I was wondering if I could get a general census on my situation.
I have been a medical assistant for five years and this year I became a CNA. I am hoping to start the nursing program this Jan 2012, and was wondering if you think that taking the skills and knowledge from both professions I would be ok?
My cousin is a RN and she hates it very much. My extended family laughs behind my back with the route I am going, but hello my cousin calls me from the bathroom to ask which tubes she should use to get a GHP.... This makes sense to me... I know correct positioning,lab values, how to take x-rays, bed baths and, remove stitches!!she doesn't know to use a lavender and tiger top!!i guess. I'm just looking for encouragement. I believe I will be a darn good nurse soon... Idk, it just sucks. I wish the best for my cousin but come on..
I was wondering if I could get a general census on my situation.
I have been a medical assistant for five years and this year I became a CNA. I am hoping to start the nursing program this Jan 2012, and was wondering if you think that taking the skills and knowledge from both professions I would be ok?
My cousin is a RN and she hates it very much. My extended family laughs behind my back with the route I am going, but hello my cousin calls me from the bathroom to ask which tubes she should use to get a GHP.... This makes sense to me... I know correct positioning,lab values, how to take x-rays, bed baths and, remove stitches!!she doesn't know to use a lavender and tiger top!!i guess. I'm just looking for encouragement. I believe I will be a darn good nurse soon... Idk, it just sucks. I wish the best for my cousin but come on..
I'm confused: why did your cousin call you? Does her hospital not have a chart for what labs need to go in what vials, or an inhouse lab to call to clarify? It's handy to have the most common lab vials memorized, but I frequently get asked to draw lab values I'm not familiar with and it's never been an issue to call our lab and ask how the specimen needs to be delivered. I've never had to hide in a bathroom to call someone to figure out what tubes to get, even before I had the common labs memorized.
Will you be a "well-rounded nurse" (whatever that means) because you were an MA and a CNA? Or automatically successful in nursing school and as a nurse? Not really. I imagine you'll feel more comfortable in earlier clinicals than your classmates who have had no patient care experience, but ime, things evened out after the first clinical with folks who had previous patient care experience and those who hadn't. I wouldn't take anything for granted, and just work hard and focus on your goals.
Grntea is right. Read what she wrote, then read it again. Our nursing instructors told us that nurses don't get paid for what they do, they get paid for what they know. Big difference there.
don't equate what nursing is with what tasks you see nursing doing.
grntea; i usually hate long posts, but this was beautiful. i don't know that there is a way to communicate to a new nurse/potential nurse that it's about the whole picture. honestly, i didn't consciously get it for years though i was functionally doing it (caring for patients as a whole).
i had the privilege of helping my husband go through nursing school about 8 years after i finished. i got it, finally understood what they were talking about all those years ago.
Specializes in NICU( RN), Pediatric Nurse Practitioner.
...... She didn't want to seem uninformed and since she knows I do labs at the urgent care I work at she asked me. Idk... But I didn't care. I'm glad she did instead of guessing.
I think you all are missing the whole point of this post. I'm NOT saying that I will fly by in NS or that I think I'm almost a nurse without the cred or anything else that has been written. I'm just asking if ... As far as having ample amount of patient contact, have delt with a lot of different situations, that I would have a good foundation/ well rounded point of view on what I could be expecting? That my family boasts about my cousin getting her BSN and she totally hates it. She didn't know what she was getting herself into.
I'm excited to be in nursing school and am trying to soak as much as I can up. In no way shape or form am I insinuating something else. I asked for encouragement and all I'm getting is snuffed. Thanks.
OP, I think your previous experience will make a positive contribution toward your abilities as a nurse. Since you have the physical tasks ("stuff") down, you can focus on the "thinking" aspect of nursing care, and really learn that part well.
To the rest of you, I am ashamed and embarrassed! The OP wants to be a nurse and is looking for a little encouragement. You could certainly voice your "concerns" in a more positive manner. No wonder people say we "eat our young;" you have certainly done so here.
OP: go for it! Don't be conceited, but remember all the things you've seen and use your new knowledge to assimilate the old with the new.
Personally I think you come off as stuck up. I work as a tech in an ED and am in nursing school.
Reading your posts you come off as very opinionated even though you are not trying to be.
“It has helped me out a lot so far, while the other students are slacking :-/”
“I just wished our Family knew that even though she went straight to her BSN she doesn't know everything.”
Above you are making judgments about other people rather than worrying about yourself and not the other students or your cousin. I find your statement saying other student’s are slacking to be very offensive. Then you go on to be judgmental of your cousin by saying she doesn’t know everything. Nurses don’t know everything. I don’t you don’t.
Don’t expect me or some other people to be all nicey nicey and give your words of encouragement when you state things above about other people. I don’t know your cousin or your classmates. You do come off as thinking you are better than other people without CNA experience because you keep saying that. You know, I’m just saying. I’m not gonna lie, but I would think about rewording how you say things because they can be very offensive even when u are not trying to be. Don’t worry about other people and CNA experience. Worry about yourself. I just find your post to be very offensive and I apologize if I come off rude but it’s the truth.
Here's the deal. Will having MA/CNA experience make you a more well rounded nurse? Maybe, maybe not.
In nursing school you'll meet people with no previous patient care experience and also people with 20 years of patient care. Nursing though, is more than a person who learns (or already learned) a skill. Nursing is about skill + interpretation. Its knowing how to do something and also knowing WHY you're doing something.
I know RNs who have CNA experience and make awesome nurses, but it wasn't because they had CNA experience necessarily. Its because they are damn good nurses, period.
Specializes in NICU( RN), Pediatric Nurse Practitioner.
Personally I think you come off as stuck up. I work as a tech in an ED and am in nursing school.
Reading your posts you come off as very opinionated even though you are not trying to be.
"It has helped me out a lot so far, while the other students are slacking :-/"
"I just wished our Family knew that even though she went straight to her BSN she doesn't know everything."
Above you are making judgments about other people rather than worrying about yourself and not the other students or your cousin. I find your statement saying other student's are slacking to be very offensive. Then you go on to be judgmental of your cousin by saying she doesn't know everything. Nurses don't know everything. I don't you don't.
Don't expect me or some other people to be all nicey nicey and give your words of encouragement when you state things above about other people. I don't know your cousin or your classmates. You do come off as thinking you are better than other people without CNA experience because you keep saying that. You know, I'm just saying. I'm not gonna lie, but I would think about rewording how you say things because they can be very offensive even when u are not trying to be. Don't worry about other people and CNA experience. Worry about yourself. I just find your post to be very offensive and I apologize if I come off rude but it's the truth.
Pot meet kettle....So exactly what are you doing? Hmm judging? Exactly. I'm not judging people I'm simply stating that as for ME having experience already in the medical field has helped ME when it comes to my classes and the skills we are learning as compared to SOME who don't have experience.I'm not putting them down.. I'm stating my opinion. You don't know me from Tom, do you know I stay after class and help some of the students with the skills they are having trouble with because they ask? Do you know that I volunteer in the NICU and have been since I was 16? Do you know anything about me? Stuck up.. Seriously?!? You are very offensive and extremely rude. I am saying that my family praises my cousin for being an RN but now my cousin hates it.. That it's not what she expected. Do you think being a tech in the ED is helping you out as far your nursing program? Are there skills and med term knowledge that you use as a tech cross over in some way shape or to your nursing classes? I'm sure it has. Do I think that you being a tech in the ED will benefit you as a nurse? Yes, I do. You have experience being in a very fast paced dept. you are probably well under pressure and can cope.
See was that hard? That is what I'm asking. Not putting my cousin or fellow nursing students down. Good lord.
I don't think anyone meant to attack you. You did say that you were looking for encouragement, but I just think that your posts may not have painted you as the typical scared, unsure student needing a confidence boost.
No one is saying to hang it up and go into retail. It's just that most of us have worked with someone who fell into the kinds of thinking that people are describing. Heck, some of us have even been that newbie who didn't maximize his learning experiences because he was too busy trying to show how much he already knew.
Really, it would be a shame if we knew about that common trap but we still let you walk right into it without saying a thing. Allnurses is good that way. You won't always hear what you want to hear, but you'll hear the stuff that you need to hear - like when you may be coming across a lot differently than you mean to.
Good luck to you, Ashlie. It's hard when you feel minimized by your family and friends, but I think that you have the passion and the persistence to become a successful nurse.
Specializes in NICU( RN), Pediatric Nurse Practitioner.
Thanks ericjrn, I keep rereading my posts and I don't see where I'm coming off as stuck up or judgmental at all. You're right I did want a confidence boost, a little bit of encoagement. Everyone in their lifetime as been compared or thought of less because the journey they take. I just wanted an unbiased opinion from nurses who have been there done that and kept on ticking.
If this is how you react to some criticism, and it was fairly mild, good luck out on the floors when you get your RN.
In answer to your original question: I do think that any experience in the medical field where one has to work with patients is helpful in the long run.
hiddencatRN, BSN, RN
3,408 Posts
I'm confused: why did your cousin call you? Does her hospital not have a chart for what labs need to go in what vials, or an inhouse lab to call to clarify? It's handy to have the most common lab vials memorized, but I frequently get asked to draw lab values I'm not familiar with and it's never been an issue to call our lab and ask how the specimen needs to be delivered. I've never had to hide in a bathroom to call someone to figure out what tubes to get, even before I had the common labs memorized.
Will you be a "well-rounded nurse" (whatever that means) because you were an MA and a CNA? Or automatically successful in nursing school and as a nurse? Not really. I imagine you'll feel more comfortable in earlier clinicals than your classmates who have had no patient care experience, but ime, things evened out after the first clinical with folks who had previous patient care experience and those who hadn't. I wouldn't take anything for granted, and just work hard and focus on your goals.