CNA - clinical experience?

[forgetful]

Hi all,
I am relatively new to the ranks of those seriously planning to apply to allopathic and osteopathic schools. I have a strong undergraduate GPA in biology and only have a year of physics left for my pre-reqs. The big gaping hole in my application is clinical experience. I've had pretty bad experiences in hospitals, and I dont' like volunteering in an environment where volunteers have almost no meaningful role and get treated like garbage.

I'm thinking about enrolling in an EMT or CNA course and trying to get paid clinical work, or at least volunteer with some skills in my toolkit. Do med schools or osteopathic schools look more favorably on EMT than CNA experience?

I ultimately want to go into geriatric primary care, but most of the experience I have is in hospitals. Does anyone have suggestions on how to get clinical experience in a primary care or long-term care setting?

Thanks for your help.

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[LUCPM]

I'm not sure which one will look more favorably to adcom but it's probably a lot easier to find a CNA job at a long-term care facility. The job is demanding but you will get tons of patient contact experience.

 

[galaxyx]

It should be relatively easy to get a CNA position compared to an EMT-B position, and if you can handle doing the "dirty work" it shows you're not afraid to start at the bottom of the totem pole.
Have you considered volunteering at a hospice or low income clinic to find more rewarding volunteer opportunities? A hospice setting might fit well with your wanting to go into geriatrics and hospices are required to have a certain # of volunteer hours to maintain their license.

 

[Pons Asinorum]

CNA easier than EMT-B, though honestly adcomms don't look awfully favorably upon either. The checkbox that everyone calls "clinical experience" doesn't need to involve placing hands on patients, it means simply seeing physicians do what physicians do, for enough time to actually know what you're getting into. It also has to be said that volunteering doesn't pay that much less than market wages in most large city markets for these jobs. Basically, don't do either just to buff up your application.

 

[JourneyAgent]

CNA easier than EMT-B, though honestly adcomms don't look awfully favorably upon either. The checkbox that everyone calls "clinical experience" doesn't need to involve placing hands on patients, it means simply seeing physicians do what physicians do, for enough time to actually know what you're getting into. It also has to be said that volunteering doesn't pay that much less than market wages in most large city markets for these jobs. Basically, don't do either just to buff up your application.

Agree. When I was doing it I had the suspicion that the physician's world which was center stage in mine didn't regard us much at all. I had no idea how much I underestimated that fact. The people who move the patients, change the laundry, make the food, clean the place, fix the broken things, do the X-rays, run the lab, and whatever else that takes place are just a backdrop in the physicians imagination. They're not people per se. Unless your 6 foot 8 and 300 lbs or have a hunch back and a limp....we just....don't notice you. Unless the laundry is piling into the hallways or something.

Now that my identity has shifted. There's an element of dark humor here that's hard to communicate precisely.

But CNA, EMT....whatever....you've seen the health care biz...and moving on.

Like that. Nobody gives a F@ck. I forget to. And have caught myself walking past a person without a nod or acknowledgement. Then I glance back and remember. That nameless person of no import was me.

Admissions people so don't give a f@ck. Being among the more persnickety and non clinical we can muster up. They'll clamor to recruit a few stars. And the rest--aka all of you--are all hedged bets with a strong likelihood of finishing med school.

Everything you do to make yourself special: to you a mountain, to the institutionalized...the momentary happenstance of amusement at watching ants.

 

[kayak30]

This is kind of related...should I work as a medical office assistant before med school or a corporate non medically related job if I already have enough experience/hours? Trying to figure out where to apply after my summer MCAT, Thanks!

 

[Pons Asinorum]

This is kind of related...should I work as a medical office assistant before med school or a corporate non medically related job if I already have enough experience/hours? Trying to figure out where to apply after my summer MCAT, Thanks!

The one that pays better. Neither of those jobs bears any weight on admissions other than to answer the question "What did kayak30 do with his summer?" "He worked."

