Question for nurses, nursing students, and CNA's.

tkane · Nov 23, 2009

Ok this is just my opinion so here goes. It has always been my belief that everyone who desires to be in the medical field work as a CNA for a year first. You will gain valuable experience that you just cannot get in school. This experience will help you tremendously as a nurse. You will deal with dementia, alzhiemiers, death, the family of the dying, basic experience with ADL's, bed making, showers, peri care, vital signs, etc.

I worked as a CNA for 20 years before getting my nursing license and I am so thankful for that experience. It has helped a lot. Good luck to you!

CuriousMe · Nov 23, 2009

Hmmm. What makes you think being a nurse is so much better than being a CNA? Baths are baths whether you are an RN or a CNA. Diapers are diapers.
I have been both, and I don't see a big gap between the quality of the jobs. More responsibility as an RN, harder physical work as an aide but you actually get to take your "break time". More mental stress as an RN. In both jobs you have people yelling at you and looking down on you. Maybe being a CNA would be a good experience for you to see if this is really what you want. Oh wait, you are going to be an NP, so you will be able to look down on the RNs!
I think if all nurses got to walk in the shoes of the CNA first, they might be a little more humble and a little more aware that CNAs are valuable members of the team. If you have to work anyway you would greatly benefit from being an aide before or during nursing school. I worked as an aide in nursing school and was one of two in my class that actually got hired at the hospital I was an aide at. Everyone else either had to look elsewhere, move away, or give up on nursing.
Good luck, you sound like you have been drifting from thing to thing. I hope nursing is what you are looking for. Being a CNA may help you decide that before you waste more time and money on another degree.

Wow, pretty harsh huh? So, have you had a bad experience with an NP.....or are you just judging based on a stereotype you've created?

Who said that RN's who haven't "earned their stripes" working as a CNA don't understand that CNA's are valuable team members, or aren't humble enough? That's never been my experience. I know of folks who have worked as a CNA, who now treat CNA's terribly....and folks who haven't, who treat CNA's like the valued team members they are. People are people, I don't need to work for years doing a job to respect the person doing it (I could list all the jobs in which I respect the folks who do them and the job they do, but that I haven't done myself....but I'm assuming you get the idea)

Lastly, as the OP wants to work in Mental Health....there's a really good chance she'll never give baths or change diapers. How would working as a CNA help her career at all? It's not like CNA tasks are difficult....we spent like a day and a half, over my first year of nursing school, on CNA skills. ( and before someone get's all hot and bothered about me saying that....I was trained as a CNA and worked as a caregiver. Is it a valuable job, performed by a member of the healthcare team...of course...but is it the kind of job you've got to work on for a long time before you "get it?" No...it's all physical skills.... analyzing anything is out of a CNA scope of practice)

Honestly, what I see in your post is that you work in a very toxic place (all this looking down on folks talk)....or you brought a toxic attitude with you to your work.

Oh, and to the OP....everyone in the class that just graduated got a job after graduation and I'd say that only about a third of them have ever worked as a CNA; most only during the months leading up to graduation.

parkepg · Dec 8, 2009

My mother was a CNA for 30 years and loved her job. I am currently in a CNA program because office jobs, which I had for 20 years, are in very short supply these days. Basically, it comes down to this, if you do NOT truly enjoy helping others--PLEASE do not become a CNA because you will be a lousy one.

kamaboko · Dec 8, 2009

My mother was a CNA for 30 years and loved her job. I am currently in a CNA program because office jobs, which I had for 20 years, are in very short supply these days. Basically, it comes down to this, if you do NOT truly enjoy helping others--PLEASE do not become a CNA because you will be a lousy one.

Though I do appreciate your input, I would ask that you consider the numerous ways one can help another. In my case, I want to help people with panic, anxiety, and depression as a NP with a specialty in psychology. Simply because I don't wish to be a CNA until I retire does not mean that I don't want to help people. The CNA cert is a means to an end (e.g., get my foot in the door and tow the line for a while). No, I'm not ashamed of saying it either. It's simply a step that must be made given the current circumstances. Trust me, I'd much rather get a BSN first, but in order to get into a nursing program here, I've been told time and again by advisors that w/o that prior experience in today's economy and academic atmosphere, I'd have an easier time finding snow in Hell. So don't be so quick to judge.

parkepg · Dec 8, 2009

Why do you assume I am judging you? I was not, I was simply stating a fact. I don't know you, so I can't judge you.

parkepg · Dec 8, 2009

Just take me for instance. I was a bookkeeper for 20 years. Now I am not able to get a job as a bookkeeper because of the economy. Well, unemployment is not cutting it for me, so I chose to switch my gears and go into the healthfield for a tempororary time. I will continue to look for an office job while I work as a CNA AND go to UNF for my Bachelor's in Business Management. We all have to do what we have to do. I was not judging anyone.

lilwbprincess · Dec 8, 2009

I've read a lot of the posts here and just wanted to give my opinion on the whole CNA thing.

I was a CNA for 3 years. I became one before I started nursing school and worked as one throughout school. It helped me realize that this was the field for me.

As far as the horror stories about CNA work...well, when I worked 2 years as a trauma step-down RN, I can't even tell you how many bottoms I've wiped, Attends that I've changed (so much poo in trauma!), how many patients I've assisted in feeding, the constant charting of I/O's, the vomit, the tedious tasks of stocking my rooms and making them look pretty, helping walk everyone to the bathroom, repositioning patients...should I go on?

Nursing is nursing, regardless of if you are a certified nursing ASSISTANT or an LPN. We are all in this, hopefully to help others and to take pride in that. While sometimes it's hard to remember why we are nurses when we are elbow deep in poo...

If you truly don't want to be a CNA, then don't. Maybe you can get your health care experience hours in other ways? Volunteering I hear counts, unless they have changed the requirements at the new OCNE schools (I went to MHCC, but they were not OCNE yet). Maybe keep your eyes open for student-worker positions. I know the market is mean out there right now, but some of the hospitals seem to be slowly opening up internships and student-worker jobs and things like that, so keep looking.

I think because of the rising # of applicants to nursing schools (due to economy, job loss, job change, whatever) I think schools are being more picky so they can get the students that fit their exact mold of the students they want. It sucks, but I have a feeling that's what they're doing.

Good luck to you and just keep applying. Maybe that one was not the one for you anyway and there's a better fit somewhere out there.