MY sister "wants" to be a nurse? I don't think she should!

[misspink789]

well since i have been a cna and will eventually be an lvn, my lil sister got it in her head that she should be a nurse also. well at first i was very excited for her and encouraged her to continue. she took the nurse exam and passed and was accepted to the program. Problem is, now i dont beleive that she wants to be a nurse or that she is even capable of being one. i want to get my plebotomy cert and now she wants to do that while she is waiting to go to school. i told her why not just take the cna course, it costs the same in time and money. she started getting mad and saying "NO no no, i'm not gonna be a cna!!" i said you have to learn all that basic stuff anyway, and she was adiment about NOT being a cna! i was very angry with her because i then told her "you dont want to really be a nurse then, you think that you will never have to change someone? or help them to the restroom?" she just getting angrier and angrier, i dont understand, why she would think that she didnt have to do what cna's do! REDICULOUS! Now i am resenting her because i dont think that she would make it, that she would waste time and alot of money for nothing, and that she wouldnt make a good nurse, also because i dont have the time and money right now to get my lvn and she has all the time and money to go, idk, also i told her she should try to get some kind of expierence and got her an application for home health, she didnt even bother with it! what do ya'll think? am i getting upset over nothing?

[LeLeeFNP]

If your sister can handle being a cna all throughout nursing school, (which is basically what she will be) then she will be fine. She can work in a clinic or community health setting when she becomes an RN. The great thing about nursing is that there are so many areas to go into. She can work in outpatient, be a dialysis nurse, etc. There are many fields of nursing that don't require CNA work. I personally never worked as a CNA and am not a fan of CNA duties but it is a big difference when you make 3 times what the CNA is making and like others have said are not doing it all day and everyday. My mom is a CNA and I respect her for being able to do that job. If your sister isn't meant to be a nurse she will figure that out in her own time. I would just focus on your own career and lead by example if I were you.

[~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN]

CrunchyMama - in my experience it doesn't make a difference what a person's background was. The deciding factor is what kind of a person are you? A hard worker who pitches in to help the whole team? An honest person with integrity?

One of the laziest nurses I've ever met went the CNA, LVN, RN route and would not answer call bells or help our CNA's at all unless pushed by the supervisor.

Not that THAT means previous CNA experiences = lazy. Just that she was lazy to start with.

I had NO medical experience when I went back to school at 37. In nursing school, everyone starts out with direct patient care lessons like bathing and toileting and bed making so we all end up on the same educational page.

The OP needs to realize there are many ways people come to nursing - and you do not have to be a CNA first and you do not have to love CNA duties. You just have to learn them.

There are so many threads on this issue - the debate continues.

steph

I totally agree with you.

I started nursing school with no experience. Our director came in and did some speech with strings mimicking experience and how some of us have none and our string was like a few inches and some have CNA and EMT or what not and their string was longer and then some were LVN or LPN and their string was longer and she did some little trick and at the end she said it represented when we were done and we all were the same length.

In the beggining few weeks I already had the same skills a CNA has, I have had no problems in my clinicals. In fact some people with previous experience have had a difficult time with tests and skills tests because they want to do what they LEARNED or SEE as a CNA but it isn't the proper way or the way we are being taught anyway.

Our first day in clinicals I shadowed a CNA and I knew then I would never be able to make it as a CNA. It wasn't because I can't be bothered to wipe a bum but it's because they are underpaid and over worked and have way to much put on them. It reminded me of when I worked in Childcare for 5 years and I would never go back to that.

Some of the CNA's at our facility I have talked with have said they have had more issues with nurses that USED to be CNA's because now they are RN's and feel CNA work is beneath them and are on Ego trips about it.

So my point is, to the OP, your sister will either make it or she won't. I have a hard time believeing she will make it through Nursing School without ever having to do any CNA tasks, it seems at least from my experience us nursing students are on the bottom of the totem pole and are for sure "earning" our keep. Although our Instructor did have to put a particular CNA in his place when he suggested she send one of us to go on a Coffee run :stone Not having any previous CNA experience should not effect her being a nurse.

I wish you both the best of luck.

[CuriousMe]

OP, let's say you're completely right.....so what? What impact will it have on you? Absolutely none. I

t's not your job to decide if your sister will make a good nurse or not, that's her job. Your job is to figure out what you want to do, figure out the path that makes the most sense for you and then do your best as you walk along that path.

Let your sister do the same.

[mlok]

I did the CNA class and got certified but didn't work as one. I don't mind helping patients ambulate to the restroom and cleaning them up but I didn't want to do it all day so I didn't work as a CNA. Their job requires a lot of manual labor and they are very underpaid. I believe in team work so I'll do it, CNAs are busy too.

[misspink789]

Again, i ddint say that you HAVE to be a CNA first, i was just trying to say that if you think that your gonna get through any kind of nursing without doing something that may not be appealing in any way, your wrong, if someone cant even do basic things like a cna would, i dont think they could get through, for example, dressing a wound......and i have seen some horrible wounds, and yes i was glad at that time that i wasnt the nurse having to patch that up. but at least i know what i have coming....

[DolceVita, ADN, BSN, RN]

If you really want to know what I think....

From what you wrote your opinion doesn't seem to come from a place of concern about your sister. Of course, only you will really know this. Leave her be. Why are you making such a big thing about it? Sounds like you just want to be right.

I think it is no ones business but hers.