Take job, THEN interviews come in

ShelbyaStar · Jul 24, 2014

Also was wondering, I was under the impression that my certification would expire if I did not work within a year of certification. Is this true? If it did expire, would I need to take the class all over or would testing be enough?

arodgz · Jul 24, 2014

Honestly you are in a tough situation. I would say choose the job that offers the most flexible schedule ( if your planning on focusing on school as well), if not then chose the job thats pays more $$$

Missingyou, CNA · Jul 24, 2014

I'd stick with where you are now. You can always do home care on the side for the experience where your schedule will be much more flexible.

If you are happy enough where you are in the mean time, why go anywhere else. I've worked in group homes before working as a CNA and they really aren't much different other than you will be working more with elderly patients in a LTC or assisted living facility rather than various age groups in the group home.

The ONLY bonus I can see with working in a nursing home is that in order to get into a hospital, they usually want 6 month experience in LTC (not group homes). If you want to work in a hospital you will have to do your time.

Missingyou, CNA · Jul 24, 2014

and yes, your certification will expire if you don't use it with usually 2 years, along with inservice hours. It depends on your state. Usually you will have to take the class over again, but that depends again, on the state you live in.

Home care would solve this...get your required hours and inservices in by working a 2 hour shift a week.....just sayin...

caliotter3 · Jul 25, 2014

I would tend to stay away from the place that fired your MIL. Things like this have a way of turning bad when someone figures the relationship out. You don't know what happened, and you don't want to get treated similarly.

ShelbyaStar · Jul 30, 2014

To update, I did the interviews and both tried to get in contact with me today, I believe with offers.

The first was very nice. I got mixed up and thought I applied to the one across the street, but it was one owned by the same company but a 30 minute drive away. So I don't really think I'm interested, although otherwise it sounds great. I would be passing meds, which I thought I couldn't do as a CNA, so nice to keep getting that experience.

The nursing home did recognize my MIL's name but the nursing director had nothing but positive things to say about her, which left me scratching my head a bit. My MIL was a receptionist, so it's possible the people more on the nursing side aren't really aware of what happened, but it was a strange situation all around. It is very close to my house, old building, but more your typical nursing home. One floor is transitional, another is memory care, another is LTC and I told them I was leaning a little toward memory care (does that count as LTC experience?). They did tell me they give about 8-9 pts to each CNA. I'm not sure if that's a big load or not.

I do hope to end up in a hospital eventually. My current position at the group home is nice because it is very low key and I often have time to study during down time at work. I'm assuming that would not be the case elsewhere.

I will call back tomorrow and see what wages are like. My current position pays $12.25 and I am thinking it's unlikely LTC would pay that much for a starting CNA, but maybe I'm wrong, in which case I'm not sure what to do. Keep the one job, do full time at one and fill in at the other and in that case which? But maybe that's taking on way too much.

DLewis.RN2b, ASN, BSN, LPN · Jul 30, 2014

I suggest you stay put ltc is a beast. They tell you no more than 8 patients in reality you could get more depending on staffing issues,I suggest you stay put and maybe go prn at the ltc to get your feet wet!

mvm2 · Jul 30, 2014

am i missingsomething here with a job for CNAs passing meds? I thought that was a nuse only job. Maybe it is a state thing, but here in MI I am a CNA and can not just give my clients meds. The only thing I am allowed to do is hand them meds that are in weekly pill organizers that are filled by a nurse or family member.

