Ash13

Well... I personally hated working at the nursing home; it was very poorly managed. It was not unusual to be assigned to 20+ patients per day. With that said, there are definitely some nicer LTC centers out there. For instance, the upscale nursing home was better because they had more staff. The first hospital I worked for was wasn't acute, it was rehab. That has so far been my best experience. Although those patients needed help, they were there to get better (not die). I just started my new job last week and i really am nervous. Last week, I only went through the orientation process. My first day on the floor is tomorrow, and I will be on a med/surg/telemetry unit. I had to go through sort of an ekg training for this job. I am nervous because I am going to be responsible for watching the monitors and notifying the nurse if something is abnormal (on top of the other usual CNA type of responsibilities). As far as the gagging- do your best not to. If it can't be helped, do your best to do it in a way that isn't so obvious. I understand your concern... that was what worried me the most about starting the job as a cna to begin with. As most things do, it gets easier with time. Really. I went through my CNA training at a nursing home, they paid for it all. My instructor taught us that if at first we couldn't stomach it, to rub cherry flavored carmex or lip gloss under our nose. I never tried it. The worst part about being a cna is not really the gross stuff that comes along with the job, like I thought in the beginning. It is mainly that can be back- breaking labor most of the time. The other thing is that there are times when you may work with certain nurses that will try to make you feel bad about yourself. The best part about being a CNA for me, is just getting my foot in the door and gaining experience. I became a cna because I wanted to be a nurse. But, 3 kids later... I never found the time. Now, I am in school and I have applied to 2 different nursing schools. Many schools require you to be a cna before starting, others don't. But, I have been at work while students would come in for their clinical rotation and act like they were just smacked in the face. I have literally heard girls talk about dropping out of nursing school because they weren't expecting it to be that way. So, I think being a cna is a great way to get your feet wet. Sorry to run on and on...

I'm not very familiar with the pay in the Louisville area; I live in the Lexington area. But, I can give you a little insight from my experience. It really depends on the facility, and after you gain experience it will start to go up. My first job as a CNA was 10 years ago, I worked for a nursing home and was paid 7.50/ hr (then, that was more than min. wage). I only stayed there for a year. The next job was 7 years ago at a more upscale retirement community. With my prior year of experience, I made 10.00/hr. I thought I would rather work in a hospital, so I found a job at a hospital and started @ 9.34/hr. That was in 2006 and with 2 years of experience. I stayed there for four years and left making 11.25/hr. I took a couple years off, and now I am at another hospital making 13.04 based on 6 years combined experience. So, it took me a while to make as much as I do now. But, it is my understanding that most places today offer around 10-12.00/hr with little to no experience. Again, this is in the Lexington area. Louisville may pay a little more. I know RNs are paid slightly more there. Hope this helps some.

Good luck to you as well! I will keep in touch.

I know! I turned my packet in Monday. I think the competition is ridiculous. I think my chances are okay because I scored well on my ACT and NLN. But, I went to another college years ago and dropped out resulting in a low GPA. I have a good GPA at bctc now though. I filled out a GPA recalculation form but I am nervous that they haven't gotten it. Do you know anything about how to find out if they have recieved the form? I checked mybin... it shows they recieved the packet but, it says nothing about the recalc. form. Maybe I worry too much...

I also forgot... When I went to the pre- nursing advising meeting a couple months ago, we were told that we could apply at more than one kctcs school. But, only one RN program per school. So, if one school offers more than one program at different campuses you must choose one. Hope I didn't confuse you.

I am a student at Bluegrass. From what I have been told, you can apply to more than one school at once. On the other hand, you can only apply to one RN program at each school as well as one LPN program at each school. For example- BCTC has a RN program at 2 campuses. So, you can only pick one. However, you can still apply for the LPN school as well. A few months ago, I emailed a nursing advisor at Maysville and told her I was applying at Bluegrass and she said I could still apply there as well. Hopefully that will help a little...

Ok, that's great. Keep in touch... if either of us hear anything maybe we could let each other know. Have you applied yet?

I am applying for the Fall 2012 RN program at the Lawrenceburg campus. Is there anyone on here who attends this school? I was hoping I could get some information... anything is helpful.

I am applying to this program for fall 2012. I was kind of wondering the same things. Sorry no one replied to your post, but now that you have already started could you answer some of those questions for me?