Where to work during nursing school?

You're right about working as a CNA, not only can you add that to your resume, but it really does give you the edge on other nursing students.

When I started nursing school our instructors told us you can have "two things". Family, kids, boyfriend/girlfriend, school, job. Pick from the two because if you have more you probably won't do so well. The mindless job may make you more money, and less stress free so this is really something you need to decided based on your life. Do you need more experience or do you need less stress? Which is more important?

Let me also add, that I highly respect my CNA's and a lot of them are in school for nursing and they come to me all the time with questions. I absolutely love it and encourage them all the time. I think you will find it hard to find a nurse that doesn't respect a good CNA. :)

Oh dear, can I pick three? haha I don't necessarily need more experience as I've already had this CNA job for over a year and I've also had previous medical experience...but more experience is never a bad thing. Shoot this is a tough decision. Thank you for your input though!

Oh dear, can I pick three? haha I don't necessarily need more experience as I've already had this CNA job for over a year and I've also had previous medical experience...but more experience is never a bad thing. Shoot this is a tough decision. Thank you for your input though!

As you learn things in nursing school you will be able to see how it really affects the real life world if you continue your CNA job. I recently had a CNA struggling with fluid overload and we had a patient with CHF... it kinda just clicked for them

Another time we had someone with an INR of 5.2, my CNA asked "that means they aren't clotting right"? Was a perfect opportunity to teach why we monitor INR and yes that means they can bleed out

I was a nanny through nursing school, I found the flexibility and non stress nice. I currently work in an area where I would have no problem getting into the hospital with no experience, so it depends on what works for you. I also had many classmates get hired by large hospitals after graduation because they were sharp, not because they already worked there.

Good luck!