Need Additional Certification Advice..

[Cresco299]

I tried to be concise, but it would appear I'm a little long winded, sorry!

I'm a pre-nursing student and attending part time at my local Community College. It's a slow route, but I have a 4.0 and I fully intend (fingers crossed) to be admitted to the night nursing program in the Spring of '14. I am taking the long road solely because I have a family to support and need to maintain my current level of income for as long as I can.

That said, my present employer has sold the business and it seems "very likely" that in 6-8 months time, I will no longer be employed here. Trying to plan ahead, I would like to gain some certifications that will allow me to get a "slightly higher" than entry level position at one the many hospitals in my area. It's my hope that being on course to a nursing program, my grades and having addition certs will help me to get my foot in the door and provide me with valuable hospital exposure (to aid in getting a job after I graduate) and to help me weather my soon to hit financial storm.

Just off the top of my head, I thought it might be beneficial to get an EMT-B cert and use this hopefully gain entrance as an ER-tech. But I don't know if an EMT-B is limiting to just that specific job title or even if it will be universally usefully for that position or other postions as some places seem to request it and others do not.

Can anyone provide additional / alternate certifications that might give me better entry level placement at a local hospital ? I know this is a long shot but I thought it better to start digging into my ideal profession rather than hunkering down at another job (assuming I can find one! ) where I have no intention of staying.

[llg, PhD, RN]

At my hospital the EMT certifications only qualify you for EMT-tech positions. Certified Nursing Assistant qualifies people for nursing assistant jobs anywhere in the hospital.

Certified Medical Assistants work in offices and clinics -- but my area produces so many of those that the job market for them is even tighter than it is for nurses. Then there are lab techs and phlebotomists ... and pharmacy techs ... and physical therapy assistants. You'll need to check your local job market to decide which path might be worth investing in. But for many of those paths, the training is sufficiently long (and expensive) that you might as well just bite the bullet and focus on speeding up your RN courses. Taking a big side step might not be worth it in the long run.

[Cresco299]

Speeding up my RN course progress isn't really an option. I only have one pre-req to left to complete and the way my school works it's admission process to the RN program, I'll not be eligible to enter until Spring of '14. Admission for the fall of '13 means you must have all pre-req's completed and the submission deadline is 3/4 the way through the spring semester. So there is this "unstated/unwritten" 1 semester holding pattern your forced to endure (Which I believe is more motivated by $$ than logistics)This kinda stinks but Its the best that is available to me right now. But thank you for the incite llg, it gives me something to consider.

[i♥words]

Maybe you could go to one (or more) of the hospital's HR departments and ask who they are really looking for? Last week I walked into my local hospital's HR and basically asked them for advice. It worked out: now I know the only way to get a job with them now is to complete a CNA program. It doesn't hurt to ask though, especially since they are the ones doing the hiring.