amybear

I am in the exact same situation!!! I'm working my first CNA job and I only work every other weekend but I find myself dreading it days before I have to go in to work. I think I work in a decent place as far as nursing homes go but even so I feel nervous and depressed about going to work.

just curious what your availability is???? i am a nursing student/CNA too and i had a couple job offers for every other weekend 3-11 shift. i had the option of every weekend or every other. you could also apply prn.

Thank you for sharing!!! It's nice to hear about a positive experience. I am a new cna about to start the 3-11 and reading the posts on this site has totally freaked me out!!!

I started my nursing program last fall and I'll tell you what my instructor told us on the first day. She said that we were eligible to take the CNA exam after our first semester and she recommended that we do because it will open up alot more doors for us once we graduate and start applying for nursing jobs... just sayin :) I JUST got my CNA and I wish I had done it back in December when I became eligible. After applying for jobs and interviewing and working out my orientation it has taken about 2 months to even get started working as an aide. On the other hand nursing school is an enormous amount of work and I'm not even in an accelerated program. Just do whats best for you and don't take on more than you can handle.

I am also a nursing student and a brand new CNA and and was just hired for my first job working every other Saturday and Sunday 3-11pm and this is exactly what I wanted!! Chances are you will probably have to do some time in LTC like me but who knows maybe you will get lucky and find a hospital job. I think the shifts their are similar according to what the hospital nurses told us at clinical. Good luck!!! : )

Oh I also wanted to add that when I took my test for the second time almost everyone failed including my partner. I felt so bad for everybody. Myself and one other girl were the only ones that I know of that passed. After the skills test while we were waiting for our results they made us take a survey on the effectiveness of the program we attend/attended because so many people in Virginia have failed the test.

I failed the skills test the first time but passed the written. I didn't take a cna class, im in LPN school so I didn't really know the info on the written test as well as I thought I would so I was suprised that I passed it!!! In Virginia on the skills test we have to perform 5 skills and one of them of course is always handwashing. Also, we can take it as many times as we want... no limit. I passed ALL of my skills the first time except pulse!!! I kept losing my partners pulse and my count was off by too much. I passed the second time though and I am about to start my first job!!! Good luck and try not to let nerves get the best of you. I agree with one of the previous posters that said nerves can affect your memory!!!

I am currently an LPN student and I am taking my CNA skills exam for the second time in a few days. The first time I passed the written exam and also four out of five of the skills they tested me on. The ONE skill that caused me to fail was taking a pulse. I am extremly upset because obviously I know how to take a pulse or I wouldn't have gotten to the point where I was eligable for CNA. I don't understand what happened. I have taken a pulse a zillion times and could probably do it in my sleep. The only thing I can think of is that maybe it was harder to get an accurate reading because the lady whose pulse I took for the exam was extremly obese???? Anyway I try again soon and I am so nervous!!! I know the skills inside and out!!! Any other advice for getting through the exam without screwing up???

My program sounds alot like what you guys are describing... the youngest I think turned 21 a few months ago and the oldest are around 50 (ish???). I agree that focus is individualized and cannot be judged by age HOWEVER, the cattiness in my group is totally ridiculous. Of course my first priority is school and learning but I am always polite and helpful to the other girls and I would never go out of my way to trash someone. I certainly don't wish failure on any of my classmates. Many girls in the class do though and do their best to try to make eachother look bad in front of the instructor. Even a couple of the instructors are catty and it seems like their goal is to weed out as many people as possible. I am grateful that I have found one classmate that I can depend on and I know is a good person. I have found the best thing to do is lay low, do your work, be polite and help out whenever you can.

I am on a hiatus from nursing school and will not start back till January 12 due to the structure of my program. I have completed fundamentals, geriatrics and med surg 1 and am about to take my CNA exam. I am worried about losing my knowledge from being away from nursing for so long... especially the math. Any suggestions as to what I can do to keep it fresh in my mind? I already have an NCLEX book would working through those questions help or is there something else that would be more beneficial??? Any info would be greatly appreciated!!! :)

I agree with tokidokifantasy... that method might work for some people but I am not one of them. I ended up having to withdrawl from Med Surg because of a similar situation. My teacher was a nightmare!!! I was also afraid to ask questions. I remember the first day I ever did meds I had three injections. I was so excited but the teacher's son was home sick and she wanted to leave early so she rushed me through it, degraded me in front of the patient and was just impatient and I did not learn anything. It affected me by making me nervous and forgetful in clinical and eventually it was interfering with my studies. I don't blame the instructor for that I blame myself for letting her get the best of me and doubt myself. I was so shaken up by her I had no self-confidence and looking back I know I give excellent patient care. She was at the computer most of the time and never saw what we did. Anyway I will not let it happen again when I retake the class. Congrats to you for making it through the entire class with a horrible instructor!!!

I'm about your size and I like greys anatomy petite x-small pants... fit me perfect though they are a little expensive. Their scrub tops are fitted but not too fitted and super cute!!!

I dunno... I am currently being bullied by an instructor. She has me so tied up in knots from her verbal abuse that it is impossible for me to remember anything or learn anything new : (

I have to agree with swirlo. There are some nasty teachers out there and if they decide they don't like you.. your life is a living hell as long as you are in their class. I am so sorry you are going through this!!! I am going through the same thing with a teacher right now too. At first I decided to suck it up and take the abuse and try to lay low as much as possible. This afternoon I had a discussion with a co-worker whose daughter is in a nursing program at my school (I work for the community college I go to school at) and he was ranting about how badly his daughter was treated and that people should do something about this epidemic of terrible nursing instructors. He encouraged me to write to the biggest name at the school so I did. I am not sure how it will turn out. To some extent I feel as though you should stand up for yourself but on the other hand if you do it could make things worse with the teacher. As far as your grades go it is pretty common to have this trouble on nursing tests, I don't think that means nursing is not for you. Also, is it possible the teacher is making you nervous when it's time for your check offs??? I know my teacher has me so messed up that I can't do ANYTHING around her. The reason I have been able to stick with it so far is because no matter how bad my teachers are or how much I don't know when I am with my patients I KNOW I am doing a good job. The patient is the most important part of the job not the dramatics of nursing school. One of my patients recently told me how wonderful and caring I was and that she knew I would make a good nurse. It made me feel so wonderful!!! So don't let a teacher bring your down. Hope this helps!!!

When I did my clinicals at a nursing the CNA's were rude and didn't do anything to help us. Now I'm in a hospital and I don't even know if they have CNA's!!! We basically do everything but the RN's on the floor are always very helpful if we have questions and I'm sure they would be understanding if the AM care took a little longer than usual. Actually where I am there is no set time that everything has to be done by. We just try to plan around the meds so we are not giving a bath when the nurse comes around with the med cart. It's really up to the patient when and what type of care we provide. And only three students in our class give meds once a week so I am not always responsible for that.