Kim8501

34 hours a week for me....I could get more hours but 34 hours is enough for me.

i will be happy to tell you where i am from, i am from north carolina. and in the state of north carolina the course is 170 hours, 40 for clinicals. and as for my work load, i no longer work in a rest home anymore ~~ i work in the home health care field. and yes, i am upset that some states actually think that one cna can handle 20 ppl per shift & the residents get the quality of care that they need. and while you may not work for that per hour, we are all not so fortunate as to get paid the higher salaries of the state you reside in. so yes, it is my choice to work & my own doing....i stated i love working with the elderly. this in fact comes after being raised by my grandmother who later developed alzheimers & i took care of her rather in my own home rather than placing her in a rest home until it was absolutely necessary to do so for her safety & mine. not all people work for the amount of money they can gain, but rather the love of the job & others. but even so, that being said those that do the job should be paid for their hard work. i have no personal predujices against anyone, i am stating the obvious cna's do not make the $$$ according to the workload they provide ( and yes that can include skills). thanks, kim

i am from eastern n.c. near the rocky mount area & for this area the average pay is $ 8.00 per hr. for rest homes & home health, and $8.45 per hr. for the hospital. in home health if you work with a caps, or veteran pt. you will make more per hour. ~~ for a caps pt. it is $8.40 & for a veteran the rate is $9.00 . i am thinking maybe in the bigger areas such as charlotte, raleigh, durham area perhaps it pays a bit more but i am not sure.

i am not asking for better pay for cnas. its a 1 month course. the pay fits the training. philippians4:13 i cannot believe that statement !!! the pay does not fit the job, or the training. not all of us had a 1 month course, i had a 13 week course that if you bothered to study you actually did learn things pertaining to the care of the patient. not to mention the clinicals spent in the hospitals that i did were unpaid. we had plenty of good experiences in clinicals, when we were there it was vacation time for most of the ones who were supposed to be teaching us. our pay is well below what it should be, being a cna is a demanding job in more ways than one & and very often thankless. the rn's get their credit due them, while most of the time cna's don't ~~ i am not taking anything away from rn's as i know they have worked long & hard, but where would they be without the help of the lowly cna's??? i myself am not in it for the money, i am in this for my love of the elderly but it would be nice to be paid more as well. i have worked in a rest home & there were 58 residents there, and 3 ( and sometimes if we were lucky 4 ) cna's per shift....now please tell me you don't think that is demanding work. would you like to work for $ 7.50/8.00 an hour? and before you tell me the overhead of the homes/agencies please do not bother as my best friend's sisters owned the rest home i worked at & all of them are financially set. they all have nice homes/vehicles & a lake house. i am not saying they are living like the rockefellers, but they could have afforded to have paid their employees more for the hard work they did.

yes, i am from nc { roanoke rapids }. i already have had a job in home health care as a a pca for 4 1/2 years. but now i have my cna cert., which will get me an auto-matic pay raise, plus open up opportunities to work at the local hospital which is my goal. :) i plan to take the cna 2 course in march, and eventually go onto getting my lpn license within the next 2 years.

it's overrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr !!!!!!!! i wanted let ya'll know that i passed my cna state test this morning! thanks to all of you who helped to ease my fears. i was nervous during the skills procedure, but i never missed a step on any of the skills! the evaluator told me i did an excellent job & watching me was like reading the book. my hard work paid off {{{{ yahoo }}}}} :) here are the skills i was tested on: handwashing transfer to wc measuring urine output foot/toenail care donning/removing ppe thanks again to everyone here for all of the advice & support.

i wanted let ya'll know that i passed my cna state test this morning! :wink2: thanks to all of you who helped to ease my fears. i was nervous during the skills procedure, but i never missed a step on any of the skills! the evaluator told me i did an excellent job & watching me was like reading the book. my hard work paid off {{{{ yahoo }}}}} :) here are the skills i was tested on: handwashing transfer to wc measuring urine output foot/toenail care donning/removing ppe thanks again to everyone here for all of the advice & support. and for the ones taking the test in the future my best advice is the advice that was given to me.....talk your way through it out loud. it helps tremendously.

