Overwhelmed!

[Kay51]

I started my CNA class about 2 weeks ago (it's my second week now). Wow I had no idea how this was going to be. We have 192 hours of class, 3 weeks of in class time and 12 days of clinicals. It is SOO much stuff to learn in that short amount of time. I had no clue it was going to be like this..i thought it would be pretty simple, which dont get me wrong once you get the hang of something it is easy, but we have 13 people in our class and we do like 5-6 skills a day. So the teacher shows us how to do it...we do it once (the right way) then we move on to something else! No practice at all, crazy, Especially the way they are so strict on state testing! I hope everything goes well and I learn more in clinicals, but my teacher is tough. She drops you from clinicals for the dumbest reasons. I mean you are a student you are going to make mistakes! Has anyone else been in this situation? If so how did things turn out for you??!?!?!?

[shy_wolf101]

I know exaclty how you feel! Luckily all of my teachers are pretty awesome but we have to cover so much stuff and in so little time, sometimes i think i am going to forget the easiest skill simply because we dont practice it adequately. But I think you get the practice at the clinical. Thats where you really get the practice you need.

[casi, ASN, RN]

New things at a fast pace are overwhelming. The best advice I can give you is when you're in the lab, use your time wisely. If you have a few chitchat minutes grab a classmate and say "Hey, wanna practice this quick?" Otherwise I would also go home and go through the motions of a skill. You don't need a real person or the real equiptment to learn the correct ways to do something, just improvise. If it helps to give peri-care or make an occcupied bed with a cabbage patch doll do it!

When it comes to clinical just take a moment to think. In practice being a CNA is just a lot of common sense. Before you do something, always ask yourself if it's safe for the resident. If you don't know or are uncomfortable with it, ask someone else.