Work and School...What do you do?

duskyjewel · Sep 17, 2014

I'm a hospice CNA and I work 3 NOC 12s a week. I plan to continue once I start school.... assuming they ever send me that dang email. :cautious:

I too am married with school age kids.

Asmyth12 · Sep 17, 2014

awesome thanks for the idea

Leonardsmom,LPN · Sep 17, 2014

I have been working as a CNA for the past 7 years and have returned to school to finish my last few prereqs and will be entering the nursing program next year. My coworkers and upper management have been very supportive in my returning to school. Along with that I have been able to already gain valuable experience with my exposure to the health field and have been able to develop some of the basic skills that I will need as a nurse. Is there some stress, sure but just about any job is going to have stress, especially anytime you are working with people.

meanmaryjean, DNP, RN · Sep 17, 2014

Don't discount the amount of $$ you can make waitressing. I know a few people who waited tables while in school and graduated debt free.

futureLVN40 · Sep 18, 2014

Hello duskyjewel, I was wondering what type of agencies have shifts for Hospice CNA's? I am in my CNA class right now and I wanted to do that too while doing my prerequisites for Nursing. Do you have to have special training to work in Hospice besides CNA?

Tpowers7 · Sep 18, 2014

I too am sort of in the same boat! Minus the whole family ordeal. I would look into the CNA program that the Red Cross offers. It costs around 1200 total, but you will be finished the classroom portion in 3 weeks or so and the clinical is only a week after that. You will be CNA certified and this means you can work as a patient care tech in a hospital (a job a lot of pre nursing students take to gain some healthcare experience) or you can work as a hospice aid or in a nursing home if that is your thing. Hope this helps

duskyjewel · Sep 18, 2014

Hello duskyjewel, I was wondering what type of agencies have shifts for Hospice CNA's? I am in my CNA class right now and I wanted to do that too while doing my prerequisites for Nursing. Do you have to have special training to work in Hospice besides CNA?

My company has an uncommonly large inpatient capacity, and I work mostly in the inpatient units. Most hospice care is done in the home. One of the biggest CNA duties for hospice is bath visits, which I have also done on occasion, but those obviously take place mostly during daytime hours. I have worked on a private duty basis for families through my employer, and also done what we call "11th hour" shifts, which is when someone is actively dying but has no available family, so I sit with them so they won't be alone. Look around in your area for larger hospice companies that might have an inpatient unit or two.

Since there aren't a lot of hospices like the one I work for, you might look into home care agencies like Visiting Angels, Home Instead, companies like that. They often have needs for people to work night shifts in homes.

crazyemtchic · Sep 18, 2014

Not sure if this will help you or not, but I own my own janitorial company and have a contract with the federal government to clean their buildings. I work usually an hour and a half to two hours a night, four days a week and actually bring home more than my husband who is a full time cop. I know doing this isn't probably an option for most people, but there are janitorial jobs out there cleaning businesses that pay pretty good and the hours are later in the evenings. I do mine later in the evenings, as I set my own schedule. I also do PRN work at the prison that pays about $17.00 an hour. It works really good, as most people who want the time off want it off during the holidays and times that I am out of school on breaks. I am also considering working at the hospital doing PRN work with my CNA license, because our local hospital is really short on CNAs and they have been asking me to come work for them. I also work as an EMT in my spare (ha ha) free time to pick up some extra money.

Asmyth12 · Sep 18, 2014

I too am sort of in the same boat! Minus the whole family ordeal. I would look into the CNA program that the Red Cross offers. It costs around 1200 total, but you will be finished the classroom portion in 3 weeks or so and the clinical is only a week after that. You will be CNA certified and this means you can work as a patient care tech in a hospital (a job a lot of pre nursing students take to gain some healthcare experience) or you can work as a hospice aid or in a nursing home if that is your thing. Hope this helps

I actually had started looking into home cleaning and janitorial type jobs but I don't have any experience of my own and I don't really know anyone that could kinda take me under their wing and show me the ropes

5ummer · Sep 18, 2014

I work weekends waiting tables. Blehh.

ShelbyaStar · Sep 18, 2014

I work at a group home. It's great for students. I currently work full time (anything over 30 is considered full time) but I will drop down to fill-in when nursing school starts in January.

It's very flexible and I have typically have a good amount of down time to study in. And it's a little bit of healthcare experience too- some need a lot of cares and they all have meds that need passed. Good way to get CPR and first aid certifications knocked out without having to pay too.

I do have my CNA cert and was offered a couple positions but decided the down time was very nice to have, and it pays about the same.