work during school - aide??

I'll be starting a bsn program in Jan, and will have some time for part-time work. I'm hoping to get some experience in a nursing home or hospital... anywhere really just to get my foot in the door of healthcare. Besides the Red Cross, I'm having a hard time finding courses for nurses aides. (and the timing there doesn't work for me) Anybody have experience with getting their certification? Or other advice on a job I could do?

Have you tried the local community colleges? Or the local hospitals?

A number of the nursing homes and LTC facilities around where I live give their nurse's aides on the job training, so you don't have to pay to take a course. In fact the facility would be paying you just to train you!

Most hospitals will also accept students as a nurses aide after you have completed one semester of nursing school(clinical semester).

Just something to look into as well. Until then, if a hospital wont accept you as a nurses aide until after 1 semester, see if that hospital has an opening for a secretary position. Then you could transfer positions easily after your semester is up.

The only thing I recommend you getting now, Is CPR. Most hospitals will offer it to their employees. You dont need to take a nurses aid class, you'll get on the job training.

Good luck! I worked as an aide throughout nursing school and it made school a lot easier, and I had a great transition after graduation. I had no troubles taking 5-6 patients, I knew how the hospital ran, etc.

I'm not sure where you live exactly , but I just got hired on with Sunrise Senior Living...they have LTC facilities all over the U.S. You will gain valuable work experience...believe me.

Tessa~

Sunrise Senior Living is NOT a place I would recommend for a nursing student to work. They do not require their caregiver staff to be certified (i.e., anyone can just walk in off the street and they're given the role of "care giver" or "care manager" as they call it). There are CNAs that work at Sunrise, but they do not perform any of the skills you will learn in a normal nursing home (vital signs, intake/output records, etc.). The pay rate is terrible.

Try getting a job at a true nursing home. Sunrise should be a last resort. I worked at a Sunrise for a year and a half.