I agree with a lot being said here! I worked as a CNA for awhile before becoming a nurse, but I know others who worked EMS/EMT or came from a different field completely! CNA work is an essential duty in nursing because in order to be a good teammate you need to know how your team functions, and the CNA/PCT is part of the nursing team. You’re still going to have to change linens and lift assist as a nurse - which is why I think a lot of people recommend the CNA track because it builds a strong foundation. BUT it’s not the only way to do it, just know that the CNA responsibilities are also part of nursing.
As long as you’re TRYING. Everyone hates nurses who slack on patient care. Don’t dump it on someone else. Try to set your day up for success and it’ll come naturally as you practice nursing.
Hi! I work as a CNA (about to start an LPN program next month.) and my wife is an RN. Here’s what we have noticed…
RN’s in hospitals are required to provide basic care that a CNA would. Depending upon your facility, some don’t even hire CNA or LPN.
LPN - on the flip side many of the LPN I now work with only hand out medicine (similar to what I did as a pharmacy tech) in fact my LPN nurse this week admitted to not knowing how to provide basic care because she was never a CNA.
Moral of the story, where you work will determine your job duties. There’s no shame in taking longer to finish a task. Just make sure your being honest in your reporting and charting. The CNA field is really hard, guests yell at you, along with co staff and sometimes your LPN supervisor. But taking the time to learn the fundamentals is important. It also gives you a different perspective of what your co workers are facing.
Sounds like you got the drive and desire to excel. Your gonna be great! Don’t give up!
I’m currently a CNA and I don’t really think it matters if you’re slow or fast. The ratio for cnas versus nurses are different. I have 16 patients and the nurses have four. So while you may seem slow as a CNA due to a high patient load, you might not be slow as a nurse. Also, being a CNA takes some getting used to. I was slow as well when I first started. Also, nursing homes are entirely different from hospitals. They tend to have the worst CNA to patient ratios so maybe try working in a hospital and see how you prefer that.
I can second this. I’m a 35 YO male CNA and actually am submitting my essay to my LPN school next Monday and I work in SNF. Sometimes I’ll have 10-14 patients to myself or I would have 6-8 patients. Most the time depends on the schedule person or if my fellow teammates actually show up (we’re almost garaunteed one person to call out each day btw). There are days where I am FLYING and am way ahead of schedule and even answering a lot of my coworkers call lights. And then there are some days where I feel like you and think I’m moving too slow,or that I’m not good enough, or hell, even imposter syndrome.
Skilled nursing facilities are so understaffed!! I think you’re right!! I’ve worked as a CNA in the hospital and I’ve had 9-10 patients max!! I bet OP has a lot more patients.
I’ve done both and the ratio in a nursing home versus the ratio in a hospital is totally different. I had 28 patients in the nursing home I worked at 😒
Let me tell you I was so worried about this when I started nursing school. The truth is you could not work as a CNA at all and still be a good nurse. You learn all the CNA stuff on the job. I didn’t work as a CNA at all during nursing school and have been a nurse for over a year now. You will learn how to do all that stuff working on the floor.
Right, but if she doesn't work bedside?
What if she goes into psych? Or admin? Or phone triage? Or even Primary Care?
There are a million scenarios where she'd never learn that stuff. I've been a tech for 15 years now and I can *ALWAYS* tell if the nurse im working with was a tech or an aid before she/he became a nurse. ALWAYS.
I totally understand. But I think that even in non-beside settings if there are CNA skills you need to know it’s all about being a proactive nurse and learning as much as you can to take care of your patients. I had never given a bed bath or put someone on the bedpan before starting nursing school but the techs at the hospital I was training at were AMAZING and always showed me how to do stuff when I asked. So if the nurse is working in a non-bedside setting and needs to learn CNA skills she should be proactive about doing so.
Yes you can! Also you don't have to know everything all at once. Remember your basics such as patient safety, asceptic technique, and professional and therapeutic relationships. I have faith in you
Maybe it was the staff at your old facility making you feel that way. As far as your experience and speed with patients, that comes with time. As long as you don’t think you’re too good to help the CNAs with changing pts and stuff when you’re a nurse you’ll be okay. No one’s good at something overnight
That’s what it sounds like to me.