They are both just jobs; that "medical" office job will not stand out differently than the other.

 

[kayak30]

The one that pays better. Neither of those jobs bears any weight on admissions other than to answer the question "What did kayak30 do with his summer?" "He worked."

They are both just jobs; that "medical" office job will not stand out differently than the other.

Thanks! Good to know...I wasn't sure if it would look better or if it even mattered, thanks

 

[LUCPM]

A little off topic, but related to CNA jobs.

If you can stand colostomy bag, you can stand anything in patient care.

 

[JourneyAgent]

A little off topic, but related to CNA jobs.

If you can stand colostomy bag, you can stand anything in patient care.

Really. Cause colostomy bags are awesome.

Did you stroke your goat tee while wearing a Che Guevara tee at an all free trade coffee house when you wrote that.

Look. I did some open mic spoken word at that place too. And it's a fair enough point. But please....be real and regard yourself with some amusement for a minute. Anything that stinks is quickly somebody else's job. Unless you're a surgeon or an OB doc or an ED doc the chances of you getting too dirty are not that common.

Being a CNA gives you nothing. But a justified attitude towards anyone who doesn't get dirty. Congratulations! You earned it. It's yours to keep. Because nobody cares. And nobody who goes headhunting for top recruits regards professional butt wiping experience in any regard whatsoever.

That's like 10 or so SES status levels below what's comfortable to think about. It is however a badge of worldly panache, worn by the physician class, to travel the world in search of poor people to save. For weeks at a time. Facebook to prove it.

CNA or EMT or volunteer/tourist/expeditionista. It's fits the same little box. And compare's nothing to a successful career where accolades were achieved.

There are no TV shows about CNA's. Or Walmart stockers. Or teacher's aides. America gives not one single f@ck about it. It's as alien as some Bolshevik propaganda poster from the 1900's.

 

[Pons Asinorum]

Really. Cause colostomy bags are awesome.
...

I can never tell if you hate or love the stuff to which you reply. Just saying.

 

[JourneyAgent]

I can never tell if you hate or love the stuff to which you reply. Just saying.

Well. I'm not even sure if I was responding to a person. Or a flicker of memory that put me face to face with prior states of my own mind. For which...yes there is a love/hate dynamic with regard to the constricting elements of language, emotion, thought, and culture.

Which has the unintentional consequence of incoherence. Compounded by my acceptance of inchorence as a natural process of a personal psychonautic adventure.

I have a fierce tendency toward leftward radical patterns of thought that orient around America class war. The fact that doctors never had to get dirty but were in charge of the clinical endeavor used to make me think I had a unique insight that they should.

As I enter the upper middle class and gain medicine as a profession it occurs to me how useless many of the notions to gain admission to the field actually are. Including my own. Particularly my own.

Having grown people changing careers worry about trying to do mindless health care work is an absurd notion. Of which I drank the kook aid of.

 

[ObLaDi]

Now I'm depressed.

 

[JourneyAgent]

Now I'm depressed.

seriously? Why?

 

[MelanieMorris]

I'm not trying to be rude or anything, but until you have been a CNA you have no idea what we (yes I am one) go thru. CNA's can have more of an impact on a patients life than a doctor at times and isn't that why we are here for?? Our patients!!

So congrats to you for being a smug ass Dr. but I will be a better one for having been a CNA!

 

[JourneyAgent]

I'm not trying to be rude or anything, but until you have been a CNA you have no idea what we (yes I am one) go thru. CNA's can have more of an impact on a patients life than a doctor at times and isn't that why we are here for?? Our patients!!

So congrats to you for being a smug ass Dr. but I will be a better one for having been a CNA!

Careful you're leading with your chin. Since I only came off the way I did to try out some ideas, I'll refrain from letting you knock yourself out on my jab.

No. You're right. They (notice i didnt say we) have no idea what the majority of people even do much less go through to earn their check.

