nursing experience

[cinnabon]

Hello, I hope everyone's doing good!

So im currently in my last year of school and hoping to do nursing in college next September and im wondering what the best options for work experience are? I just want to expose myself to as much as I can!

ive done work experience in a nursing home and loved it but I didn't do much hands on stuff as I was only a volunteer. I got to observe some nurses and assistant nurses and just chat to the residents and play games with them so I'm not sure this is good enough experience?

an obvious option is to volunteer in a hospital but I have to wait until I'm 18 so I won't be able to do that until January (2018) and the website says that my duties would be to show patients around the hospital to where they need to go and just to make them feel a bit better. i enjoyed chatting to the nursing residents and comforting them so I think I'd enjoy it.

this is very rambly and long but my question is are these good volunteer jobs to give me an idea of nursing? if not has anyone got recommendations/what you did for experience before embarking on your nursing career?

thanks in advance!

[angeloublue22, BSN, RN]

When you volunteer at hospitals you may be able to speak to a manager about your plan to be in the medical field and you would like to shadow a nurse or CNA. They may be open to it.

[Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN]

Duplicate

[Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN]

You can't go wrong with CNA training.

[shibaowner, MSN, RN, NP]

Those are good volunteer jobs. However, at this point, get CNA training and work as a CNA. That is your best bet.

[night_owls]

I agree with getting CNA experience. It helps you familiarize yourself with hospital equipment and hospitals are more likely to hire you as an RN if you work there as a CNA. If you can't get a CNA job, ditch the volunteering and go find a customer service job. Volunteering doesn't give you much of any experience but with a customer service job, you can gain skills like assertiveness, time management, customer service, etc. You don't learn these skills in nursing school and they're very much needed as an RN. Employers and nursing program admissions will definitely favor an applicant with customer service experience over volunteer experience.