AI1711

I think a big issue if if you have kids in particular young kids under the age of five and if you have free baby sitting for them. If you have free unlimited baby sitting then CNA may be worth it. It’s invaluable work experience. I would say it is way more straight forward to balance school and being a CNA if you are childless or have older kids .. or if you have free unlimited trusted baby sitting. If you have to pay for babysitting to go to a CNA job where you’re not making much it’s starts to cancel the benefits. Also it’s very tiring work, turning, bathing patients, some who are combative - it can mentally take it out of you also. You have to have energy and focus for school work also. My school I need A in prereq or I’m not getting in. I have to get in that school because it’s CUNY and I need the cheaper tuition fees. I asked my boss if to all work weekends a while back and she told em to ask my fellow tech at the hospital who is full time. My full time coworker refused to let me work all the weekends because “she wanted flexibility” when I handed in my notice she then offered to work Monday- fri only (which most people would love). .. was too late. My youngest child is 8 months old and still major work to get to sleep etc. I am now looking into working for the city in a different healthcare role. The chances are that I may just focus on school. As I said my unit was full of RN with zero tech or CNA experience .. when I floated it was the same story. I can count on one hand the amount of RN in the hospital who previously worked as tech there.

I love this thank you and can draw many comparisons to my own life divorces kids new partners new babies .. I’m still on the journey finishing prereq

I didn’t get the antibody test yet.. down to laziness over coordinating an appointment - after my shift I just want to get the hell out of that hospital. My prediction is I will be negative that’s what my gut tells me and from seeing others who worked on my covid unit all over the patients - so far all but one have come out I negative for covid antibodies . As I said the one positive travelled overseas several times back and forth throughout Jan and Feb. A couple of others working on my unit who got sick with covid got it early on before we became a covid designated ICU And so they never took those patients - they got it outside the hospital. I am OK working with covids with a n95 (preferably duckbill that I can change per shift in size I was fit mask tested for). As I said with the use of brown paper bags and being careful we managed to reuse n95s for a week at a time/4 shifts or so. I did always take my scrubs off before leaving the hospital, bag them up. Leave work shoes at work. Wipe down work phone, personal phone, work ID, lip balm , anything in my pocket with purple wipes or bleach solution on a rag at home. I ruined my iPhones speaker being over zealous Wiping with bleach solution at first... I have a laundry hamper in my vestibule where I throw dirty scrubs, have hand sanitizer available and I walk in with underwear on and straight to shower and wash my hair after every shift. I hate that I can’t use my dry shampoo like I used to but have improvised by buying hair masks and shower gels that have lavender and aromatherapy type benefits to wash the day away. I will update when I finally do the antibody test.

I’ve worked as ICU tech in a covid designated ICU since March in NYC, our hospital took highest volume of covid admits across the city. I also float on occasion doing one to ones which meant prolonged exposures. Plenty of patients who were negative who later I was told were positive. I’ve lost count of how many times that happened and I would be in a room with them in just regular surgical/ teddy bear mask, diapering turning .. all over them. I’ve never been sick. Up in our covid ICU I wore n95, blue surgical on top so I could reuse n95. In height of covid I kept my n95 on all shift and replaced surgical mask between rooms. I wore a blue hair bouffant and a visor shield that covered my face - I wipe it with purple wipes between rooms. Sometimes I would wear a blue mask with a fluid shield visor attached over the top of my n95 for quickness because I could just dispose of it between rooms. Yellow gown or maybe blue plastic one too depending on what we had in. Plastic gown either make you sweat like crazy but I like for doing baths, otherwise I used yellow. I feel confident using PPE in this manner. Don’t be scared and try to renew your n95 per shift. I did reuse my n95 for you to a week when we first got caught pants down with this. Use size and type you were fit tested for if possible. I prefer the duck Bill type - they form a seal around my face best. I’ve also travelled subway and uber for months in just surgical mask, as well as talking to known positive family members in just surgical mask. The respiratory therapists and I believe you need to get covered in a significant amount of respiratory particles to get this thing. We think most staff who got sick got it outside of work. So far only one nurse who works our covid ICU tested positive in serology for antibodies and she travelled frequently overseas several times in Jan and Feb.

I wouldn’t do CNA. I’m a mom of two about to restart school full time finishing nursing prereq ( 1 more semester before I apply to nursing school) and I’m about to quit my ICU tech job that I love. I’m part time in a union which meant awesome health insurance but also meant doing four shifts a week some weeks due to mandatory weekends every other week. My commute is long. I worked a covid designated ICU. We adjusted to that (was long shifts in nyc though with a n95 on all shift turning and cleaning covid patients all day long at height of it) but the worst was four shifts a week sometimes and the commute. I have seen a lot of CNA delay finishing BSN due to balancing work, school, and family including me. The pay is peanuts and it can delay route to BSN. I’m surrounded by young grads earning $$$$ as RN here who never worked as tech or CNA in their life.