My point was this. The vast majority of experiences that make you who you are and how well you can relate to people particularly in this setting are not part of the metrics of medical school. Which in turn are not part of who you will be as a physician.

It seems impossible that it is not part of the physicians role to be cognizant of majority of patient care interactions that their patients will have in the hospital. Until you begin to understand all of what one has to be cognizant of as a physician. Then you realize one brain has its job cut out for itself with just that small part on all the patients the team carries.

I still have my roots close to my heart. I treat people kindly. I try to know their names. I say hello and so forth when entering a room and ask them how our patient is doing.

But when I regard myself, much like yourself, trying to come from nothing, I laugh at the energy I spent boxing with ghosts of my own creation.

Time has passed. The beach made smooth by the pounding of many storms. And I am looking at you looking at me and I cannot but laugh despite you taking it wrongly.

 

[ObLaDi]

Trying to pull myself up out of the dirt, hoping that the experience I'm going through right now will benefit me in some way in the future, but knowing that I'm learning things that people can figure out in medical school, and not really having any other better options for work at this time that are as flexible as my hospice job... I guess I should enjoy my job as a nobody. When I have a job with more responsibility, I will probably look back fondly on the days when the most difficult part of my day was dealing with nurses who have ego issues and elderly patients who spit strawberry waffles in my face.

 

[LUCPM]

Trying to pull myself up out of the dirt, hoping that the experience I'm going through right now will benefit me in some way in the future, but knowing that I'm learning things that people can figure out in medical school, and not really having any other better options for work at this time that are as flexible as my hospice job... I guess I should enjoy my job as a nobody. When I have a job with more responsibility, I will probably look back fondly on the days when the most difficult part of my day was dealing with nurses who have ego issues and elderly patients who spit strawberry waffles in my face.

Exactly. Med school will not teach you how to avoid flying spit by the way. However, you just develop different perspectives as you move along.

 

[Pons Asinorum]

I'm not trying to be rude or anything, but until you have been a CNA you have no idea what we (yes I am one) go thru. CNA's can have more of an impact on a patients life than a doctor at times and isn't that why we are here for?? Our patients!!

So congrats to you for being a smug ass Dr. but I will be a better one for having been a CNA!

Might all be true, but that isn't going to help you get an acceptance to medical school, which was the op's point. The umbrage-taking is getting a little thick in this thread.

 

[JourneyAgent]

Exactly. Med school will not teach you how to avoid flying spit by the way. However, you just develop different perspectives as you move along.

Right. Sorry, but it appears I used your other post ad an excuse for my own subterranean reflection.

ObLaDi, I think the escape is to develop a process of self-edification and self-education earlier than later.

I mean, nobody knows the dudes in Valley Forge who froze their d!cks off. Just the Virginia Planters on horseback who stand up in canoes for good portrait ops. Medicine is equally ridiculous if not more so. Nobody advances to the next level of the medical hierarchy for being the guy who throws the blocks for the team. It's the pr!ck that grabs the spotlight that matters. Medicine is completely inept at evaluating non academic characteristics. The attendings who snort otherwise think so because its only their ego that is omnipresent.

So that go figure. The thesis that states bottom level work is a privileged point of view for future leadership skill, has never been held in any esteem by most human civilizations and cultures. Medicine in particular.

 

[Pons Asinorum]

Trying to pull myself up out of the dirt, hoping that the experience I'm going through right now will benefit me in some way in the future, but knowing that I'm learning things that people can figure out in medical school, and not really having any other better options for work at this time that are as flexible as my hospice job... I guess I should enjoy my job as a nobody. When I have a job with more responsibility, I will probably look back fondly on the days when the most difficult part of my day was dealing with nurses who have ego issues and elderly patients who spit strawberry waffles in my face.

The things you are learning right now, you can learn in medical school. If you feel like you're at the low end of the health care totem pole, it's because as a CNA you are, in fact, at the bottom. That isn't meant here or elsewhere as an insult, but control your insecurity because someone pointed it out. Your job has flexibility and you enjoy it. Embrace that.

