AtomicxKitten

Actually she doesn't have to stand at all. She's allowed to sit on her butt and do nothing most of the time even when we are in clinicals. The rest of us do her work load while she literally sits and does nothing. She could have waited til she had her kid before entering clinicals if it was going to be so hard for her. My instructor is very easy on her which is probably why she entered the class being pregnant in the first place. We specifically had to have a doctors note that said if we were capable (mentally and physically) of handling the class. I don't know where she got hers or how but... the class doesn't last that long (the class is only about a month in a half long. We started November and graduation is January 15th) and she acts like she doesn't want to be there. She plays with her hair in class instead of paying attention so she's failing all her quizzes (She got one point above failing her mock state exam). I don't know what she was expecting out of this business but she refuses to clean up patients after they have accidents and refuses to toilet them because it's "gross" or she's too good for that. My point is, if you sign up for a class, at least act like you're interested and act like you really want to do this for a living because it's not an easy job.

It's the fact that she acts like a total B AND has an awful attitude ALL THE TIME that makes me question her motherly abilities. Plus, I thought expecting mothers talked to their stomachs at least a little bit. I wouldn't know I don't have any kids. I didn't mean to upset anyone. If I did I apologize.

That's what i'm afraid of... we were talking about neonates in class the week before vacation and our instructor asked this girl if she ever talked to her baby. And the girl said "No." I was thinking to myself... "You don't talk to your baby...? Wow..." I didn't say anything out loud though. Makes me think of what kind of mother she's going to become. No father in the picture and she'll be moving to California to live with a friend who has three kids of her own after she graduates. Oh well, not my problem. I do feel sorry for the kid though.

Normally hospitals want you to have 6 months to a year of experience. You MIGHT have to start out in a LTC to get the experience you desperately need. I also want to work in a hospital but I don't have the experience I need either and most want you to have a Basic Life Support certification as well or CPR. At least around here they do. I've seen this problem not just in where I live but in other states as well... you might just have to bite the bullet and work in a LTC for awhile... :/ even private care wants a certain amount of experience.

Please understand, It doesn't bother me as much that she was rude with me except for the fact that usually when someone is consistently rude and immature to you on a daily basis, they will act like that toward patients and I DO NOT want a poor image bestowed upon our class because of this one student. That's why I reported her. I didn't report her for my own benefit but for the benefit of the entire class and the patients we are taking care of. I don't care how she treats me, I know it doesn't matter what line of work you work in, there are going to be rude co-workers BUT the patients shouldn't have to suffer being degraded and dealing with immature behavior. They've got enough on their plate.

For anyone who is deciding on becoming a CNA.. PLEASE do not go into a CNA class with a horrible attitude especially during clinicals. We have a girl in our class right now, she is 8 months pregnant so our instructor takes pity on her and she gets away with literally doing NOTHING in clinicals. Not only that, but she has a HORRIBLE attitude, not with everyone mind you, just with me and this girl I have become close with in class and we're normally very quiet and easy going people. This all started when we visited a facility to do whirlpools for most of the morning. The pregnant one had to use the bathroom so I figured I would follow her as I had to use it too and didn't know where it was. Immediately she spun around and says "Are you going to follow me in there!?!" I kindly said, "No, I was following because I didn't know where the bathroom was." Then she just rolled her eyes and went in. Then when it was time to give baths, guess what she was doing the ENTIRE time? Sitting in a chair pulling stray hairs out of her head (She does this in class all day too.) then gets mad when our instructor says, "Can you come over here and wash his hair?" She has said other rude comments to me as well and undermines me in class when the instructor isn't around. It came down to me and my friend having to report her yesterday. She was originally in the Alzheimer unit helping up there because they can do things for themselves they just need to be reminded. Well she got lonely up there so she wanted to be down in the Gardens with us (I don't know why cause she acts like she hates doing ANYTHING). So, she was in the shower room helping my friend and another girl with a patient. The patient was a ceiling lift and needed to be toileted. This patient was totally with it, and she has a specific routine, she will tell you what she needs, how to do it, when to do it, etc. Anyways, So the pregnant girl was in the room with my friend and another girl from class and continuously rolled her eyes the whole time she was in there IN FRONT OF THE PATIENT mind you. My friend was putting the lift pad on the patient and needed help, she kindly asked the pregnant girl to come help her, and the pregnant one threw her hands on her hips, threw her head back and screams, "I don't know what you're asking me to do!!" then rolls her eyes and sighs and begins acting like a teenager. My friend then said no more, got someone from the hall to come help and (this is the funny part) the patient turns to the pregnant girl and says "Didn't they teach you how to use a lift in class?" Next thing my friend knew the pregnant girl had left the room. She wasn't going to report her until I talked to her at lunch about having a problem with this certain girl when we were waiting for our instructor to join us in the Lounge for a class session. This Alzheimer patient wandered in, looked at the pregnant girl and said "What's your name?" So she looks at me and says, "He's talking to you." She totally ignored him and I said, "He's looking straight at you, you can't see him?" So the patient walked back out and she says in a smart ass voice "What's the matter, you afraid of the little old man?" Then said something else when I said a comment about something the instructor was talking about during our session but I wont get into that. So we decided the best thing to do was report her actions because it was really getting out of hand. We reported her after lunch and our instructor told her she was in the wrong. So she runs back to the girl who was in there with her and told her she suspected we had reported her cause she saw us talking to our instructor in the hallway. So this girl that was in the room when it all happened (She's all buddy buddy with the pregnant girl) went back to my friend and said "Did you say something to the instructor about what happened?" My friend said "No we were talking about something totally different with her." So the instructor comes back to my friend and tells her, "Well I talked to her, she looked like she was about to cry." So my friend shrugged and said "Well she shouldn't act like that in front of a patient." After we were done for the day, my instructor went in to talk to the patient who was involved and luckily the patient was on our side, and told my teacher about the whole issue so maybe she'll keep a close eye on this one girl from now on. Long story short. If you are looking to go into this business, please do not go in with an immature attitude. Not only is it rude to your fellow CNA's but it's demeaning and rude to the patients and you will not get far with a sour face.

