Recommendations of courses/certifications before clinicals?

[luv_clyde]

Hello, I am new to this website and hopefully I am doing this right. I am a nursing student in New York. I recently got into nursing school and was wondering if there were any courses or certifications for undergraduates that could possibly help with my future clinicals? I've heard from a few of my classmates that they took the EKG & phlebotomy course. I've also heard experience as a CNA is helpful. There's just so many things I'm hearing from different people I'm not sure what to do. At the moment, I'm volunteering at the city hospital but I wanted to know what other people had to say about this.

[PaSSiNGaS, MSN]

I wouldn't worry about any of that.  Just be prepared to start your nursing courses and enjoy the time off.  If you absolutely have to do something I say try to get a job in any unit at your hospital just to get a feel for how things run with the nurses on a daily basis.

[Hannahbanana, BSN, MSN]

Of all those I’d recommend work as a CNA, which will give you practice in the patient-handling aspects that students are most uneasy about. It will also give you appreciation for time management, teamwork, and talking to strangers about uncomfortable topics. These are also hard for students to pick up solely in clinical. 
Forget venipuncture and EKGs. The former isn’t as big a deal as students think it is by a long shot, and the vast number of EKGs are done by techs, not nurses.