 

[moocow47]

You can try nursing homes. Some will even train you (at least some of the ones around me will)

 

[ObLaDi]

Pons, Journey,

the goal is to keep my head down and kick some serious post-bac ass with minimal work-related interference or stress. A stealth plan, I tell you!

 

[Pons Asinorum]

Pons, Journey,

the goal is to keep my head down and kick some serious post-bac ass with minimal work-related interference or stress. A stealth plan, I tell you!

Sounds like a plan. Best of luck.

 

[EmergDoc2B]

CNA easier than EMT-B, though honestly adcomms don't look awfully favorably upon either. The checkbox that everyone calls "clinical experience" doesn't need to involve placing hands on patients, it means simply seeing physicians do what physicians do, for enough time to actually know what you're getting into. It also has to be said that volunteering doesn't pay that much less than market wages in most large city markets for these jobs. Basically, don't do either just to buff up your application.

I completely disagree with the bolded. Adcoms look at those who sit on the sidelines and call it clinical experience less favorable than someone who has actual clinical exp. Having the drive to experience patient care first hand by actually performing patient care always trumps watching someone do patient care and calling clinical experience. I would think this is a no brainer.

I worked as a CNA while doing my post bacc work and it was some of the most rewarding work ive done to date. It affirmed my decision to pursue a career in medicine and it put me in a position to meet some of the most incredible people and help them as they dealt with some life altering changes.

 

[Pons Asinorum]

I completely disagree with the bolded. Adcoms look at those who sit on the sidelines and call it clinical experience less favorable than someone who has actual clinical exp. Having the drive to experience patient care first hand by actually performing patient care always trumps watching someone do patient care and calling clinical experience. I would think this is a no brainer.

I worked as a CNA while doing my post bacc work and it was some of the most rewarding work ive done to date. It affirmed my decision to pursue a career in medicine and it put me in a position to meet some of the most incredible people and help them as they dealt with some life altering changes.

No brainer or no, I feel differently than you. And I would have to point out there might be a little selection bias in your opinion if you are basing this on what you feel is common sense and your n=1 experiment. Having been around adcomm discussions, with the patient care experience inflation that is common, it really is just a check in the box. Making the key feature of your app your amazing experience as a CNA is not a recipe for success, unless it is attached to competitive stats. At which point really its your stats that got you across the finish line, not the CNA. Correlation, causation, etc. Of course, life changing experiences can be nice, but those can come from all manner of experiences.

 

[Pons Asinorum]

I completely disagree with the bolded. Adcoms look at those who sit on the sidelines and call it clinical experience less favorable than someone who has actual clinical exp. Having the drive to experience patient care first hand by actually performing patient care always trumps watching someone do patient care and calling clinical experience. I would think this is a no brainer.

I worked as a CNA while doing my post bacc work and it was some of the most rewarding work ive done to date. It affirmed my decision to pursue a career in medicine and it put me in a position to meet some of the most incredible people and help them as they dealt with some life altering changes.

Also, I would point out that for a lot of people, CNA hardly carries the flag for "actual clinical experience." EMT-B on a truck with liberal scope of practice, full-time medic, Navy corpsman attached to a Marine det, etc etc. I would argue that CNA is patient experience/exposure, but it ain't clinical. That kid who volunteers for the undergraduate premed society and works at 10+ health fairs during junior/senior year doing health screens, blood glucose, BP, BMI does what looks like more "clinical" work than a CNA in the setting that most physicians/adcomms know of CNA work. You need to be careful not to conflate "patient care" and "clinical experience."

 

[EmergDoc2B]

No brainer or no, I feel differently than you. And I would have to point out there might be a little selection bias in your opinion if you are basing this on what you feel is common sense and your n=1 experiment. Having been around adcomm discussions, with the patient care experience inflation that is common, it really is just a check in the box. Making the key feature of your app your amazing experience as a CNA is not a recipe for success, unless it is attached to competitive stats. At which point really its your stats that got you across the finish line, not the CNA. Correlation, causation, etc. Of course, life changing experiences can be nice, but those can come from all manner of experiences.

