Should I Be A CNA Before A RN?

wooh, BSN, RN · Mar 17, 2012

Yes, it's back breaking. Yes, you should do it prior to nursing school.

nguyency77, CNA · Mar 17, 2012

Yes it's backbreaking, but it builds character. In my experience, I love working with nurses who used to be CNAs. This is simply because they are less likely to exhibit ridiculous behavior. They usually understand how crazy the workload is and how hard the lifting can be. These are the types of nurses that won't waste 10 minutes running down every hall searching for me just because they don't want to put a patient on the toilet.

That's what I'm doing right now while I'm doing my pre-reqs. I think CNA work would really be a good experience in time management. You should go for it! :) Best of luck.

MN-Nurse, ASN, RN · Mar 17, 2012

I'm just wondering if i should be a CNA, before i enter my nursing school. Is it backbreaking work? Will i be able to work full-time & be in nursing school? And is it worth it? I mean.. it's better than working at fast food. and on top of that you're getting experience as a nurse. SORRY IF THIS IS IN THE WRONG FORUM.
STATE YOUR OPINIONS.

Yes, you should.

STATE YOUR RESPONSE. :lol2:

Julie19, CNA · Mar 17, 2012

Yep, it's better than working at a fast food joint. Yes, it's absolutely back breaking. Not something you would want to do for a long time. But it'll give you invaluable experience. I've learned that nurses who were once CNA's are much better nurses because of it. CNA's are the back bone of most facilities and nurses sometimes take that for granted and don't appreciate them.

Good luck!

sapphire18 · Mar 17, 2012

Yes. Don't work full time while you're in school though- do part time.

HeartsOpenWide, RN · Mar 17, 2012

I dont think it is necessary, but I'd you have to work and go to school then yes, so something medical related.

northernguy · Mar 18, 2012

Its beneficial...up to a point. Working in a hospital will be more beneficial than working in LTC, but even that has its limits. You will be too busy working as a CNA most of the time to really learn about all of what RNs do. You will become a pro at doing things like ADLs, repositioning, cleaning incontinent patients, and other CNA stuff, which will certainly make life easier for you as an RN(and RN student), but there is a point of diminishing returns. Once you have pretty much mastered these skills, the job just becomes largely a back breaking grind. Yeah you will still learn more than if you werent working as a CNA, but to be honest, youd learn just as much spending the hours you work as a CNA studying for things an RN does(although you wont get paid for the studying).

We have a couple RN students who are aides at the hospital I work at. They just do a weekend a month and pick up the occasional shift, so its not exactly a living for them, just something they do to gain a little experience and maybe have something good on their resume. They dont work enough shifts to really get good as an aide, so when they do work they tend to be stressed out and overwhelmed, from what Ive seen.