Ok maybe a dumb question but.....

Tweety, BSN, RN · Jun 16, 2006

I don't know about states but I know there are some schools in my area that require you take the CNA course before your application will be accepted. In my area it is the community colleges.[/quote']
That's what I was going to say. Some schools, none around here, require CNA status to apply. This is in the day of "pre-reqs". When I went to school, it was designed for people fresh out of high school. Like Timothy said, we got CNA status after our first quarter.

hospitalstaph · Jun 16, 2006

I can see the benefit of some previous experience. However, I have heard our instructors say more than once that it is easier to teach the "RN way" once than to unteach a CNA/LPN and then teach them to be an RN. Who knows, maybe the few LPN's in our program will prove them wrong and I hope they do. However, one of the LPN's in our program now is making a lot of enemies with her "well, I'm an LPN and know all of this already" talk.

t

loridoo · Jun 17, 2006

I have been a nurse for just over a year. I had no health-care related experience going in either. I would greatly advise working as a CNA/Tech before starting as a nurse. I think that I spent a lot of time learning basic skills and getting comfortable around patients when I first started that would have been time better spent honing my actual nursing skills. We had to take a nursing skills class at my community college - but working with the dummies in the nursing lab is not at all similar to working with a 200+ pound patient who cannot help you when you're trying to make an occupied bed. Just my opinion

:penguin:

LauraF, RN, ASN, CNA, LPN, RN · Jun 17, 2006

I think some familiarity with nursing would help. I was a Candy Striper for 2 years then a CNA for 3 years before going to LPN school. I was an LPN for 14 years before I started school for my RN. It was difficult in school to remember there are certain things that I could not do at clinicals because I was a student. But all my clinical instructors were great so it did not become a problem.

amybethf · Jun 17, 2006

At my community college in Dearborn, MI the requirement before entrance to the ADN program is a 2-day First Aid/CPR course. And as a sidenote the graduates of this program have a 99% passing rate on boards so I think this might dispel the notion that a CNA course should be a prereq.

luvmy3kids · Jun 17, 2006

Other than being a patient in the hospital, I have no medical experience. I have a BS in Corrections and Law Enforcement (which has nothing to do with nursing) , but I know what I want to do (which is become a nurse) and I feel I have just as much of a right to start nursing school as anyone else.

I'm 30yrs old, with 3 kids and a husband. I am a SAHM and it may have taken me a while to figure out what it is I want to do, but I finally did and I can't wait!

I am volunteering at the hospital now (just to gain some experience and get my foot in the door), but everything I learn in school is going to be new for me. And I'm very excited about that and ready to start!

BTW..... I have to take and pass the Nursing Assistant class and receive my certification prior to even applying for the ADN program. My school is located in MN.

HTH's Jennifer

ZASHAGALKA, RN · Jun 17, 2006

Mommy to Dyson ,Tesla and Sagan

Just as an aside. The astronomy/cosmology bent to your childrens' names is unique and cool.

~faith,

Timothy.

Bumashes, MSN, APRN, NP · Jun 17, 2006

I think it's fine to go in without experience. As long as you have it in your heart. They'll teach you everything a CNA does in the first semester anyway. I'm currently a CNA working my way through school. I love it! I think it can be beneficial to work in a healthcare setting before nursing school, though. You get to see how the different depts work, so you can get a heads up on one where you might like to work later. I prefer getting experience first. I've had it the other way around, too. I initially went to school for four years to become a teacher, but quit at the end. The reason is because, even though we have all been through grade school, we really don't appreciate how difficult it is for teachers until we're doing their job. Unlike nursing school, teacher education contains nothing like our clinicals until after you've completed four years of school. Then you do 6 months of student-teaching before you can get your license. So, you have no practical experience until that time, which still isn't near enough. I was a substitute teacher for 6 months up towards the end of my four year program. After seeing what I saw (the bickering, no support, poor pay, poor preparation from your schooling, horrible politics, no funding, too many students per teacher, no supplies, etc.), I decided against my first career choice. I've never looked back. I'm not trying to say that nurses don't experience this stuff as well, never that. I know they go through hell, too. But there are so many more choices in nursing. Better pay, different shifts, directly helping others, more advancement opps, etc. And nurses are in as much, if not more, demand as teachers. If you get the chance, then check out working in the field first, but if not, don't sweat it. Just believe in yourself and your decisions. You'll do fine.

LauraF, RN, ASN, CNA, LPN, RN · Jun 17, 2006

Just as an aside. The astronomy/cosmology bent to your childrens' names is unique and cool.
~faith,
Timothy.

Thanks! One of my step daughters name is Halley. My husband gives me a list of "approved" names and I get to chose one out of that, and then we discuss it. We have actually been in contact with Freeman Dyson. See Wikipedia.

firstyearstudent · Jun 17, 2006

I think the original poster has a point. I don't think that applicants should necessarily be CNAs but they should have some limited healthcare experience, even if it is only 40 hours as a volunteer. These seats in nursing school are too valuable to give to students who drop when they see what it's really like inside a hospital/nursing home. It's happened at my school.