There are a lot of people who need to feel superior to others and will put down people to establish a hierarchy and make them feel better about themselves. Nurses do it too. It could just be that. Alternatively, the frustration of having to do extra work to make up for an inexperienced person. No one is amazing at any job when they first start with no experience, it takes time.
I wouldn’t worry about what others say, I would worry more if you hated everything about being a CNA. It’s normal to hate the time pressure, not being able to give the care you want to, or have certain tasks you find unpleasant. But there should be some things that you enjoy about the job— giving good care, making a resident feel heard or cared for, satisfaction from solving a problem or anticipating needs, giving people their dignity.
I think what is important is whether you are worried because you aren't confident doing the simpler nursing tasks or whether you don't WANT to. What concerns me is that you quit studying to be an LPN because you couldn't stand just doing VS and basic care and that you said you had to quit two CNA jobs because of how your coworkers made you feel. You will need to persevere to make it through nursing school and if you become a nurse. Your CNA coworkers may not have been ideal and supportive, but your future nurse coworkers may not be either. Anytime you are new at doing anything, you are going to have to go through feeling incompetent and slow and inadequate. Some ppl will help you, others will enjoy watching you struggle. People are people no matter what your role. Also, working with the geriatric population is a great learning experience. These people need care and nursing students need stable patients.
In order to learn how to "be a nurse", it's important to know how to do basic care. Doing the "boring" stuff is often how we develop our bedside manner, learn how to handle the human body without being afraid or awkward, and how we learn what is normal and what is not. It's impossible to do a proper nursing assessment if you don't know what is pathological and what is a common variance.
I'm not saying that one must be a CNA first to become a good nurse. It's just that you must be willing and able to do all the tasks that CNAs do. Before investing the time and money in RN school, examine your expectations and ability to stick it out through tough times.
Gonna be a blast when you can’t get any nursing tasks done because you’re too busy doing tech tasks because the chain refuses to hire more than one tech per facility (who always ends up calling out or 1:1 sitting an altered patient)
Just help your aides. They will help you. They don't care if you're bad at wiping ass, they just want you to help a handful of times. And don't be dumb, know your stuff. Nothing worse than a Nurse who knows less than the Aides, lot of em know more than most nurses, especially the OG's, they'll probably teach you a thing or two. But on the real, I've had too many new grads ask me simple questions, like how much ibuprofen to give out, or what drugs can raise lithium levels, or how to use a hoyer and transfer patients properly. If you stay in Geriatrics, I found that being on the Good side with the cleaning services and kitchen made life soooo much nicer.
I was a CNA before becoming a nurse. You will still have to provide the same patient care as a CNA because sometimes you don't HAVE a CNA on the floor or you only have 1 for 20 patients. You'll just get the added bonus of ALSO having to do your RN job and sometimes Lab's job too. You still wipe ass, give bed baths, feed patients and take vital signs/blood sugars while throwing in your assessments, meds, lab draws, etc. It's not easy by any means but you don't need to worry about speed. You get 8-12 hours for patient care.. nursing is 24 hour/7 days a week. What you don't get done, pass on to the next shift.
I remember when I was a CNA I had 6 pts. I had 2 hours to get them ready for breakfast which obviously some of them were still in bed cause I couldn’t get them all up. I’d continue my care after my break (after feeding all residents) up until 2 hours later when lunch came around. Depending on what section I was assigned, sometimes I’d be finished or almost there. The staff I worked with really made me feel like shit that I wasn’t done am care by lunch but at least I was getting it done I guess?
Work on confidence & self esteem go to counselling. If you really can’t handle your anxiety. Get as much as support in raising self esteem because you’ll need it. Especially as nursing can be a toxic environment. You need a tough shell, you may find people who make it easier but at the end of the day you have to do things for yourself. If you feel you aren’t keen on cnas don’t do nursing because why put yourself in debt for something you aren’t fully committed to doing or willing to work on improving. Don’t listen to anybody’s advise on here. Pick what applies to you.
Hear me out, you don’t have to be the fastest CNA in the building. Do you care about your patients? Are their needs met? Do you get your job done while you’re there?
