Working at a hospital during pre-reqs possible??

Getting the foot in the door is the objective.

CNA is what is required.

I am thinking strategic plan here. It is a hard economy and new grad RN's are really having a tough time.. why Economy and Lack of Experience(is what some have been saying)

I am Pre Nursing as well starting in Aug at a Jr College(13hrs). I will take the CNA every Sat via the CE Dept. I will be done in Dec. Jan will start applying as PCT ..also thinking about Phleb to add on to my CNA .. Do not know yet

Thanks! Yeah I was thinking of taking Phleb first because from what I have heard is that most hospital will just train you on the job to do it. Then I would work my way up from there. So they hired you as long as you were going for your CNA?

You may need to start somewhere other than a hospital if you don't have any experience. The hospitals around me want at least a year experience for a CNA position. I just got offered a job at a ccrc and i will have less residents than i would have had if i worked at a hospital. I used to work in a hospital and saw how the nurses and CNAs were treated there and I got a good idea of their workload. I didn't care for it so I am one of the few whose end goal is not a hospital job :)

Just hope this might be a positive route to take ... wish they had a variety of certs to hook on to CNA. The more certs might mean the opportunity door to open a little more....just thinking through this

I think you should definitely take a CNA course. Make sure it is accredited by your state's board of nursing.

As a new CNA, you can get a job as a patient sitter. Some patient sitter postions don't even require the CNA (they pay less). They do require CPR though. With the experience as a sitter, hopefully you can get a job as a regular CNA. It will help you a lot with nursing. And it will give you a better chance at being hired down the road.

Best of Luck :)

I think you should definitely take a CNA course. Make sure it is accredited by your state's board of nursing.

As a new CNA, you can get a job as a patient sitter. Some patient sitter postions don't even require the CNA (they pay less). They do require CPR though. With the experience as a sitter, hopefully you can get a job as a regular CNA. It will help you a lot with nursing. And it will give you a better chance at being hired down the road.

Best of Luck :)

Thank You so much for the encouragement BSN Student & Tech ... I had a strong feeling that this would be a good route to take. .... of course my family and friends seem to think I am crazy for wanting to take on my pre reqs and get my CNA .. I must not be tooo crazy since I just logged on to my college CE Dept. and they have added what looks to be 3 more CNA classes (of 10 per class)!!!!! so they must be overwhelmed with demand for CNA training. :nurse::redbeathe:redbeathe

Taking a CNA course is a good option and the CNA courses are really not hard at all. There are also other ways to get your foot in the door at a hospital. Have you ever thought about applying for a unit secretary position? It'll get you on the unit and once you complete the CNA program you'll be able to marked youself as a PCTor CNA(whichever one your hospital calls it) as well as a US(unit secretary) and we all know bosses like people who have more than one skill. Hope this helps.