Prior CNA Experience Survey - Nurses Needed for Statistics Class Research

Nursing Students General Students

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Hello!

I am a pre-nursing student, taking prerequisites to get into nursing school. I have a project due in my Statistics class for which I must gather 30 responses or more to a short survey that I create. My instructor suggested researching something of interest and relevance to my field of study, so I decided to research prior CNA experience and how nurses view it.

Thanks so much for taking your valuable time to answer my questions!

1. What is your age?

2. How long have you been a nurse?

3. Did you work as a CNA before becoming a nurse?

4. If yes to #3, how long did you work as a CNA before becoming a nurse?

5. If no to #3, do you wish that you had?

6. Regardless of whether you worked as a CNA prior to becoming a nurse, do you believe working as a CNA prior to nursing better prepares you to be a nurse? Feel free to elaborate on your response.

Specializes in Oncology/Hematology.

1. What is your age? 23

2. How long have you been a nurse? 9 months

3. Did you work as a CNA before becoming a nurse? yes

4. If yes to #3, how long did you work as a CNA before becoming a nurse? 1.5 yrs

5. If no to #3, do you wish that you had? N/A

6. Regardless of whether you worked as a CNA prior to becoming a nurse, do you believe working as a CNA prior to nursing better prepares you to be a nurse? Feel free to elaborate on your response.

Yes, it helped me become more comfortable interacting with patients and family members, performing basic care tasks, and becoming more familiar with the roles of hospital staff before I became a nurse. I also began to learn how to prioritize tasks. It was beneficial during school as well because I had something to relate the lecture material to. Ultimately I decided what floor I wanted to work on because I was able to float to different units as a PCA. :D

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1. Age- 23

2. New Grad Dec. 09...been licensed for 1 1/2 month, working abt 3 weeks

3. Yes

4. 7years, started in high school as a trade

5. N/A

6. I do feel starting out working as a CNA has helped me alot. I feel more confident around my patients, with having the experience. Cause as a CNA you can learn alot to fully prepare you to be the best Nurse you can be. Just talking with other fellow classmates in clinical the ones who were aides, tech, etc...transition into the clinical easyer...than a non-experience person.

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]1. What is your age? 34

]2. How long have you been a nurse? Currently a BSN student Grad date May 2010.

]3. Did you work as a CNA before becoming a nurse? Yes.

]4. If yes to #3, how long did you work as a CNA before becoming a nurse? 10+ yrs. (nursing home & outpatient clinic)

]5. If no to #3, do you wish that you had?

]6. Regardless of whether you worked as a CNA prior to becoming a nurse, do you believe working as a CNA prior to nursing better prepares you to be a nurse? Feel free to elaborate on your response. Well it does in some way. I wasnot afraid of interacting with the patients; but I was lacking the critical thinking an RN needs. To tell you the truth, the college I started at was a little bit too hard on us; but I learned alot from them. I fail my Nursing fundamental class, because I thought I knew how to do it all. Then I realized that RN was not about skills but about critical thinking!!! Therefore, I think that working as a CNA is not enough experience for BSN. :):bugeyes:

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Specializes in Psych, Onco, ED, Tele, Med/Surg.

What is your age?

35

How long have you been a nurse?

3 years

Did you work as a CNA before becoming a nurse?

Yes

If yes to #3, how long did you work as a CNA before becoming a nurse?

On and off from 1989 through 2007

If no to #3, do you wish that you had?

NA

Regardless of whether you worked as a CNA prior to becoming a nurse, do you believe working as a CNA prior to nursing better prepares you to be a nurse? Feel free to elaborate on your response.

Yes. Prioritizing, customer service, safety, time management (not in that order lol); interpersonal skills: patience, acceptance, humility, joy, even handling anger the 'right' way, the process has made me who I am; I like where I am. I love where I'm going.

On the other hand, knowing people who had not been CNAs prior to becoming nurses, they seemed to have a little trouble warming up to patients, reading the facial and body language of the patient and their families, appropriate sensitivity, time management skills, in a single word, experience....

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What is your age?

32

How long have you been a nurse?

>1 year

Did you work as a CNA before becoming a nurse?

Yes

If yes to #3, how long did you work as a CNA before becoming a nurse?

On and off from 1998 through 2009

If no to #3, do you wish that you had?

NA

Regardless of whether you worked as a CNA prior to becoming a nurse, do you believe working as a CNA prior to nursing better prepares you to be a nurse? Feel free to elaborate on your response.

Yes.

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1. 53

2. 25 years

3. No

4. (n/a)

5. No

6. No (not particularly)

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hello!

i am a pre-nursing student, taking prerequisites to get into nursing school. i have a project due in my statistics class for which i must gather 30 responses or more to a short survey that i create. my instructor suggested researching something of interest and relevance to my field of study, so i decided to research prior cna experience and how nurses view it.

thanks so much for taking your valuable time to answer my questions!

1. what is your age? soon to be 41

2. how long have you been a nurse? coming up on 2 yrs

3. did you work as a cna before becoming a nurse? have been a cna from the age of 16

4. if yes to #3, how long did you work as a cna before becoming a nurse? from age of 16 to about 30..so 14 yr

5. if no to #3, do you wish that you had?