Just want peoples opinions. :) I want to keep my options open as i'm not sure yet what I want to do once I finish my training.

That's a really good idea. They have essential oils at this shop I know of for about $7 they could fit the front pocket of my scrubs. I might try that because Vicks just isn't doing the trick for me unless I literally shove it up my nose and I really don't want to do that lol.

Thanks guys. I'm glad that I have a website to go to in times like this where I can get some good advice. :) I really want to get my associates in Nursing but was a bit nervous when my instructor told me that they really want you to be fast paced in the hospital especially if you're a nurse. I don't want to go into being a nurse and not be able to focus taking care of my patients correctly because I'm too nervous worrying about how fast I'm being. As well as when I am a CNA. I REALLY want to work in the hospital more than anything so I am going to try my hardest right now to get through class then figure out what I'm going to do with my license after that. And I plan on going to college while I am doing CNA work. Smells don't normally bother me, if they are REALLY bad I have Vicks. The only time they really bother me is like if my face is right in it... :/ (I have a mother who has Crohns disease and I have taken care of her when she has been incontinent. And if any of you know what Crohns diarrhea smells like... you know it when I say it really knocks you back.)

Thank you all for the wonderful advice. It's nice to know that i'm not the only one who was nervous their first time as most of my classmates have already had lots of experience with CNA work so they pretty much know what they're doing and how to do it, it kinda makes me feel like the odd one out. I am very lucky my instructor is a very nice woman, she just tends to be pushy at times which is sometimes needed. We've become really close these past five weeks. She did say today she was being more hard on me because she knows I want to eventually work in the hospital and I've heard things are pretty fast paced there and that she just wants to make sure that I'm successful but I do feel rushed to finish doing certain tasks because where we have our clinicals, patients have to be up and ready at a certain time. The only reason I had three patients today was because the last two days I was with a different partner from our class and we had only one patient who was a ceiling lift. The first day was pretty rough but the second day I knew her routine by heart and it wasn't that bad. So, our instructor had the idea to have us switch partners (All the girls have different patients and have a certain number they have to take care of it ranges from 1-3) so that the girls who haven't used the ceiling lifts yet could learn. That and if there are any other patients who need tending to, and the Aides who are on call ask one of us "Would you mind getting this patient up for me?" because when our patients are at breakfast we really are running up and down the hallway seeing if anyone else needs help lol :). So I figured getting this one lady up that gets up a little later than the other residents wouldn't be so hard. Little did I know she has Alzheimers and she can get combative and tends to want to sit down when we're trying to get her depends off or when we are doing peri-care so this is where the disposable wipes come in. We had one of the Aides on call come in and help us hold her while we cleaned her bottom up and this poor Aide was stuck holding the patient up by herself while I cleaned her and we were in a rush so my instructor told me to just throw the wipes in the commode (They told us NOT to flush the disposables) and fish them out after we were done. So I got stuck digging through a potty chair lol.

