Hi Rhona,
I have worked as a cna for over eight years. I have worked in both nursing home and hospital settings. In a nursing home nurse aids tranfer, feed, take vital signs and help residents with their everyday living skills. The job is very hard and it requires a lot of patience. In a hospital I took vitals and watched for call lights. At the hospital there were more codes and you needed to think very fast. I personally felt more comfortable working in the nursing home. I do not like emergency situations and left when they wanted to cross train the cna's to become critical care aids. I like to have a routine and the nursing home allows you that. However, I wanted nothing to do with nursing as a career. When a nurse would shove the smallest thing on to me I would tell her to do it. A good example is leaving treatments by bed sides. If it wasnt in my job description I wouldnt do it. Other nurse aids enjoyed doing nursing treatments and helping out with duties but not me. I wanted nothing to do with it. I liked the nurse aid side of things and I enjoyed the interaction. I did not mind the dirty work I felt it was a noble job and one that I did well. I have since left the field. Good luck with nursing school.
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Nursing assistant