The question was posed as to which was looked more favorably upon, emt or CNA. You felt based on your experience that true patient care wasn't looked awfully favorable and shadowing was all that was needed. I get that but thats based off your check the box theory. I just dont see how you can say getting licensed, and then working directly with patients shows your just checking boxes. To me standing watching like a fly on the wall and not getting your hands dirty is the definition of checking a box. But to be fair someone who volunteers for years versus a CNA for 6 months should be viewed differently. I get that.

 

[EmergDoc2B]

Also, I would point out that for a lot of people, CNA hardly carries the flag for "actual clinical experience." EMT-B on a truck with liberal scope of practice, full-time medic, Navy corpsman attached to a Marine det, etc etc. I would argue that CNA is patient experience/exposure, but it ain't clinical. That kid who volunteers for the undergraduate premed society and works at 10+ health fairs during junior/senior year doing health screens, blood glucose, BP, BMI does what looks like more "clinical" work than a CNA in the setting that most physicians/adcomms know of CNA work. You need to be careful not to conflate "patient care" and "clinical experience."

You are sadly misinformed. The setting in which youre a CNA (Tech) is what makes you more or less clinical.Have you ever stepped foot on any floor in a hospital and NOT seen a CNA (tech)? That's a rhetorical question by the way.

 

[Pons Asinorum]

The question was posed as to which was looked more favorably upon, emt or CNA. You felt based on your experience that true patient care wasn't looked awfully favorable and shadowing was all that was needed. I get that but thats based off your check the box theory. I just dont see how you can say getting licensed, and then working directly with patients shows your just checking boxes. To me standing watching like a fly on the wall and not getting your hands dirty is the definition of checking a box. But to be fair someone who volunteers for years versus a CNA for 6 months should be viewed differently. I get that.

ROI, my friend. All those hours of "true patient care" don't carry much water; stats do. I think a more success-focused plan is to meet the threshold for patient exposure, which is small, and then spend that time that would have been spent doing patient-whatever and making better grades and boosting MCAT. Increasing MCAT 4 points=very valuable. Increasing patient care hours from 50 to 2000=marginally valuable. The first one requires fewer than 1950 hours.

 

[Pons Asinorum]

You are sadly misinformed. The setting in which youre a CNA (Tech) is what makes you more or less clinical.Have you ever stepped foot on any floor in a hospital and NOT seen a CNA (tech)? That's a rhetorical question by the way.

I'm not sadly misinformed; the physicians and educators who sit on adcomms are. You can rail at this to your heart's delight. There's a reason that pre-meds aren't busting down the doors to get that all-coveted CNA cert. If it was as valuable as you contend/wish, they would be. They're a smart bunch and are smartest at figuring out how to game the admission system.

 

[EmergDoc2B]

ROI, my friend. All those hours of "true patient care" don't carry much water; stats do. I think a more success-focused plan is to meet the threshold for patient exposure, which is small, and then spend that time that would have been spent doing patient-whatever and making better grades and boosting MCAT. Increasing MCAT 4 points=very valuable. Increasing patient care hours from 50 to 2000=marginally valuable. The first one requires fewer than 1950 hours.

I am in complete agreeance with you that stats are the backbone of your app. I was working off the premise of the OP having great stats and wanting clinical experience. But. Yes, I agree, without good stats you could have decades of clinical experience and it would mean little to nothing to an adcom.

 

[EmergDoc2B]

I'm not sadly misinformed; the physicians and educators who sit on adcomms are. You can rail at this to your heart's delight. There's a reason that pre-meds aren't busting down the doors to get that all-coveted CNA cert. If it was as valuable as you contend/wish, they would be. They're a smart bunch and are smartest at figuring out how to game the admission system.

