Lina_V

^^ True, I've done that many a times when I was a CNA (currently in nursing school)...I worked for a 1st level trauma hospital neuro/stroke and some cardiac along with general medicine patients in a 26 inpatient setting where we had about 6-7 isolation rooms most of them bed bound (most times with c-diff) and when RN's would give the patients the code brown antibiotics we would use up all the linens in the rooms...( and i love the RNs who would help me..thank you guys/girls, bless you all for having pity on this CNA..hehe) just like monkeybug mentions...I don't mean to put the nursing student down...but, i chose this route because i wanted to see if i was in it for the long haul...if you're a nursing student and never been in healthcare or had any bedside interaction/hands on or even a notion of what goes on with patient cares please don't think this is a great paying job with just typing into a computer all day...it's way more than you might assume. I respect nurses so much more since i last did CNA a year ago for 2.2years and loved working with my RNs i helped them and they helped me. Sometimes their patient to nurse ratio was ridiculous like (5-6 patients at a time with q2 turns, incontinent, blood transfusions, 5150's, hip fractures, seizure patients...etc.) my hat went off to them because our nights consisted of speeding by each other constantly back and forth sometimes we wouldn't have time for a snack (laughs)....so to the nursing student up there ^^^ just be prepared for the unexpected.haha..it's hard, emotional, challenging, cool and not so cool, definitely a learning curve, humbling, yet self fulfilling and very rewarding. so have a strong gut, and learn to not make any gross facial expressions. After all, these patients will see you as a respectable professional and we don't want to disappoint our patients and superiors if you don't want to scoop the poop...('cause you're going to need to get a stool sample at some point and Doc is only giving you tonight to get it to the lab and guess what? It'll be on your shift) good luck, it's not that bad, i do believe the hard work will pay off...because i've seen my RNs loving their careers and that in turn makes me love mine. Surround yourself around motivating people in the same nursing environment....and if you really think you can't scoop the poop, then think again about becoming a nurse...Nurses have pretty strong guts and i believe are a special kind of breed.

do not do MA, I'd recommend to stick to PCA because they hire PCA's in acute care hospitals. I was a PCA/CNA for Neuro/Stroke/Cardiac as well, and trust me that acute care experience will be taken into consideration...My best advice from my research, experience, interviewing my peers and superiors (experienced RN's) was to keep going to school. I realized that if i had the money, i'd rather stick to part time PCA (keeping my hospital experience fresh)while attending nursing school full time. And if you have a GI Bill..omg you're forever so lucky (of course because you earned it)...go to school and live off of your GI Bill. you get paid while going to school and your tuition is all covered which means you can go to a private school and pay $0 because your GI pays for it (depending on how much your tuition costs and the amount your GI bill covers). Al contrar you get paid instead and all while attending nursing school. Please take advantage of that and just finish with a LVN/LPN or RN certification/degree. You will not regret the choices you have made if you go through either one of these routes :) best of luck to you. and stick to hospitals!! you get to choose your schedule most times *by the way, some teaching hospitals/universities will hire you even if you are not certified because they are learning facilities, this way you won't have to worry, and always apply your experience whether you're certified or not :) i was certified but no experience... just stay positive in your interview but apply real life topics. I am now an LVN student and plan on doing the LVN to RN bridge once i have about 1-2 years in the field as an LVN. Keep your head up. The possibilities are endless and don't give up!

Quizlet works great even with vocab, grammar, reading comprehension. I'm not certain about the math on quizlet. however, i did purchase a book last year by Mosby Elsevier, HESI evolve reach-Admission Assessment Exam Review-2nd Edition book. And between studying the math step by step there and watching YouTube videos online in simple steps, that helped me. I just passed my HESI entrance exam today!! Just study your math basics, addition, subtraction, division, fractions, percentages; conversions from decimal to percentage and vice versa, ratios...you should be good to go! One piece of advice you don't have to try to memorize everything it'll just stress you out. take your time but don't stay stuck on one topic...move on and focus on your weakest subject. You'll get in don't worry. If I can do it, so can you!! :) :D

hehehe...this is funny and useful. That's good you find some humor in it. at the end of the shift. what else is there left, right? This sounded like the unit I used to work on when i was a CNA and observed my superiors (RN's, and RN Supervisors). It was such a busy night. you would think 12hrs was enough time to get every single thing done...WRONG. Boy was i wrong at first. But, i loved the fast paced environment and busy schedule planned but, always tentative. Definitely worth it though. I love nursing. i am now an LVN student, hope to do this for 2 years then carry on to RN Happy Nursing!