Matter of fact I had it just a fewmonths ago where the family did not understand this because ofcommunication issues and the daughter who was 16 wanted me to give her dad one of his pain pills. I asked where they were and she hands me pharmacy paper bag with about 3different pills in it. I was not going to touch that with a ten foot poll. I imediately called health care and a familyfriend had to come and give him his pill. Sounds stupid but I was going to follow the rules to a tee when it comes to meds i am no nurse and am not qualified to know meds like a nurse goes to school for. So how can a CNA pass meds? Sounds scarry to me

ShelbyaStar · Jul 30, 2014

am i missingsomething here with a job for CNAs passing meds? I thought that was a nuse only job. Maybe it is a state thing, but here in MI I am a CNA and can not just give my clients meds. The only thing I am allowed to do is hand them meds that are in weekly pill organizers that are filled by a nurse or family member.
Matter of fact I had it just a fewmonths ago where the family did not understand this because ofcommunication issues and the daughter who was 16 wanted me to give her dad one of his pain pills. I asked where they were and she hands me pharmacy paper bag with about 3different pills in it. I was not going to touch that with a ten foot poll. I imediately called health care and a familyfriend had to come and give him his pill. Sounds stupid but I was going to follow the rules to a tee when it comes to meds i am no nurse and am not qualified to know meds like a nurse goes to school for. So how can a CNA pass meds? Sounds scarry to me

I think this might be the case. The person that told me this did say something about a nurse preparing them, so I'm not super clear what she meant.

I do pass meds for real at the group home. So I was a little unwilling to pass that opportunity up.

Telling my husband about it, he says I should take the easier job. Which I can see his point, especially since I can work on homework and be less stressed at the group home. OTOH, I do want experience now and feeling a little more comfortable when I am a nurse, as opposed to feeling 100% lost and thrown to the wolves.

mvm2 · Jul 30, 2014

Good Luck in your decision. Just follow your heart. When you think of each oportunity one of them will stand out more then the others. Look for the one that will give you a feeling of peace and maybe joy about the thought of working for that place. It probably is the one you should take

betm, CNA · Jul 31, 2014

OP, I understand the situation. I recently moved and had a really wonderful interview at a state facility but their hiring process is taking forever (I applied in June, didn't get an interview until mid-July, and then found out at the interview that they're hiring for the end of August) and I need money of course, so I interviewed at a facility and just accepted the position yesterday. It's $2.10/hr less than the state position, but even though I had my heart set on the state facility, I do love this ALF I'm working for now a lot better. I'm anticipating a call from the state to begin orientation for the other position, which will be hard to turn down.

am i missingsomething here with a job for CNAs passing meds? I thought that was a nuse only job. Maybe it is a state thing, but here in MI I am a CNA and can not just give my clients meds. The only thing I am allowed to do is hand them meds that are in weekly pill organizers that are filled by a nurse or family member.
Matter of fact I had it just a fewmonths ago where the family did not understand this because ofcommunication issues and the daughter who was 16 wanted me to give her dad one of his pain pills. I asked where they were and she hands me pharmacy paper bag with about 3different pills in it. I was not going to touch that with a ten foot poll. I imediately called health care and a familyfriend had to come and give him his pill. Sounds stupid but I was going to follow the rules to a tee when it comes to meds i am no nurse and am not qualified to know meds like a nurse goes to school for. So how can a CNA pass meds? Sounds scarry to me

In my state (Wisconsin), CNAs are able to take a 14-hour med training course through CBRF homes and are then qualified to pass meds in their ALF. The training can be used for future jobs, too. I'm going through this right now. In my three years as a CNA, I've never passed meds, but the new facility I'm working at requires that I learn, so I have to go to the med training course on Tuesday, after which I will be able to access meds at my ALF. The reason for this is that many small ALF/CBRFs do not employ full-time RNs and any RN who works for the facility is usually on-call for emergencies and then comes by once per week to check on residents' conditions, so they aren't around to pass meds. Also, I've never worked for an ALF/CBRF that employed a NOC shift RN and many times there are residents who need a scheduled or PRN med overnight, so I've always worked NOCs with another med-trained CNA. Hospice residents are overseen by their hospice RN, who manages their meds, but med-trained CNAs do still administer them (even heavy drugs like morphine). I've worked at one ALF where they did have a full-time RN who worked 7-3ish M-F, but didn't oversee/pass meds, so it's not just facilities without full-time RNs. This doesn't happen in hospitals or LTC here, but in small ALFs, med passing is not an RN-specific skill. Hope that clears it up a bit.