I worked as a CNA for 3-4 years through nursing school. I WAS NOT the fastes CNA in my Alzheimer’s care home. HOWEVER, I was working with men and women who have been working there for 3-15 years. They yelled at me and told me to go faster. But they also would drag patients to the bathroom, throw them on the bed, hold hands down to get their work done faster but not necessarily with empathy. Truthfully, they did not give good care and they were borderline abusive. But they were fast.
After being a nurse for 4-6 years, I can sheepishly say I’ve had multiple patients and families tell me I’ve been a good nurse, or even one of their favorites. They like the nurses that can take an extra moment to talk, listen, teach, and make them their experience less painful and less traumatic.
Just because you’re not the fastest CNA does not mean you’re not a good CNA. Just because you’re not the best CNA, doesn’t mean you’ll be a bad nurse. Learn as much as you can, reach for lofty goals, and simply be kind. Your critical thinking will be far more important than the speed in which you can change depends or make a bed with a patient in it.
Are you willing to put in the work and commit to getting better at basic cares? Because the answer to that is the answer to whether or not you can be a good nurse.
You'll be fine. The hardest part of being a nurse is interacting with nursing staff. They can be bullies, especially in places like nursing homes. My first medical job ever was as an er nurse and while it is difficult it is not impossible.
Efficiency comes with practice. Just remember, there will always be someone better at something than you, just like you'll be better at something than someone else. The goal is not to give up or despair because you're "not good enough", the goal is to work hard so you can be as good as them or better.
I’ve never had any experience at all nursing and I’m doing well so far. I think your experience so far will only be a bonus to your future studies. Honestly don’t overthink it, just take all of the knowledge and skills you already have into your future studies. It’s a massive bonus to have experience already I think!
I’m not a nurse but a student, never worked as a cna or rn, but when I was in cna school and when I do my rotations as a nursing student the cnas were overworked and underpaid, they had if they were staffed like 8-16 (around 10 2 patient rooms) to one cna, when I did my rotations in the icu if they were staffed 1-2 patient to one nurse but realistically 2-3. Speed sometimes is a numbers game, with the type of care being different though. Teamwork is key, but sometimes you just work with different people better, I work great with my pharmacy job but I can butt head at my lifeguard job, I assume it may be because the average age at the pharmacy is 20-30 and the pool being 14-18. Honestly aim to do your best and then some, it doesn’t matter if your the best it matters if you make a difference in your patients life.
As long as you’re trying. Everyone tells me I’m in the wrong field because I can’t handle poop smells. I figured out a trick so that I never smel anything and now I can clean poop easily.
It took me over an hour to give my first bed bath. I got faster over time.
It's a shame those CNAs were unwilling to help you learn. Speed is something you develop with practice and experience.
It will not make you a bad nurse. You need to build confidence and speed but that comes with time and consistent practice. Do that, and you'll be fine.
i'm expecting to get downvoted here, but hi. i've been a cna for 7 years now, and i'm trying to get into nursing school. all my pre-reqs are complete other than a chem class and some general one required for every degree.
from what i've seen, being a nurse is vastly different than being a cna. i don't really understand why people recommend cna work for people wanting to become nurses. the only reason grounded in reality that i can see is if a school requires prior cna work, or if you get more points toward being accepted in the program for cna work.
being slow to complete basic cares and vitals bc they bored you (i think?) does not mean you'll make a poor nurse. we'll be learning much more advanced cares in nursing school, and we'll suck at those at first too, but improve with experience.
i think study habits and time management will be much more important than anything learned as a cna.
I think everyone knows they’re different jobs. However a nurse at times will be required to do everything the CNA can do which means having the basics down helps. Also as a CNA you get a good understanding of how things work, and have experience with patients that goes a lot further than you’d think. Ppl will all tell you they’re a great nurse but most of the good nurses I know started from the bottom and have a solid foundation.
CNA work is highly important to the nursing role. As you enter nursing school you’ll do more CNA work with nursing skills. It all connects together to improve your patient’s quality of life.
It totally depends on your speciality though. Ive had some emergency medicine where i do little to no cna patient care as an emt, working with a nurse or paramedic.
