What to Expect?

[Blueroses91]

Hi everyone,

I will be starting a cna program tomorrow evening. I'm nervous and excited. However, I don't know what to expect. I work at a hospital as an activity aide on the Senior Behavorial Unit (aka the psych ward). I love my job, though it is the first one I have ever had. However it is only four days a week and I am ready to start moving on. I hope to work on the same unit when I complete my cna training.

I want to know what the first day of class is going to be like. I know things are different at every school but a general idea would be so helpful! I will be taking med term, interpersonal Relationship & Professional development and job ACquisition skills. I would like a breakdown of what type of workload I will have in each section. My instuctor never answered any of my calls...though I'm sure I could have asked her all of this if she had.

Also, just any tips or advice you could give me would be great!

[windmill182]

On our first day we had to take a test on reading and simple (very simple) math skills. This I think was just to weed out the folks who didnt speak very good english or maybe didnt know how to read. After taking the test she let us go home early then the next class she passed out books and just started going over the material. I too was very nervous on my first day. You will be fine, and you will probably make a lot of new friends too!!

[lorelei1973]

The first day of my class consisted of introducing ourselves and an overview of the next 12 weeks, then we had to do a preliminary criminal background check in order to do our clinicals. We were required to have placement testing done in advance. I know I was there for five hours but I don't remember much beyond that. I will say that if your CNA training is classroom/lab followed by clinicals, you have no reason to be nervous. Just listen, do the required reading (I never did, I just skimmed) and when you get into the lab stand in a place where you can see the demonstrations.

I suspect the reason your instructor didn't reply (I asked my instructor if we had to wear scrubs during the class and she didn't answer -- we didn't) is because CNA training is less about classroom learning and more about hands on. You can study books, but watching skill videos on you tube will be more helpful. Someone loaned me their book. I think the price was right considering how much I relied on it.

I bought a CD from Avanza with demos of skills. They weren't exactly like what my state required, but the CD was helpful. Go to your state board of nursing website, go to your testing authority's website. You'll get a lot of info about what's expected of a CNA from those two sources. If you're lucky you'll get a big head start on the final testing too.