New Job-Medical/Surgical CNA

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Hey! This is my first post! YAY! I am a junior in a nursing program and a CNA. I havent worked as a CNA since I was 17 so 3 years ago! I worked at a nursing home and yesterday I just received a job offer from a hospital to be a CNA on thier medical/surgical floor and become a Student Nurse Extern in August. My question is, how is CNA work in a hospital different from CNA work in a nursing home. I have to admit, I am nervous about transfering pts. I had some problems in the nursing home due to lack of help from other CNAs. Some pts should have been lifts and the other CNAs WOULD NOT ALWAYS HELP!!! OR IF I ASKED FOR HELP THEY WOULD JUST GO IN THE PT ROOM AND DO IT THEIRSELF WITHOUT MY HELP! So, how is the work different/alike and how do the number of transfers compare, and are are co workers willing to help?

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Hey, me too!! I just got hired as an advanced CNA on MICU. I am nervous and not sure what all I will be doing, during my interview, they said mostly the patients are on ventilators so they are sedated.

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Specializes in PACU, LTC, Med-Surg, Telemetry, Psych.

You will like working on med-surg as opposed to a LTC facility. I have

found for the most part (depending on the hospital) that the patient load

is a bit less and you have alot more patients that are "with it".

As far as the job itself, you will be doing alot more vitals and

i+o charting. Also, while it may just be my personal experience,

I have found that the staff RNs/LPNs are alot more willing to help

or send help with some of the larger patients. You will also learn

10 times more in a hospital than a LTC/ Nursing Home.

Hospital experience also helps because alot of the agencies around

my area require hospital experience to even join them. Agency, pays

alot better than the hospital but can be less reliable.

Only thing to watch for is in some facilities I have worked at they

send the CNA home first if the census gets low. So just FYI on that.

Also, some places make you do alot of 1:1s locked in a room with

alzheimer or suicide patients for a shift sometimes. Some love sitting

on thier rump, but those that like to move about may not.

Good Luck.

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Thanks for the great information! I am very excited. I have my pre-employment physical this week and orientation in two weeks.

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