelor's or Master's with Direct Entry) instead. I did some research and found that accelerated nursing programs typically wouldn't require nurse aide training. 

Now I'm wondering, do I still need to go to the nurse aide training? If nurse aide training dose not help anything with RN program, then probably I should drop the nurse aide course since I still have many prerequisite courses to study, and that can save me some time and money as well. But I don't know whether nurse aide training will benefit me to understand the job as a nurse or nurse student if I get into an RN program.

Can I have some advice?

Thank you!!

[FullGlass, BSN, MSN, NP]

While the CNA (Certified Nurse Aide) training is not a prereq for nursing school, I would still do it because you have no healthcare experience. I was like you, no healthcare experience, then did an ABSN.

The CNA training will provide you with some hands-on patient care experience.  It will also teach you some important patient care skills, like helping patients with hygiene measures and so forth, transferring pts, etc.  

I advise you take the training because it will allow you to decide if you really want to be a nurse by exposing you to the "blood and guts" aspect of nursing.  After completing a day caring for patients in the CNA program, I felt like all I could smell was poop.  Gross, yes, but I learned I did not freak out and while I was tired at the end of the day, it was a good kind of tired, feeling that I had been doing good and helping people.  If you still decide to become a nurse after that, the skills you will have learned will be helpful in nursing school.