The first step....

[AJayG3310]

Yesterday I officially signed up for an 8 week CNA course. I've been reading through threads throughout the allnurses.com website and found much of the posts very helpful. My ultimate goal is becoming an RN.

For the school that I am attending they require you to take the CNA course in order to take the evening LPN program ( I don't understand the reason behind it) but anyway...I want to do the evening course. My grandmother was a nurse (a very good one I might add) So, I've always hoped to become one.

So this is the beginning of my journey.

Any advice or wisdom???

[sonomala]

Good Luck! The material is not that hard and the practice in the lab is alot like being in some sort small play. You get before the class and perform the skills. When I finally got around to seeing it that way, I did a lot better :)

[rancelumsden]

"...For the school that I am attending they require you to take the CNA course in order to take the evening LPN program ( I don't understand the reason behind it)"..

Very simple. Traditional nursing programs often do not teach patient skills. You learn the science, medical terminology, meds, and some psych/soc thrown in, but not how to bathe or ambulate a patient. I worked in a hospital and we often had student RN's come in for a day here -and-there to do clinical training and they did CNA work. Many, if not most of them, had no idea how to do what a CNA would consider basic job skills.

If you're following some of the other threads, you'll see more and more people posting that there nursing schools require a CNA course.