kenya1005

My hospital hires "pct" but it's a cna cert that's required.

Yes... this... exactly

Oh and also... where I work, cnas sit in on interviews and help pick who gets hired also.

I didn't say my nurse wasn't my supervisor, I said my nurse can't write me up. My manager is an rn, (with a second degree in business) yes, but we were referring to immediate supervisors. Perhaps you didn't read my earlier post about how I agree that rns are above cnas, but no, they are not my boss. I do what they ask and answer to them in some capacity, but they are not boss. It's like if you worked in retail. You would have the key supervisor (nurse working on floor) and the store manager (nurse unit manager). Kick and scream all you want, but in my hospital, a floor rn cannot write me up lol.

Working as a pct helps A LOT. I've been a cna/pct for two years and in that time, on my unit alone, I have seen four people graduate and get "gn" jobs (graduate nurse.. you start orientation but can't be on your own until you pass the nclex) then move into an rn position after passing. That may not be the case everywhere, but don't get discouraged. Having any healthcare experience can never be a bad thing. :)

Ladyfree rns cannot write up techs in my hospital. Even the charge nurse can't... only the manager can. With that being said, if an rn goes to the manager with a VALID complaint, the manager will write the tech up lol.

Oh okay. Our hospital is actually huge on safety. We all help each other. We don't have a lot of hoyers etc so it's mostly man power, but there is always help. We also utilize gait belts with every transfer.

The rn is not my "boss" however they do have a lot of say in what tasks I perform and in which order. My nurses love me and its because I've learned how to baby them (sorry it's true lol) I know that one nurse wants her baths done early early, one nurse wants her blood sugars done with vitals whether the patient has ordered food or not, one nurse wants her patients up in the chair right away. I do all of things regardless, but I prioritize my tasks depending on who the nurse is. Having a good relationship with the nurses is crucial. If you don't, good luck ever getting hired on as an rn when you finish nursing school if that's your goal. Only the team players make it long term where I work.

Yep.. I'm 31, in school full time, work part time, and have four kids ranging from 12 months to 10 years old. It's worth it though and one day we will look back and know we did it!

I feel like it never hurts to apply. If you don't get in, then apply again next year.

I also love when the nurses call you... from the patients room... to tell you the patient has to use the rr. That whole nurses will help more comment was a great laugh lol.

That's normal. Get in and get out during vitals when you have lots of patients. One thing I do is if a pt has to use the restroom, get their vitals then. No reason you have to go in numerical order. Go around an hour before vitals to toilet, fill water, etc.

Could be prn or could be a float position meaning you work on whatever unit needs help.

I work in Tele. We do vitals every four hours (at least), you'll learn how to hook up Tele monitors, adls, toileting, glucose checks. Some places you also do stat ekgs. Not sure what you mean by transfer.. we get a lot of different types of patients and transfers are the same as anywhere else. Night shift you could have anywhere from 10 to 20 patients. Day shift we have 7 patients on a good day... up to 15 on a really bad day but that's the extreme. I really enjoy it. You'll learn a lot about heart related stuff (chf, open heart surgery, heart caths, etc) if you're open to it.

In those situations validation therapy works best. You aren't going to bring them to reality, just agree with them and go along with it. I see this all the time unfortunately.

I am in Missouri. Most of the bsn programs near here require separate a and p. Thanks for the advice everyone!

I am a cna and I work with a few nurses (bsn) who bring home about the same amount of money each month as me bc they are paying tons in loans. Not worth it to me.

They're probably thinking it could be something that may pass quickly. Asking you to confirm is not the same as telling you to come in. It just means wait and see how you feel in the morning. Unless you've been to a doctor and have a diagnosis, it could be something you ate.

Two weeks?? I guess it depends on the state. We had to do 75 lecture and 100 clinical hours.

Before you drop, talk to an advisor. It could screw up your financial aid for next semester. I learned that the hard way many moons ago....

Right there with ya!

I think I'm going to rule out Chemistry because I feel like Chemistry is more of a math than a science (I know it's science... but I loved it in high school and it always felt like Math to me). I'll be taking two sciences this fall, so I think I'd like to do Chem along with my last science. So it's either micro or physiology. Physiology may be good because I will have just completed Anatomy and that will be fresher in my mind. Honestly, it will probably all come down to what time the classes are offered lol. I have to go in the evenings. My school has a lot of campuses, so whichever one is offered in the evening near my house I'll probably take.

I really need to take a science over the summer. Of course, it's a little accelerated because summer is shorter. I will also be taking my communications (speech) course which won't be much to study for, but will be a little time consuming with writing speeches, etc. I need to take either Physiology (we do the split A&P and I'm in Anatomy right now), Microbiology, or Chemistry. All of these are 5 credit hours and include labs. Which one would be "easiest" to take over the summer???

I'm in Missouri (KC area) and I started at $10.85 in a hospital. I also got an extra 85 cents for working night shift and an extra 95 cents for weekends.

You may be able to wear tennis shoes. I would call and clarify. I was allowed to, but they had to be leather... not the kind with mesh material. Trust me, you want leather anyway. When you have a standing code brown, you don't want to feel it in your socks hehe. I'm in Missouri and went to a CNA school, but I had 75 classroom hours and 100 clinical hours. My clinicals were all in LTC facilities. At first it was mostly shadowing. After a week or so, we started doing tasks. To get checked off, it was usually a group effort. The instructor watched about 5 of us give a bed bath for example. It's a little weird because that's too many people, so one person may only wash one leg lol. Just go into your clinicals wanting to learn and willing to work. Don't stand around waiting to be told what to do. Ask the CNAs how you can help them. That goes a long way and will give you experience you may not have gotten otherwise. Most CNAs love "free help" with lifting, feeding, etc. I think this is an excellent place to start! I started as a CNA because I wanted to be sure about going into nursing before spending a lot of money and time in nursing school. This career was NOTHING like what I pictured in my head, but I still love it. I'm now taking my prereqs and I love it because I know this is a good fit for me. Good luck! I hope you love it!