Optimism versus cynicism is the issue were having. You see people trying to game a system to get into medical school. I, however sought out a meaningful way to get clinical experience that afforded me opportunities that shadowing and volunteering just couldn't. I respect your opinions and how you think. Its just 180 degrees from how I think.

 

[Pons Asinorum]

Optimism versus cynicism is the issue were having. You see people trying to game a system to get into medical school. I, however sought out a meaningful way to get clinical experience that afforded me opportunities that shadowing and volunteering just couldn't. I respect your opinions and how you think. Its just 180 degrees from how I think.

I agree wholeheartedly. You're a nontrad who found a way to achieve this dream we all have, and that makes me happy. The initial discussion was "hey, CNA looks like it might be a good thing to get for the purposes of buffing my app" (liberty taking with the OP's real message, forgive my continued cynicism ) CNA is the right thing for some people, I just think it might be low-yield if you aren't using it as a needed source of income (for reasons that were highlighted before, flexibility, location, etc.)

 

[galaxyx]

It doesn't matter.
Clinical experience is about EXPOSURE to patients in a medical setting, not the difference between wiping their bum or taking their blood pressure.
If two people are exactly equal, the adcom isn't going to pick an EMT over a CNA because of the "purity" of the experience. The adcom will pick the one that is able to convey their experience the best.

 

[EmergDoc2B]

I agree wholeheartedly. You're a nontrad who found a way to achieve this dream we all have, and that makes me happy. The initial discussion was "hey, CNA looks like it might be a good thing to get for the purposes of buffing my app" (liberty taking with the OP's real message, forgive my continued cynicism ) CNA is the right thing for some people, I just think it might be low-yield if you aren't using it as a needed source of income (for reasons that were highlighted before, flexibility, location, etc.)

Good discussion and I agree with the person above as well. Wow a disagreement on SDN that didnt end with feces being thrown. Impressive.

 

[ObLaDi]

Yep, it doesn't really matter what kind of "clinical experience" you have if you cannot translate your experience in a way that satisfactorily answers the "why medicine" question. I remember a thread where a pre-med student had a few hundred hours of physician shadowing under his belt and a decent enough GPA, and was told he was rejected d/t not enough clinical experience. I think the takeaway is that, no matter what type of clinical experience you choose as a pre-med, your priority is to get something out of it that can prove to a med school that you have qualities, goals, mindset, WHATEVER, that will make you a successful medical student. This is your job as a potential applicant. It doesn't matter what you've been doing if you cannot talk or write about it in a meaningful way.

 

[Pons Asinorum]

Good discussion and I agree with the person above as well. Wow a disagreement on SDN that didnt end with feces being thrown. Impressive.

Nontrad forum. It's a little different in here.

 

[Pons Asinorum]

It doesn't matter.
Clinical experience is about EXPOSURE to patients in a medical setting, not the difference between wiping their bum or taking their blood pressure.
If two people are exactly equal, the adcom isn't going to pick an EMT over a CNA because of the "purity" of the experience. The adcom will pick the one that is able to convey their experience the best.

Adcomms will pick the one with an MCAT score one point higher is my cynical take. Purity of experience is not a metric captured in the rankings used to assemble the USN&WR medical school rankings.

 

[EmergDoc2B]

Nontrad forum. It's a little different in here.

T-Shirt

 

[yossarian444]

, though honestly adcomms don't look awfully favorably upon either. .

Completely disagree.

I worked as CNA prior to medical school at an inpatient rehab setting for CNS injuries. Did a lot of DIRTY work - diapers, etc. I got asked about it on both med school admissions interviews and on multiple residency interviews. Doctors respect people that are willing to change diapers. It was defiinietely looked upon favorably. As a resident now, I give the techs/CNA's/etc. a lot of respect and make a point to take the 2 seconds to say hello or 2 minutes when I can to help turn a patient or whatever.