6. regardless of whether you worked as a cna prior to becoming a nurse, do you believe working as a cna prior to nursing better prepares you to be a nurse? feel free to elaborate on your response. definately helped prepare me to be a nurse. i was far less nervous about direct patient care, communication, working with different departments, the chaois that sometimes ensues, etc with patients/residents. i can only being a cna as a help in the persuit of becoming a nurse. now, that said, i don't think people who've never been cna's will be less of a nurse than those who were.

best of luck in your schooling :)

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Specializes in Telemetry.
hello!

i am a pre-nursing student, taking prerequisites to get into nursing school. i have a project due in my statistics class for which i must gather 30 responses or more to a short survey that i create. my instructor suggested researching something of interest and relevance to my field of study, so i decided to research prior cna experience and how nurses view it.

thanks so much for taking your valuable time to answer my questions!

1. what is your age? 32

2. how long have you been a nurse? 3 months

3. did you work as a cna before becoming a nurse? yes

4. if yes to #3, how long did you work as a cna before becoming a nurse? 14 months

5. if no to #3, do you wish that you had?

6. regardless of whether you worked as a cna prior to becoming a nurse, do you believe working as a cna prior to nursing better prepares you to be a nurse? feel free to elaborate on your response.

i feel that being a cna prior to being a nurse was very helpful. in the least i was more comfortable in a hospital room and was comfortable talking with ill patients and their families. while being a cna i was able to help with or watch procedures that others only got to read about. it may have just been holding a leg during foley insertion or perhaps holding open a very large wound that needed packing and once i got to help with a thorocentsis (sp), i passed things to the doc! since i worked in a small rural hospital a lot of the nursing would bring me with them to show things that we didn't get often (like trach care). i was never asked to do anything outside of my scope and i think the experience was invaluable!
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Specializes in MedSurgCNA, CVICU GradNurse/RN.

1. What is your age? 24

2. How long have you been a nurse? A little over a month! (I just passed my NCLEX on Feb. 25!)

3. Did you work as a CNA before becoming a nurse? Yes!

4. If yes to #3, how long did you work as a CNA before becoming a nurse? A little over a year but I took my CNA class before starting in my nursing program.

5. If no to #3, do you wish that you had?

6. Regardless of whether you worked as a CNA prior to becoming a nurse, do you believe working as a CNA prior to nursing better prepares you to be a nurse? Feel free to elaborate on your response. Yes I do believe it better prepared me. A lot of my classmates were afraid to go into patient rooms and touch their patients. Also, in our fundamentals class a lot of the things we learned were CNA duties which I already then knew how to do! I think being a CNA first helps me respect the work CNAs do and now that I'm an RN, the work I do!

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hello!

i am a pre-nursing student, taking prerequisites to get into nursing school. i have a project due in my statistics class for which i must gather 30 responses or more to a short survey that i create. my instructor suggested researching something of interest and relevance to my field of study, so i decided to research prior cna experience and how nurses view it.

thanks so much for taking your valuable time to answer my questions!

1. what is your age? mid-50's

2. how long have you been a nurse? 3+ decades

3. did you work as a cna before becoming a nurse? yes but we were just "nurse's aides" then, not certified; trained on the job

4. if yes to #3, how long did you work as a cna before becoming a nurse? 2+ years; most of that was while a student nurse

5. if no to #3, do you wish that you had?

6. regardless of whether you worked as a cna prior to becoming a nurse, do you believe working as a cna prior to nursing better prepares you to be a nurse? feel free to elaborate on your response.

yes. also working as a volunteer (candystriper, orderly) or working in some area as an employee where you are around patients, doctors, and direct care bedside nursing staff helps to expose one to and acclimate one to the hospital/ health care environment. i seriously advocate that.

good luck with school!

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]1. What is your age? 34

]2. How long have you been a nurse? Currently a BSN student Grad date May 2010.

]3. Did you work as a CNA before becoming a nurse? Yes.

]4. If yes to #3, how long did you work as a CNA before becoming a nurse? 10+ yrs. (nursing home & outpatient clinic)

]5. If no to #3, do you wish that you had?

]6. Regardless of whether you worked as a CNA prior to becoming a nurse, do you believe working as a CNA prior to nursing better prepares you to be a nurse? Feel free to elaborate on your response. Well it does in some way. I wasnot afraid of interacting with the patients; but I was lacking the critical thinking an RN needs. To tell you the truth, the college I started at was a little bit too hard on us; but I learned alot from them. I fail my Nursing fundamental class, because I thought I knew how to do it all. Then I realized that RN was not about skills but about critical thinking!!! Therefore, I think that working as a CNA is not enough experience for BSN. :):bugeyes:

Don't you think the nurse also needs skills? Certainly we do a lot of thinking but we also have to know how to do the bedside care and the treatments patients need.

No, of course a BSN must have more "experience" than having been a CNA. That's why we go to school, right? I'm probably not fully understanding you, sorry.

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Specializes in CCU MICU Rapid Response.

1. What is your age?

32

2. How long have you been a nurse?

4 years

3. Did you work as a CNA before becoming a nurse?

yes

4. If yes to #3, how long did you work as a CNA before becoming a nurse?

6 months

5. If no to #3, do you wish that you had?

6. Regardless of whether you worked as a CNA prior to becoming a nurse, do you believe working as a CNA prior to nursing better prepares you to be a nurse? Feel free to elaborate on your response.

Wearing the nursing shoes is definitely different than being a CNA, however, I think the hospital experience WITHOUT the stress of nursing school is good... You are able to see HOW a shift runs, what time vitals are done, fingersticks, I & O. You learn how to turn, wash your hands, put on the iso gear and make a bed. You learn time management, and some basic documentation. I think it only sets one up for success. All of these things are still vital as nurse, whether s/he is doing them or following up on the results.

Good luck with the survey :) Ivanna

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