Has anyone worked in the NICU as an CNA?

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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I start my volunteer soon in the NICU and wanted to know if anyone is or had been a CNA in the NICU unit before? Thank you!

Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.

NICUs seldom employ anyone other than RNs for patient care. My NICU had techs, but they cleaned equipment, stocked and did other non-patient care duties. They almost never touched a patient.

I volunteer and cuddle babies in the NICU, there aren't any CNA's in that department for my hospital. My NICU is great, they let me do quite a lot for a volunteer (baths, check temps, change diapers, etc). Hopefully yours will be the same :)

I go this week for volunteer training and then I'll have my first day as a nicu volunteer next weekend. í ½í¸ I've read they use patient care assistants in some NICUs. I'm not actually sure what qualifys someone to be a pca? I've heard PCA and CNA used interchangeabley but I'm really not sure.

Thank you guys for your responses.!! I had started my first day of volunteer last night AND it was so wonderful! It motivated me to become a Nurse so much more. I volunteer every Friday during the late night shift and I love it so far. I mean what's not to like about babies right? Haha It just makes me feel good knowing I am helping a baby. The nurses are very sweet and welcomed me with opened arms. @Brandi2007. You are going to love being in the NICU. Are you in nursing school already? @itsthatgirljen. I would love to be able to help bathe, feed, and change diapers. That's so awesome that they allow you to do thst, hopefully I would be able too soon. :) Are you in nursing school? I know your loving it! @Meanmaryjean, DNP, RN. Thank you! Hopefully the hospital I volunteer at, allows cnas.

I'm glad you liked it!! I'm really looking forward to helping in the NICU(I have 2 preemies and as cliche as it sounds NICU is where my heart is..) and the whole reason I want to be a nurse. :) I am still taking prerequisites, are you in nursing school?

Oh no! I'm sorry. How are your babies doing? I hope well. Aww that's so great Brandi2007. :) Same here, I want to be in NICU. At first I wanted to do pediatrics, but I really wanted to work with the newborns. I've also thought about L&D too. Yeah I'm still taking my prerequisites. I'm hoping to get into nursing school either in January or June. I have to retake my hesi since I failed the first time. It sucks but it made me a lot more determine and I'm going to make sure I study a lot more before I retake it since I only have one more shot. Once I pass, it'll give me a greater chance at getting accepted. Are you almost finished with your prerequisites?

They are fine( my daughter is 6 and my son is almost 2) I have 2 classes to take next semester and I plan to apply for fall 2018. There are a couple of schools I will be applying to, they all accept pax ..which I haven't even taken yet.

Thank you guys for your responses.!! I had started my first day of volunteer last night AND it was so wonderful! It motivated me to become a Nurse so much more. I volunteer every Friday during the late night shift and I love it so far. I mean what's not to like about babies right? Haha It just makes me feel good knowing I am helping a baby. The nurses are very sweet and welcomed me with opened arms. @Brandi2007. You are going to love being in the NICU. Are you in nursing school already? @itsthatgirljen. I would love to be able to help bathe, feed, and change diapers. That's so awesome that they allow you to do thst, hopefully I would be able too soon. :) Are you in nursing school? I know your loving it! @Meanmaryjean, DNP, RN. Thank you! Hopefully the hospital I volunteer at, allows cnas.

I start in January!

They are fine( my daughter is 6 and my son is almost 2) I have 2 classes to take next semester and I plan to apply for fall 2018. There are a couple of schools I will be applying to, they all accept pax ..which I haven't even taken yet.

Oh good! I'm glad they are well. What is pax?

I start in January!

That's super exciting! I wish you luck! í ½í¸Š

It's another type of pre entrance exam some nursing schools use.

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