i promise to let y'all know how it went.....thanks again:)

i realize you said your employer only takes self-pay patients but since she is an rn she does have to anwser to the state in which she resides. i looked on google & found this link where you can look into filing a complaint....if this isn't where you would file, then perhaps they could give you the correct place. i hope this helps. here is the link: http://www.nursing-home-abuse-resource.com/index.html

thank you so much to all of you for your kind words....it means alot as you all have been there & you know how i am feeling at this point. y'all make me wish i was testing in shelby...lol

i totally agree with sonomala......quit now, not later before it comes down on you. you do not want that on your record. report it to the state bon where you reside asap.

for the cna class itself we had to have a stethoscope, bp cuff,and a notebook. for our clinicals we had to have 2 sets of scrubs, a watch with a 2nd hand, white leather shoes, a notepad to keep in our pockets at all times for recording.

exactly....i am scheduled to take my written at 8 a.m., the skills between 1-4 p.m. ( not even a definite time ). it would be a lot less pressure if it was the other way around.

thanks a bunch :) i do plan to talk my way through it , i practiced it yesterday with a friend of mine i was in class with & did fine. it's just a case of bad nerves i guess.

too late, i think i already did that...lol !!! :uhoh21: i am not scared over the written exam, the skills are the big thing for me as well. i just don't want to get up there & freeze. where did you test @ spanky? i am testing at wake tech.

thanks so much for the support, i know my nerves are frazzled.....i have wanted to be a cna for a while now as i love working with the elderly, and i am this close that i just don't want to make a silly mistake.

you did nothing wrong, they tell us over & over to let the patient do as much for themselves as possible ( esp. the perineal area ). i know it has upset you, but try to take it in stride & know that occasionally these things will happen. it is no reflection on you, i too am a fellow home health care worker & i can relate. as for her peri area "smelling to high heaven" that can be from several different things. she may be incontinent, it could be an infection, meds....alot of things. your supervisor should realize that.

well the countdown is on now, i take the nc state test this coming saturday....i am so nervous. i guess by tomorrow night i will have lost it completely. i have studied that book over & over but i am still paranoid. {{{ even though i know how, i do not want to do bp }}}

Congratulations !! I live in North Carolina & I just finished the CNA course in December. I will take both the written & skills tests this coming Saturday. I guess it just depends on the state you are from. I however wish we did it like Michigan & Texas and did the skills portion 1st before proceeding onto the written exam.

I went for 13 weeks at my local community college from 8:30-11:30 M-F. I loved it, and plan to take the CNA 2 course in January. I live in North Carolina.

I enjoyed my CNA class, esp. the clinicals......most of my classmates hated the clinicals but to me they were my favorite part where I feel like I learned the most. I work in home health care, and have 2 clients I work with.....you do run into the occasional one that wants a "maid" but for the most part, the ones I have worked with are grateful & are thankful to be able to live in their own home v/s a ALF.

It is 2 years where I am as well, could you possibly do some volunteer work at your local hospital, or hospice center to sort of "shadow" the workers? that may help you. If that isn't possible you should always be able to take a refresher course at your community college. Good luck.

yahoo !! congrats donna !!!!! i am happy for you, i know you will ace the written. i have my exams coming up on the 17th, and i am as nervous as a cat on a tin roof. lol !

Sonomala,, Aren't you from N.C. ?? or am I mistaken? I am & buy most all of mine from the Scrubs Outlet in Smithfield, N.C. They have all of the name brands at really great prices.

i am taking mine on the 17th @ wake tech. i really haven't looked at any websites other than this one, but have studied the nc cna candidates book { the blue book } from cover to cover, over & over till i am blue. lol ! has anyone here taken the test @ wake?? if so, how was it there?