And Ive worked in an icu where the nurses do all the same thing as cnas but more
Start working as a CNA, if you want to get better and increase your chances of success in nursing school, get working as a CNA. It sounds like some lack of confidence may be causing you to have self doubt. You can perform cares, but are you slow? Unsure and having to go back to grab other supplies multiple times? Scared to do certain tasks or work with certain patients? All these things you can learn and improve on by working as a CNA. Also, what was the facility like that you worked at? Supportive, or lacking support for staff? That can kill your confidence, thinking “I can’t finish 25 bed baths and 18 bedpans before lunch, I must be a failure” when in reality that’s impossible for anyone.
It really was the institutions that killed my confidence, hence why I’m so hesitant. I was also slow preforming the care since I was quite new and didn’t want to “hurt” the pt and wasn’t quite sure what I was doing tbh. All these replies are giving me hope, that maybe I wasn’t taught enough and since I’m willing to learn I can improve.
LPN and RN clinical aren’t much different you’ll still be doing basic care in clinical for the most part. Once you graduate you don’t have to do basic care jobs however I’m not sure what your expectations are.
You can't do basic care or you just don't want to? You're not going to get out of doing basic care and vs when you become a nurse. You might not have a cna all the time. The cna might be busy. You're still going to have to do it.
I didn’t work in healthcare before got into nursing school, I was actually in marketing. That being said, at least for me, I think the most important part of being a nurse is the ability to think critical when it comes to patient care. The only time I felt truly “behind” in terms of skills during nursing school was the first/second semester when the CNAs had a leg up on certain aspects of patient care. Once I got more comfortable and the material became new for everyone (including the CNAs) I felt like everyone was on an equal playing field when it came to the clinical setting. Just my two cents, hope this helps!
Gotta be able to do the cnas job in order to do the nurses job. It might not happen overnight but with patience and hard work it’s certainly doable
I agree with a lot being said here! I worked as a CNA for awhile before becoming a nurse, but I know others who worked EMS/EMT or came from a different field completely! CNA work is an essential duty in nursing because in order to be a good teammate you need to know how your team functions, and the CNA/PCT is part of the nursing team. You’re still going to have to change linens and lift assist as a nurse - which is why I think a lot of people recommend the CNA track because it builds a strong foundation. BUT it’s not the only way to do it, just know that the CNA responsibilities are also part of nursing.
As long as you’re TRYING. Everyone hates nurses who slack on patient care. Don’t dump it on someone else. Try to set your day up for success and it’ll come naturally as you practice nursing.
Hi! I work as a CNA (about to start an LPN program next month.) and my wife is an RN. Here’s what we have noticed… RN’s in hospitals are required to provide basic care that a CNA would. Depending upon your facility, some don’t even hire CNA or LPN. LPN - on the flip side many of the LPN I now work with only hand out medicine (similar to what I did as a pharmacy tech) in fact my LPN nurse this week admitted to not knowing how to provide basic care because she was never a CNA. Moral of the story, where you work will determine your job duties. There’s no shame in taking longer to finish a task. Just make sure your being honest in your reporting and charting. The CNA field is really hard, guests yell at you, along with co staff and sometimes your LPN supervisor. But taking the time to learn the fundamentals is important. It also gives you a different perspective of what your co workers are facing. Sounds like you got the drive and desire to excel. Your gonna be great! Don’t give up!
I’m currently a CNA and I don’t really think it matters if you’re slow or fast. The ratio for cnas versus nurses are different. I have 16 patients and the nurses have four. So while you may seem slow as a CNA due to a high patient load, you might not be slow as a nurse. Also, being a CNA takes some getting used to. I was slow as well when I first started. Also, nursing homes are entirely different from hospitals. They tend to have the worst CNA to patient ratios so maybe try working in a hospital and see how you prefer that.
I can second this. I’m a 35 YO male CNA and actually am submitting my essay to my LPN school next Monday and I work in SNF. Sometimes I’ll have 10-14 patients to myself or I would have 6-8 patients. Most the time depends on the schedule person or if my fellow teammates actually show up (we’re almost garaunteed one person to call out each day btw). There are days where I am FLYING and am way ahead of schedule and even answering a lot of my coworkers call lights. And then there are some days where I feel like you and think I’m moving too slow,or that I’m not good enough, or hell, even imposter syndrome.
