lilredrunner

Don't think it helps one way or the other getting a job, but I am of the firm belief that nurses, ALL nurses, should be CNAs first, and have the experience, because it builds the foundation of knowledge and appreciation for all aspects of nursing. Also helps with teamwork as an nurse when it comes time to delegate and coordinate efforts. I was a CNA for two years before going for my LPN, and honestly, that experience helped me more with perspective and appreciation than any of the clinicals that I did training as a nurse.

One of the things I've realized, going from a CNA to an LPN and finishing my RN, is that all patients are risks for falls. Every darn one of them. Just because they don't fit all the criteria for higher risk, they are still risks, largely for one reason: All are human, most are stubborn, and all of them make mistakes, especially when they're sick. Which they have every right to make as a patient, of course, separate from you and your abilities to care for them. So try not to beat yourself up. I've had patients fall into me, or found them down when I left for just a minute. Mostly because when I did long-term care, they just fall, and there is only so much you can do or put in place to help them. Sometimes, patients just make randomly bad decisions, and they fall. Best thing you can do for yourself and your patients is be on tour game for the next round.

Check the facility procedures and policies. Cover your butt by knowing them before you perform anything.

Many workplaces require BLS as a healthcare provider to even work as a CNA. Depends where you go, but I would take the course to have the background, as even if you don't "need" it; the perspective will help you out in caring for patients.

Smell that would NOT get out of my nose even when I got home was an AWFUL sinus infection on an unconscious ICU patient who was on a vent. I had to put menthol chapstick beneath my nose the entire time I was working with him, because the entire room just smelled.. Decayed. I've worked with some awful c. diff, colostomy, and wound infection issues before, but that sinus smell would NOT leave my nose that night..

Big, sticky issue there.. Back in the 80's, when my mom went through nursing school, she had to get on Lithium to get control of her anxiety and depression issues. That was pretty much the only thing that got her through, and then she was an RN for 30 years after that. And she was a good one, too. So.. You're never going to find an easy answer for that, and perhaps the fault lies less with students playing by bad rules, and more with the schools and rule systems themselves that push people to need medications or make bad decisions with said medications.

There are very few patients I remember well enough to know, so most of the time if I see them and they say hello, I just try to play off my lack of memory of them and hope they don't notice. I don't mind seeing them at all in the real world, and usually just smile and wish them well. Though I do always feel a bit badly for never remembering their names, especially years after I took care of them, haha.

We have an awesome fellow in our class who just retired after 30 years of teaching high school before going into nursing school. He's in his 60's, and graduating this May. Plus the youngest person in our class is 22, and she's the youngest by at least 6 years. Everyone else is about 30 or older, with kids. You are never too old.

I'm in an Associate's program, and have done pretty much everything except hang and administer blood products. I also can't draw blood from central lines, but have drawn labs peripherally. I've started, run, and maintained IVs, hung secondary lines and piggybacked antibiotics, and d/c'd lines. Done central line changes and d/c'd a few. Given meds in pretty much every form and route. Put in NG tubes, Foley's, done enemas. Bedbaths, showers, massages, linen changes.. Everything. As a graduate in May, this semester I've taken on 3-4 patients at a time, and the only thing I really can't do independently is coordinate with doctors, calls, and verify orders. Everything else, including assessments, neauro checks, and charting, I've done. Of course, we also have 12-hour clinical days that are very focused, because we're in a rural area without easy access to hospitals, and the area hospitals are VERY clogged with students. So we get limited time. Maybe it's the focus that makes the difference, because when we're there, we're THERE, and we really commit to it. As a second year, I'd be appalled and would feel pretty angry at a program or instructor that didn't advocate for me to be put on the same level as an RN and allow me to do more than pass out trays. Not because the tasks are super important (it's really the thought process behind it, since you can train monkeys to start IVs), but because as a student, that's the perfect time to do tasks and make mistakes while under supervision. Much safer and helpful for when you get your license and are out on your own.

I think there are some clarifications about being a CNA that I had to do before I went on to being a nurse. I LOVED being a CNA. Loved the patients, loved the interactions, and loved the caregiving. I felt like I belonged in patients rooms, that if someone was going to have to help in those raw moments, that was going to be me, and I loved it. I HATED the conditions. Hated the double shifts, backbreaking labor hauling people around, the burnouts and coworker calloffs. and the general attitude of disregard that's applied to CNAs. So I know what you're talking about. But I definitely didn't hate being a CNA. I jut hated the way the system took advantage of CNAs, more than anything.

100K for a BSN?! I have about 25K in a two-year, and at the end of my four year BSN, I'll have about 50K in debt, which I can live with. 100K seems like a ton of money to me for that..

I'm a redhead. One of my favorite songs is a song sung by Sam Cooke called "Little Red Rooster", wherein a rooster keeps everyone in the barnyard upset in every way, and is too lazy to crow for day. The runner part is because I'm a runner.

You're going to have conditions and workplaces that suck. You'll have coworkers and bosses that just take the life out of you, and you'll even have patients you loathe to the bottom of your soul. But you'll also have some really awesome patients, and awesome experiences. You'll figure out pretty quickly if you are willing to stick it out for the patient experiences, or whether it's just not for you, which is just fine too. Try to go into it with an open mind, though. Nurses, CNAs, and doctors alike get jaded and insensitive towards their work because they internalize and get angry at so much. Their experiences are not yours, and nursing is an area that you can, and SHOULD, make your own. Good luck! :)

Depending on how your program does clinical hours, it may work, or may not. We've always had 12 hour clinicals, usually at least two days a week. Add that on to two days of lectures that are usually four hours long, and working is VERY difficult to get in with study and down time, especially if you have kids or a spouse. Not impossible, but don't be surprised if it's hard to make that happen, because there are only so many hours in the day, and unfortunately, you have to sleep at some point.