Thinking about becoming a CNA

The course can be pretty intense, but it wont' be too hard as long as you study and do your homework on time. I'm almost done with mine.

As for the test, I think it depends on the state. Maine has the highest requirements for CNA education (180 hours), but the state test is relatively easy. What state do you live in?

I strongly encourage you to become a CNA. It's a wonderful experience.

The course is easy. You learn basic nursing care- mostly on people with dementia and strokes. You learn about infection control and how to bathe, feed, and dress people. How to move them from bed to wheelchair and back. How to put someone on a bedpan. About repositioning people to keep them comfy and prevent bedsores. How to do range of motion exercises (moving people's limbs around in certain ways so they don't get stuck like that). It's all common sense but for the state test you need to know precise steps in a certain order. You also learn how to take vital signs and different ways of dealing with demented people. You also learn the very basics about diseases you're likely to see a lot of, like diabetes. Your class will also go to a nursing home and practice your skills on real people.

Everybody stresses out about the state test (you take a written portion and a skills portion). The skills portion can be nervewracking but overall its not hard.

If you're thinking about becoming a nurse, then definitely get your certification. It teaches you how to treat the people you care for as whole people, not just a disease or condition. Plus it gives you a heads up for the beginning parts of your nursing program.

When I got certified, I had already completed my BS in Kinesiology so the course was a breeze for me, but others who trained with me found infection control to be the most difficult thing...but it's also one of the biggest and most important things on the job.

Make sure you're okay with cleaning and handling any and all parts of the human body. Others in my class couldn't handle that at first.