Had a really stressful day today... Picking up the pace when you have to get several patients up, bathed/showered, dressed, toileted, and ready at a certain time and doing that all within 10-20 minutes is really difficult. While being told that you are being too slow but what are you supposed to do when you don't know where any of their personal belongings are, you're told that so and so needs a shower at the last minute so you're rushing around trying to get everything ready for their shower while worrying about the 3rd patient you need to get up and ready so they can have their breakfast. Felt like I was going to break down and cry today just because I had 3 patients to get up and get ready and I had trouble with picking up speed since these patients were new to me and I had no idea where any of their personal items were or anything. Then I was told by my instructor that I need to cheer up and stop being negative (I didn't realize I was... I always come into the patients rooms with a smile on my face and try to be as friendly as possible) so that made me feel great... Don't get me wrong I love my teacher to death, just the way she gives constructive criticism isn't the greatest. I gagged five times today trying to clean out a commode (I had to reach in a urine filled potty chair because my instructor insisted on throwing the disposable wipes into it then told me to fish them out after we were done cleaning up our patient and the stench was VERY overwhelming, luckily I hadn't eaten yet). The girl I was supposed to be working with today from our class totally abandoned me once we got the 2nd patients shower done and was here there and everywhere except for with me so that was pretty frustrating... especially because I couldn't track her down to ask her about our patients intakes. Sometimes it feels like I'm in boot camp. Never realized how stressful this kind of work can be. I love the residents, all of the ladies I have been taking care of are so sweet, that's not the problem. The problem for me is not knowing where anything is so I can get the patients up and ready and it's a lot to take in. Plus coming home and dealing with stress here too... I suppose it does get better with time. Not giving up though, I do like doing this and I am bound and determined to get through this so I can work and get my associates in nursing. Just need to get into my own routine I guess. How do you guys handle it?

I wouldn't order anything from them ever again. Their size chart is completely wrong. Ordered Unisex pants 5x they were way too big. Went and ordered Ladies 3X and those were too small. Size chart said the pants I ordered went by the Unisex size chart which is SO not true. I won't be ordering from them again. Getting my scrubs from Uniform Advantage from now on.

The best way to get your CNA training would be through a local Adult Education program. I wouldn't recommend doing it online because you need the clinical hours and the only way to get those is if you train in a local retirement home or hospital. That and you won't get all the hands-on skills you need as a CNA through online training. CNA training doesn't usually take that long to complete (The one i'm enrolled into right now lasts about 2 1/2 months) and if you are having trouble with paying for tuition, I would look up the nearest Career Center and ask about Vocational Rehabilitation. They will help pay for the entire program. It would be a good idea to start out as a CNA anyways if you're planning on going RN because it gets your foot in the door, it preps you for what to expect as an RN, and it looks good on your transcript. Not only that but you will have a job to support you while you go to college. I REALLY suggest doing the CNA training locally. Most of those online training websites are scams that are just out there to get your money and like I said, the more experience you get with those hands-on skills you need, the better. So look around at CNA classes that are around your area. That's probably your best bet. Good luck! :)

I'm currently starting CNA training in Maine and mine lasts from November 4th til January 17th. It depends on your state though. Every state is different with their requirements on how many hours of classroom/clinical you need to get your CNA certification. This might help you out: CNA Requirements in Florida | eHowlso there's this: How to Become a Certified Nursing Assistant in Florida - Yahoo Voices - voices.yahoo.com and that says to expect eight weeks to six months depending on the school. In any case, I wish you good luck in your training :) just make sure your packet is completely filled out before you send it in. You'll have better chances of being accepted if it is.

Just wanted to say hi! I am new to allnurses.com kind of :). I haven't made an account here til now because I just got accepted into a local CNA class that will be starting November 4th and I feel so lucky my instructor is VERY nice and she already loves me :). If I need any help in my training i'll be sure to come here for advice. I know the basics of CNA. My mother was one for 15 years, my mother's best friend is an LPN, my cousin is a CNA going for her RN. Nursing kind of runs in the family. I wanted to be a Vet Tech at first but... I saw how much they make for going to college for two years and figured "Well... why not do the same thing except do it for people? I won't have the risk of getting bitten or scratched (as much) and it's basically the SAME EXACT THING except I won't be hosing down animal cages and dealing with irritable animals just irritable people (sometimes)." I know being a CNA or RN can be very stressful. I also know that it also can be rewarding if you allow it to be. Don't take peoples comments to heart. Don't let people bring you down. Not everyone can be a nurse or nurses aide either. It does take a LOT of patience and it makes me upset when I see these women go in for CNA/RN and expect it to be a breeze then they get upset when the job becomes too hard for them to handle. This is my dream. I want to work as a CNA while going to college for my RN. Not sure what department of the hospital I want to work in yet. Probably OR, ER, or Labor & Delivery. I know private care pays a LOT but it's not about the money for me. I love helping people and I want to be part of a team that saves lives every day. Even if that means getting a patient a glass of water. Getting them something to eat. Helping them to and from the bathroom. Washing them up. I don't care. I am finally getting my foot in the door and I can't WAIT to start!!! Also, feel free to friend me on here. I could always use some more nursing/CNA friends! :)