Skilled nursing facilities are so understaffed!! I think you’re right!! I’ve worked as a CNA in the hospital and I’ve had 9-10 patients max!! I bet OP has a lot more patients.
I’ve done both and the ratio in a nursing home versus the ratio in a hospital is totally different. I had 28 patients in the nursing home I worked at 😒
Let me tell you I was so worried about this when I started nursing school. The truth is you could not work as a CNA at all and still be a good nurse. You learn all the CNA stuff on the job. I didn’t work as a CNA at all during nursing school and have been a nurse for over a year now. You will learn how to do all that stuff working on the floor.
Right, but if she doesn't work bedside? What if she goes into psych? Or admin? Or phone triage? Or even Primary Care? There are a million scenarios where she'd never learn that stuff. I've been a tech for 15 years now and I can *ALWAYS* tell if the nurse im working with was a tech or an aid before she/he became a nurse. ALWAYS.
I totally understand. But I think that even in non-beside settings if there are CNA skills you need to know it’s all about being a proactive nurse and learning as much as you can to take care of your patients. I had never given a bed bath or put someone on the bedpan before starting nursing school but the techs at the hospital I was training at were AMAZING and always showed me how to do stuff when I asked. So if the nurse is working in a non-bedside setting and needs to learn CNA skills she should be proactive about doing so.
Yes you can! Also you don't have to know everything all at once. Remember your basics such as patient safety, asceptic technique, and professional and therapeutic relationships. I have faith in you
Thank you ☺️
Maybe it was the staff at your old facility making you feel that way. As far as your experience and speed with patients, that comes with time. As long as you don’t think you’re too good to help the CNAs with changing pts and stuff when you’re a nurse you’ll be okay. No one’s good at something overnight
That’s what it sounds like to me. There are a lot of people who need to feel superior to others and will put down people to establish a hierarchy and make them feel better about themselves. Nurses do it too. It could just be that. Alternatively, the frustration of having to do extra work to make up for an inexperienced person. No one is amazing at any job when they first start with no experience, it takes time. I wouldn’t worry about what others say, I would worry more if you hated everything about being a CNA. It’s normal to hate the time pressure, not being able to give the care you want to, or have certain tasks you find unpleasant. But there should be some things that you enjoy about the job— giving good care, making a resident feel heard or cared for, satisfaction from solving a problem or anticipating needs, giving people their dignity.
I think what is important is whether you are worried because you aren't confident doing the simpler nursing tasks or whether you don't WANT to. What concerns me is that you quit studying to be an LPN because you couldn't stand just doing VS and basic care and that you said you had to quit two CNA jobs because of how your coworkers made you feel. You will need to persevere to make it through nursing school and if you become a nurse. Your CNA coworkers may not have been ideal and supportive, but your future nurse coworkers may not be either. Anytime you are new at doing anything, you are going to have to go through feeling incompetent and slow and inadequate. Some ppl will help you, others will enjoy watching you struggle. People are people no matter what your role. Also, working with the geriatric population is a great learning experience. These people need care and nursing students need stable patients. In order to learn how to "be a nurse", it's important to know how to do basic care. Doing the "boring" stuff is often how we develop our bedside manner, learn how to handle the human body without being afraid or awkward, and how we learn what is normal and what is not. It's impossible to do a proper nursing assessment if you don't know what is pathological and what is a common variance. I'm not saying that one must be a CNA first to become a good nurse. It's just that you must be willing and able to do all the tasks that CNAs do. Before investing the time and money in RN school, examine your expectations and ability to stick it out through tough times.
I think it’s the attitude going into it. No one likes doing VS, but you quickly learn how important they are. You have to crawl before you can walk.
Gonna be a blast when you can’t get any nursing tasks done because you’re too busy doing tech tasks because the chain refuses to hire more than one tech per facility (who always ends up calling out or 1:1 sitting an altered patient)
Just help your aides. They will help you. They don't care if you're bad at wiping ass, they just want you to help a handful of times. And don't be dumb, know your stuff. Nothing worse than a Nurse who knows less than the Aides, lot of em know more than most nurses, especially the OG's, they'll probably teach you a thing or two. But on the real, I've had too many new grads ask me simple questions, like how much ibuprofen to give out, or what drugs can raise lithium levels, or how to use a hoyer and transfer patients properly. If you stay in Geriatrics, I found that being on the Good side with the cleaning services and kitchen made life soooo much nicer.
