Soon to be a CNA...what should I expect

[CNA2B]

Good Morning Ladies

I am new here and just want to introduce myself. My name is Julie and I am about to start a CNA course this month. I am very excited about this since I have not worked in 10 years (I am a stay at home mom). After the course in completed and I hopefully pass my exams, I will be working in a Nursing Center. I can't wait.

I was just wondering what to expect.
What will I be doing all day? I have read alot about it but I guess what I want to know is from other CNA's what duties do you perform the most thru your shift?
Do you like your job? (I think I will really like this job).
What shouild I expect the first couple of weeks as I am training?

Any answers will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

Julie

[dh07]

It really just depends where you work. I've been doing it 5 years and currently i'm in the nursing program. I've worked Long Term Care where the nurses and other CNAs treated me good and with respect. I've worked in Psych where I was treated really good because I'm a male and I had to do a lot of restraints and de-esculations. But I've also worked in the hospital where no one respects you and you have no say because you are so despensible. At the hospital it took time for the nurses to respect me until I could prove to them I knew what I was doing, I also think once they found out i'm about to become a nurse they seem to treat me with a little more respect. I know that once I'm an RN I won't be treating CNAs poorly. Now days CNAs can't perform much duties except for the basics. At the hospital I worked at CNAs weren't even allowed to turn on an oxigen concentrator because that's considered administering a medication. Out of all the facilities tho I recommend being a CNA at a hospital and not long-term care because hospital work is so easy as an CNA. I had 3-7 patients a night and the majority could take care of themselves. If they couldn't they all had foly catheters inserted so there wasn't much changing to do. Just a lot of vitals and checking your patients. I also recommend working the NOC shift because co-workers seem to be friendlier than in the day shift.

-David H.

[USMC2LPN]

It really just depends where you work.

This I agree with. I worked for a year and a half as a Nursing Technician in the Surgical ICU of a major hospital before I started the nursing program. I never had a license, I was trained by the hospital.

I did everything from clean up poop and vomit, to compressions on a level 1 trauma victim that was coding. I have sat and cried with families after they spoke with Gift of Life about donating their sons or daughters organs. I have hugged patients as they walked out of the hospital months after coming to us in a helicopter so beaten and bloody from a car wreck that you could hardly tell they were a human being. My usual assignment was 8-10 patients.

I did dressing changes, set up and maintained sterile fields for numerous procedures. I inserted and removed catheters, analyzed ECG strips of the patients on the floor... I did a ton of things during my stay with a hospital. I wouldn't trade it for anything, it prepared me so well for the nursing program.

I now work as an LPN in long term care. My CNAs work extremely hard, and it amazes me sometimes what they accomplish. It's very physical and if you don't have time management skills, I would recommend you start practicing them. Their job is very different from what mine was.

All in all, I would say that if you plan on doing this because you want to make a difference in someone elses life, then you will enjoy it no matter what your duties entail. The beauty of the medical profession is that you can always go somewhere else to be challenged.

Bringing a smile to someone's face when they are at their weakest moments is something that stays with you forever. I make a difference in people's lives, and they make a difference in mine. It's why I do what I do.

Good luck to you.

[pipingmad]

Ladies only huh. *shrug*

[CNA2B]

Hello Everyone..

First of all I would like to apologize to pipingmad and anyone whom I offended when my intro to this thread was Good Morning Ladies. I know there are alot of men who are in the nursing profession and I have alot of respect for them as well. I guess I didn't make a good first impression at this forum so for this I sincerely apologize if I offended anyone. I am really sorry. I hope there are no hard feelings toward me.

Thank you those who have replied and answered my question. And thank you to pipingmad for bringing this to my attention. I guess before I post I should think about what I type before typing it.

Again I really do apologize

Have a great night.

[pipingmad]

Hello Everyone..

First of all I would like to apologize to pipingmad and anyone whom I offended when my intro to this thread was Good Morning Ladies. I know there are alot of men who are in the nursing profession and I have alot of respect for them as well. I guess I didn't make a good first impression at this forum so for this I sincerely apologize if I offended anyone. I am really sorry. I hope there are no hard feelings toward me.

Thank you those who have replied and answered my question. And thank you to pipingmad for bringing this to my attention. I guess before I post I should think about what I type before typing it.

Again I really do apologize

Have a great night.

No worries. I wasn't offended. My reply was more in jest. :-)

[cougarnurse]

Don't worry, CNA2B....we're pretty laid back here!

'Cat'

[CNA2B]

Thank you Everyone

Glad to hear I didn't hurt anyone.

Have a great day

[tennesseebound]

Ladies only huh. *shrug*

Is it a sign that I've been doing this too long that I didn't even notice it?
When I first started I noticed this all the time, but working midnights and being the only male in the facility I work at during my shift and only 1 of 2 aides that are male I've kinda grown accustomed to it.

[AngelWolf]

I've been a CNA at a long-term facility, an in-home care aide, an acute care CNA in a hospital, and now I'm an Emergency Room Tech. I found I like the hospitals much more than either the LTC or the In-home care. The problem is hospitals tend to go in a cycle. They love CNA's for a while, then they start phasing them out, trying to get to all RN care. Then the RN's shriek loudly enough and they start hiring CNA's again.

For long-term care, it depends on where you work. Where I worked, I was responsible for personal care for an entire wing. (I worked nights). My patient load was usually 30-50 patients per night, but I usually only had to help to bathrooms and do turns and things. During the day it was usually 10-25 patients per CNA.

In-Home care was nice in that I did overnight and 24-hour shifts with one patient. You really get to know the patient and their family. The down side is that you can sometimes end up more like a housekeeper or butler than a CNA. That, and the pay is pretty skimpy.

Hospital CNA also depends on where you work. When I started, I was in the float pool, and I trained to work every floor - Rehab, Oncology, Orthopedics, Telemetry (cardiac), Med-Surg, OB, ER, ICU, and Short Stay Surgery. It was nice getting to go different places, and the hospital I work at offered a pay increase for doing it, so I made an extra 15%. Down side: I didn't have a home floor, and sometimes got the worst bunch of patients they could assign. Usually in a hospital (on a nursing floor), you'll have the "front hall" of patients who need special supervision, like Alzheimer's patients and other confused or demented patients, but you'll also have patients who can really take care of themselves.

When I started in the hospital, a bad patient load on nights was 8 patients. We did vitals, turned the patients, checked blood sugars, assisted with dinners, before bed care, and then answered call lights for most of the rest of the night. Nowadays at my hospital a bad night is 25-30 patients, and all the CNA really does is some vital signs and assists the RNs when they can. It can get pretty hectic.

At my hospital, a CNA can get additional training to become an ER tech (which is what I do now). ER Techs do an odd mixture of CNA and EMT tasks. We do some Activities of Daily Living (ADL's), like helping to bathrooms and bathing and changing patients, but we also dress wounds, assist MD's in procedures, take vitals, take EKG's, do blood draws, put patients on monitors, read rhythm strips, and transport patients around the hospital. We also assist in codes (anywhere in the hospital) and also get to help with some really interesting things. My first day the surgeon grabbed my hand and stuck it into a guy's stab wound so I could feel what a lacerated liver felt like. (talk about baptism by fire!).

There's so much varied work for a CNA that it's impossible to list everything, but I hope I've given you a good look at some of the things that can come up.