sgort201

It depends on the state and the level of care. In MN you do not need to be a CNA to work in assisted living. I am a CNA and I work in assisted living and my company gives a slight pay increase. More importantly, most (maybe all) nursing programs in MN require that you are a CNA before you start nursing classes.

In our program we are required to go the the hospital the day before our clinical session and get out patient assignment. We are to look at the pt's charts and learn everything we can about why they are there, their current care planning, procedures they have had done or are planned, and look up all of their medications. Then we go home and do a write up on the patient that we must show to our clinical instructors prior to the start of the next day's clinical session. The write up includes our nursing diagnoses for the pt and our planned interventions. Of course this can change by the time we get to clinical (the pt's condition may change or they may get discharged), but this is what we are required to do in our program. We are allowed to wear street clothes when we go to the hospital to do this (business professional) but we are required to wear our lab coats to identify us as students. This is what I meant by clinical prep.

I'll tell you what I AM going to do and I am in a similar situation (41, 2 kids). I am going to find a med/surg job wherever I can. I am working part time as a PCT in a small hospital so I think my prospects are good there. I would not even consider continuing full time to get a BSN. Most employers offer some sort of tuition reimbursement. Let them pay while you work. At the same time I will be getting good experience as I work toward my goal of a job in the ER.

We are required to purchase lab coats. The only time we use them is for clinical prep. We cannot wear our scrubs since we are not actually on the floor but they identify us to the staff as people who can be using the computers.