NhNikki

My CNA instructor said that New Balance nurse shoes are the best for arch support. unfortunately, they're still about $60, they're completely worth it!

I recently had a very large resident that when I went to go change her breif the other day at 11am (I'm in clinicals and don't get there until about 8:30, so the actual LNA's are supposed to get them up first thing in the morning and change their breif when they get there at 7am). I had one of the actual LNA's help me because my resident was very large and I would need help. When we rolled her over, the whole back of her bed was soaked in urine. NO ONE HAD CHANGED HER! She had been sitting in a pool of her own urine all morning because no one changed her. So as I took her literally soaking-wet breif off and started her back peri-care, I noticed there was feces on the cloth, but she didn't have a BM. SHE WAS GOING RIGHT THEN! So I had to run and get toilet paper and catch everything that she was excreting RIGHT THERE in that puddle of urine that I was still trying to clean up. It was awful. Obviously, I felt worse for the resident because not only was she not able to communicate that her breif was wet, but because she's incontinent she didn't know she had begun to poop on me! So far, that's the yuckiest thing I've done.

Change the breif after you have done most of the bed bath. Do their whole front top-half, legs, and if they turn easily or if they're not obese, you can wash their back after their legs. Then you take off the front of the breif to do front peri, roll them onto their side and do back peri while you pull out the rest of the breif and put the new one on. I was told that if they are very large or if they do not roll back and forth easily to clean the whole front half top to bottom, peri last, then turn them to do their back and then back peri. Trust me, I have had a very large resident the past couple of days, MUCH easier to do it this way if you have to.

Today was my second day of Cinicals. It was rough. For some reason, yesterday went pretty smoothly, no big problems. Today I felt like I was getting screamed at the whole time. Which is not helpful to an LNA on her second day of clinical. I'm hoping tomorrow goes a bit better, but I needed to vent a bit. I thought I did a good job today in terms of taking care of the residents, but it seemed like my teacher was barking at me all day and I'm having a hard time trying to do everything correctly and make sure all is balanced.

I just started my clinicals yesterday. Nothing gross yet, but I hate to say it, I'm anticipating it. My teacher's philosophy is that if we can survive the residents (our clinical is in a long term care facility) she has chosen for us, then we can survive anything. Thank god it's only for 2 1/2 weeks!! I'll let you know after I have spent my a few full days with my incontinent, moody, and total care resident

I am about to finish my CNA program at the end of the month and I've already started looking at jobs. I plan to go on and complete my ADN-RN and eventually my BSN, but I plan to work as a CNA in the mean time:nurse: Most of our training in the CNA program focuses on long term care, mostly because they encourage you to work there after you've completed the program before you go anywhere else. Although long term care is always looking for CNAs, they reimburse you for taking the CNA couse, and I would easily be able to work full-time at any LTC facility, geriatrics is just not for me. I have nothing against the elderly, but I would much rather be working L&D, pediatrics, or the nursery. My dream is work in the NICU! I was planning on trying work in the NICU of one of the local hospitals as an RN eventually, but I found out the other day that that same hospital is looking for a CNA, or "NICU Technician" experience not required:D! The only downside is that it's per diem for all shifts. I guess I'm basically looking for some advice on what I should do? I have been finding a lot of full-time CNA positions but they're either at an LTC or in Geropsych units, but I just don't know if that NICU position is something I could pull off financially or if I should just suck it up and take a full-time position?

I keep hearing that most hospitals are not taking CNA's unless they've had at least 6 months experience in long term care (nursing home) just because of the economy. I've found this to be true because I asked Human Resources at my local hospital if because I'm already a hospital employee (I've been working in the Gift Shop for the past 6 months, but I'm in the middle of getting my CNA right now) that they would overlook the fact that I haven't had experience in long term care. She told me the same thing I had heard; the way the economy is there are just not very many LNA positions open now, so when they do have a position open there are usually 40-50 applicants for it, and they're really looking for people that have the most experience. But if your hospital has plenty of positions open, I would give it a shot. Again, that is lucky for someone to get a position in a hospital right after your certification, but I guess it depends on what part of the country you're in.

I second what ann22 said. I just finished my second week with the Red Cross (as you can see, I'm not too far away from you, just over the border in NH) and I love it. My teachers have said that their program really is the best in the state (well, my state, lol) and that when you apply for a position and the employer sees that you went through the Red Cross then they are much more willing to hire you because of that. A lot of areas will advertise a 4-week program for CNA or 2 weeks, but DON'T DO IT! Take at least an 8-week program, because if they're only offering it for that short amount of time then they're skipping a lot. Plus the Red Cross program covers CPR, First Aid, and BLS the first week to get it all done and I'm sure those shorter programs do not cover it. Then you'll have to take another course to get your CPR, First Aid, and BLS certification if that ends up being the case, which is just more money out of your pocket. Overall, I definitely recommend the Red Cross program!

Hi everyone, I'm new! Just thought I'd add that... But anyway, I think that it would be a much better idea to continue with the BSN. For my situation, I want to work in the NICU at MassGeneral in Boston and they not only require AT LEAST 3-5 years experience prior to hiring, but you are also required to have a BSN. I was originally planning on only getting my ADN, but being a nurse in their NICU is truly my dream job. So I'm looking into accelerated RN-BSN programs that way you can still work full-time and it only takes between 12-18 months to complete. Good luck!