Possible to oriente as a CNA while in Nursing school ?

[Rainha_portuguesa]

So I got my CNA certification back in December (I was on Winter break). I am now back in school and going to start my CNA orientation tomorrow! My question is, is it possible to oriente while in nursing school? I have exams back to back nearly every week and told them I won’t be taking shifts on exam weeks and will not be doing more than 20 hours weekly. However they have said I MUST oriente within 3 weeks. Now, I have never been a CNA before, so I am confused if this is even possible or if I should just wait till Summer to be able to work FT hours. Btw I signed up per diem, so it’s a pretty strange situation. Has anyone been in Nursing School and oriented as a CNA for the first time? I am afraid of not knowing how to manage up to 10 patients! Also, this is LTC. The job pays very badly, I only chose this place due to being 5 mim from my home, but I really just want the experience. What does everyone think? Thanks!

[Enarra, BSN, RN]

If you can afford it wait. If it were me: I’d wait until my nursing classes finished for the semester and do orientation in the Summer. I would want to max out my chances of nursing school success. You can not afford to fail out of nursing school. Best of luck

[GoingtobeRN]

If you can wait for Summer, I would consider that. Being a CNA is temporary for you, I would put my attention on getting through the semester.

[Sour Lemon]

On 2/29/2020 at 5:43 AM, Rainha_portuguesa said:

So I got my CNA certification back in December (I was on Winter break). I am now back in school and going to start my CNA orientation tomorrow! My question is, is it possible to oriente while in nursing school? I have exams back to back nearly every week and told them I won’t be taking shifts on exam weeks and will not be doing more than 20 hours weekly. However they have said I MUST oriente within 3 weeks. Now, I have never been a CNA before, so I am confused if this is even possible or if I should just wait till Summer to be able to work FT hours. Btw I signed up per diem, so it’s a pretty strange situation. Has anyone been in Nursing School and oriented as a CNA for the first time? I am afraid of not knowing how to manage up to 10 patients! Also, this is LTC. The job pays very badly, I only chose this place due to being 5 mim from my home, but I really just want the experience. What does everyone think? Thanks!

Some employers have scheduled classroom orientation that you must be present for. I work per diem, one night a week, but still had to go to Monday through Friday orientation between 8AM and 5PM. The CNAs in the group finished after two days, if I remember correctly. It's different everywhere depending on the employer's policies, though.

As far as the difficulty of working while in school, there's a lot of variation. Some people work full time and breeze through it. Others find themselves failing because they can't keep up with work and school.