Pros and Cons of CNA

labrador4122, RN · Apr 20, 2008

I'm considering licensure as a CNA as a stepping stone for experience and further study in the nursing field. In respect to employment opportunities, how plentiful are they and what is the pay scale? Also, does licensing and experience assist in admissions for NY schools? Thanks in advance.
Novi

:up:I can tell you that before I was a nursing assistant, I did not want anything to do with the medical field.

Medicine made me puke

but when I was 20 years old, and I was getting older, soon to be 21..... I realized on how I was wasting my time taking liberal art courses that lead to no career at the community college.

I had no path whatsoever.

I then decided to go to medical assistant (MA)school because I thought (just like what I saw on the commercial....) better pay, good career, and get a good job at the end of a year.

So I did just that.

after I finished, I got a job working as a nursing assistant at a children's hospital.

I worked in the PICU (pediatric intensive care unit) and I loved it!!!

I loved the excitement, I loved watching the kids get better from their traumas- such as from car crashes, cancer.... among many other types of unstable kids.

I loved helping the nurses, because it made me feel like an important part of the team. I was so proud to work in the "nursing services"

I thought "this would be a great job for me"

so I went back to school, and after 2 years in a waiting list, getting rejected 5x from my local community college, failing one course in a BSN program, having a baby in the middle of nursing school.......

I am an RN and I love it

its stressfull at times, just like any other job, but it is something that I could see myself doing for a while.

and had I not been a nursing assistant,I would probably not be where i am today.... perhaps with a bachelor's degree in arts with loans to pay and working at a grocery store... like a couple of people who I worked with when I was a cashier.

so CNA is a great stepping stone.

the pay is not great. but keep going back to school:nurse: