Nurse Tech II

[pegbord]

I have applied for a Nurse Tech II position for this summer between semesters. If I am offered the job I can work through the summer and continue (with fewer hours!) once school starts up again.

I am curious to hear from other nurse techs regarding what you are allowed to do. The person who interviewed me said that the position is more CNA than supervised nursing responsibilities. Is this common - I would love to get more procedural experience, but tech job is limited and not like what we got to do in clinicals. On a positive note, it is a foot in the door to hospital work environment outside of clinicals - in paid position.

Any input is much appreciated!! Thanks!

[laliza]

i work as a nurse tech in a hosipital here in new mexico. as far as i know to work as a nurse tech you have to have your cna-as well as hospital training as a tech. through the hospital training you learn to insert foleys, ng tubes, give enemas, wound care, discontinue but not start iv's (er techs start iv's and they must have their current emt license). also included is am care, ambulation of patients, vital signs, and basic patient care. assessments and medications are the responsibilities of the rn or lpn. nurse techs are there as a support for the licensed nurse. although, we are supervised during training performing certain things such as ng tubes, or foleys. i work on a med/surg unit where there is opportunity for alot of experience. good luck on your job, its the next step to your goals!

[Dolce, RN]

Wow, sounds way different than my experience as a nurse tech. I was basically just a CNA with a different title. I performed all CNA duties--vitals, BGs, ADLs, D/Cing foleys, D/Cing IVs, ambulating patients, basic surgical preps, etc. It would have been awesome to have started IVs and Foleys, dropped NGs, done dressing changes and performed assessments but my state has really strict regs about what nurse techs can and cannot do. Regardless of my narrow scope of practice for that particular summer, I still learned so much. It was such a great learning opportunity for me and I would recommend it to anyone who has the chance.

[thida]

when you apply to work as a nurse tech, do you guys apply as CNA first then talk to the manager about the nurse tech or directly apply as nurse tech? The manager told me that they don't hire nurse tech in hospital. hmmm....

[pegbord]

Thida,

Different hospitals do it differently. I wanted to apply for an MA position at local clinical. The requirements were that you needed to have CNA licensure. My Nurse Tech II licensure (which allows me to do more clinical procedures than CNA - as well as CNA responsibilities - was not acceptable -- weird); but that was because that particular clinic did not hire any Nurse Tech positions.

The Nurse Tech position that I applied for was at a different hospital and only required that I have completed the first two semesters of BSN program.