What is it like on 1st day as CNA?

Nursing Students CNA/MA

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I recently graduated High School and took a CNA summer class that was offered and passed the red cross testing!

I'm still waiting for my certification in the mail though! It's been 9 weeks so far but it's still not here! :confused:

I'm not sure if it usually takes this long and i am a bit nervous!

Anyways, i was just wondering what it's like on the first day of the job at a LTC facility.

I want to get a job as soon as I'm able to but I'm afraid that i won't know ANYTHING.

Is there training for awhile when u start? Are u thrown onto the floor with many residents by yourself immediately?

What exactly goes on! Please let me know!

thank you!

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Congrats on being certified.

I was trained for 3 days and I had 11-12 residents on my own on the 4th day. You can always ask for a few more days if you feel you need more training.

One of the big things you're going to learn when you start working as a CNA is time management because you're always going to be busy with your residents and you need to make sure you have enough time to do all your tasks.

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Thank you!

It's nice to learn that i'll be trained for a few days, and a couple more if i feel i need it!

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Specializes in LTC.

I was trained for 10 days- half on one unit and half on another. The first day you just follow someone around. It's a long day because your aide is doing a million different things and you don't know why. Nursing home work involves a tight schedule and a lot of organization and structure and it takes time to put it all together. I would ask lots of questions about the routine and why and when your trainer is doing the things she does.

ie in the beginning of the day we toileted a group of people. After supper we washed and put another group of people to bed (our assignment), but the 2 groups weren't exactly the same. By the end of the night everything kind of blurred together and the next day I was so confused about what to do next. It seemed like there was no rhyme or reason to the way things were done but really, there was.

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Thank you as well for taking time to write about your experience!

During my summer CNA class we went to two different LTC facilities, two weeks at each one.

But we worked in two's and sometimes threes everyday to do our assignments so working alone is what worries me.

Any advice on how to get over my worries?

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Once you get your own routine down, then your day should (key word - should) flow smoothly.

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