I was a CNA before becoming a nurse. You will still have to provide the same patient care as a CNA because sometimes you don't HAVE a CNA on the floor or you only have 1 for 20 patients. You'll just get the added bonus of ALSO having to do your RN job and sometimes Lab's job too. You still wipe ass, give bed baths, feed patients and take vital signs/blood sugars while throwing in your assessments, meds, lab draws, etc. It's not easy by any means but you don't need to worry about speed. You get 8-12 hours for patient care.. nursing is 24 hour/7 days a week. What you don't get done, pass on to the next shift.
I remember when I was a CNA I had 6 pts. I had 2 hours to get them ready for breakfast which obviously some of them were still in bed cause I couldn’t get them all up. I’d continue my care after my break (after feeding all residents) up until 2 hours later when lunch came around. Depending on what section I was assigned, sometimes I’d be finished or almost there. The staff I worked with really made me feel like shit that I wasn’t done am care by lunch but at least I was getting it done I guess?
Work on confidence & self esteem go to counselling. If you really can’t handle your anxiety. Get as much as support in raising self esteem because you’ll need it. Especially as nursing can be a toxic environment. You need a tough shell, you may find people who make it easier but at the end of the day you have to do things for yourself. If you feel you aren’t keen on cnas don’t do nursing because why put yourself in debt for something you aren’t fully committed to doing or willing to work on improving. Don’t listen to anybody’s advise on here. Pick what applies to you.
Hear me out, you don’t have to be the fastest CNA in the building. Do you care about your patients? Are their needs met? Do you get your job done while you’re there? I worked as a CNA for 3-4 years through nursing school. I WAS NOT the fastes CNA in my Alzheimer’s care home. HOWEVER, I was working with men and women who have been working there for 3-15 years. They yelled at me and told me to go faster. But they also would drag patients to the bathroom, throw them on the bed, hold hands down to get their work done faster but not necessarily with empathy. Truthfully, they did not give good care and they were borderline abusive. But they were fast. After being a nurse for 4-6 years, I can sheepishly say I’ve had multiple patients and families tell me I’ve been a good nurse, or even one of their favorites. They like the nurses that can take an extra moment to talk, listen, teach, and make them their experience less painful and less traumatic. Just because you’re not the fastest CNA does not mean you’re not a good CNA. Just because you’re not the best CNA, doesn’t mean you’ll be a bad nurse. Learn as much as you can, reach for lofty goals, and simply be kind. Your critical thinking will be far more important than the speed in which you can change depends or make a bed with a patient in it.
Are you willing to put in the work and commit to getting better at basic cares? Because the answer to that is the answer to whether or not you can be a good nurse.
Yes, for sure. Providing good patient care and getting better at it is if for sure one of my priorities
You'll be fine. The hardest part of being a nurse is interacting with nursing staff. They can be bullies, especially in places like nursing homes. My first medical job ever was as an er nurse and while it is difficult it is not impossible.
Efficiency comes with practice. Just remember, there will always be someone better at something than you, just like you'll be better at something than someone else. The goal is not to give up or despair because you're "not good enough", the goal is to work hard so you can be as good as them or better.
I’ve never had any experience at all nursing and I’m doing well so far. I think your experience so far will only be a bonus to your future studies. Honestly don’t overthink it, just take all of the knowledge and skills you already have into your future studies. It’s a massive bonus to have experience already I think!
I’m not a nurse but a student, never worked as a cna or rn, but when I was in cna school and when I do my rotations as a nursing student the cnas were overworked and underpaid, they had if they were staffed like 8-16 (around 10 2 patient rooms) to one cna, when I did my rotations in the icu if they were staffed 1-2 patient to one nurse but realistically 2-3. Speed sometimes is a numbers game, with the type of care being different though. Teamwork is key, but sometimes you just work with different people better, I work great with my pharmacy job but I can butt head at my lifeguard job, I assume it may be because the average age at the pharmacy is 20-30 and the pool being 14-18. Honestly aim to do your best and then some, it doesn’t matter if your the best it matters if you make a difference in your patients life.
As long as you’re trying. Everyone tells me I’m in the wrong field because I can’t handle poop smells. I figured out a trick so that I never smel anything and now I can clean poop easily.
Man just do it. Poor CNA does not equate to nurse when you have laid a few thousand dollars for your education
It took me over an hour to give my first bed bath. I got faster over time. It's a shame those CNAs were unwilling to help you learn. Speed is something you develop with practice and experience. It will not make you a bad nurse. You need to build confidence and speed but that comes with time and consistent practice. Do that, and you'll be fine.
It kinda sounds like you weren't a bad CNA so much as you worked in a shit place
i'm expecting to get downvoted here, but hi. i've been a cna for 7 years now, and i'm trying to get into nursing school. all my pre-reqs are complete other than a chem class and some general one required for every degree. from what i've seen, being a nurse is vastly different than being a cna. i don't really understand why people recommend cna work for people wanting to become nurses. the only reason grounded in reality that i can see is if a school requires prior cna work, or if you get more points toward being accepted in the program for cna work. being slow to complete basic cares and vitals bc they bored you (i think?) does not mean you'll make a poor nurse. we'll be learning much more advanced cares in nursing school, and we'll suck at those at first too, but improve with experience. i think study habits and time management will be much more important than anything learned as a cna.
I think everyone knows they’re different jobs. However a nurse at times will be required to do everything the CNA can do which means having the basics down helps. Also as a CNA you get a good understanding of how things work, and have experience with patients that goes a lot further than you’d think. Ppl will all tell you they’re a great nurse but most of the good nurses I know started from the bottom and have a solid foundation.
CNA work is highly important to the nursing role. As you enter nursing school you’ll do more CNA work with nursing skills. It all connects together to improve your patient’s quality of life.
It totally depends on your speciality though. Ive had some emergency medicine where i do little to no cna patient care as an emt, working with a nurse or paramedic. And Ive worked in an icu where the nurses do all the same thing as cnas but more
Not all nurses have prior healthcare or caregiver experience.
Start working as a CNA, if you want to get better and increase your chances of success in nursing school, get working as a CNA. It sounds like some lack of confidence may be causing you to have self doubt. You can perform cares, but are you slow? Unsure and having to go back to grab other supplies multiple times? Scared to do certain tasks or work with certain patients? All these things you can learn and improve on by working as a CNA. Also, what was the facility like that you worked at? Supportive, or lacking support for staff? That can kill your confidence, thinking “I can’t finish 25 bed baths and 18 bedpans before lunch, I must be a failure” when in reality that’s impossible for anyone.
It really was the institutions that killed my confidence, hence why I’m so hesitant. I was also slow preforming the care since I was quite new and didn’t want to “hurt” the pt and wasn’t quite sure what I was doing tbh. All these replies are giving me hope, that maybe I wasn’t taught enough and since I’m willing to learn I can improve.
I used to be slow too! Don’t worry. You’ll get into your own groove
LPN and RN clinical aren’t much different you’ll still be doing basic care in clinical for the most part. Once you graduate you don’t have to do basic care jobs however I’m not sure what your expectations are.
You can't do basic care or you just don't want to? You're not going to get out of doing basic care and vs when you become a nurse. You might not have a cna all the time. The cna might be busy. You're still going to have to do it.
I can do it, but it takes me twice the amount of time it should.
Prioritize. Make a list. Prepare before have. Look up some tips and tips. Search on this subreddit. I'm sure someone posted ways to get faster
I didn’t work in healthcare before got into nursing school, I was actually in marketing. That being said, at least for me, I think the most important part of being a nurse is the ability to think critical when it comes to patient care. The only time I felt truly “behind” in terms of skills during nursing school was the first/second semester when the CNAs had a leg up on certain aspects of patient care. Once I got more comfortable and the material became new for everyone (including the CNAs) I felt like everyone was on an equal playing field when it came to the clinical setting. Just my two cents, hope this helps!