If you can't spin an exciting story to tell during an interview about your CNA experience, you're probably just not an exiting interviewee in general.

Furthermore, I was advised by a retired dean of admissions of a med school (he helped pre-meds in his spare time in an emeritus role at the university) to get a CNA job - he said he didn't care about EMT jobs so much since they don't spend 100% of their time with patients like CNA's did. EMT's spend a lot of time driving around BS-ing with their co-workers and don't tend to humanity's most basic needs.

 

[JourneyAgent]

Completely disagree.

I worked as CNA prior to medical school at an inpatient rehab setting for CNS injuries. Did a lot of DIRTY work - diapers, etc. I got asked about it on both med school admissions interviews and on multiple residency interviews. Doctors respect people that are willing to change diapers. It was defiinietely looked upon favorably. As a resident now, I give the techs/CNA's/etc. a lot of respect and make a point to take the 2 seconds to say hello or 2 minutes when I can to help turn a patient or whatever.

If you can't spin an exciting story to tell during an interview about your CNA experience, you're probably just not an exiting interviewee in general.

Furthermore, I was advised by a retired dean of admissions of a med school (he helped pre-meds in his spare time in an emeritus role at the university) to get a CNA job - he said he didn't care about EMT jobs so much since they don't spend 100% of their time with patients like CNA's did. EMT's spend a lot of time driving around BS-ing with their co-workers and don't tend to humanity's most basic needs.

I don't know man. There are hippies in the system. Occasionally high up the chain. But it surprises me the interviewers were interested.

Regardless, if you're a CNA and you love taking care of people, by all means talk about that part of yourself.

But if the question is whether to rearrange a successful career to become a CNA, then it's a F@ck No! from me. Someone who thinks the system would be better if every one had to do a few different roles in healthcare before advancing.

Even so there nothing inherent in the act of collecting a paycheck to do anything. Nothing morally superior about being meek and powerless. The people who are groovy to work with, just are. They can be computer programmers, army medics, or shoe salesmen. There's no occupation that assures human decency and conferring dignity to the work of others.

It is somewhat beneficial to the health of the delivery system for it's participants to more aware of each other. But there's just as many successful people from all sorts of fields being asked about their experiences as well. I don't believe that your experience suggests much as prescriptive course for someone considering the diaper change as a career shift.

I've done plenty dirty work. And all my desire to make people around me feel good at their work would've been with me whether I had enough talent playing bass to not have had to change diapers in the first place. I would've been happier describing to an interviewer how Bootsy Collins thought my funk chops were legit during and interview than waxing Bolshevik about the soul purifying aspects of wiping @ss.

Perhaps that's just me.

 

[EmergDoc2B]

Its not the act of wiping ass that makes the experience noteworthy. Its that fact that you are helping a fellow human being in their most vulnerable time when you could be doing something else far more glamorous LIKE playing bass guitar sipping martinis or craft beer.

2cents.

 

[yossarian444]

But if the question is whether to rearrange a successful career to become a CNA, then it's a F@ck No! from me.

.

I had a successful career in the business world Monday-Friday. I was able to work as a CNA on weekends and 1-2 nights per week. No days off kinda sucked, but I was lucky to find a CNA job that let me dictate my hours.

If the question is CNA vs volunteering vs EMT, I would definitely recommend CNA. If the choice is leave a good-paying job for CNA/EMT/volunteer, then I agree, the decision becomes tough.

 

[PhysioG318]

I have been a CNA for about 3 months and I plan to apply to medical school this cycle. I can definelty tell you that being a CNA you see it all and do it all. On my very first day at the hosptial where I work. A patient passed away from pancreatic Caner and the CNA's are required to do the Post-Modern Care. I being a new CNA on the floor went along with the other CNA's. It was my first time in setting having to cleanse and dress a deceased patient. Its a experience that happens all to many time in the medical profession but I will always remember it because it was the moment that I knew if I could do that I could do anything I put my mind to. So yes go be a CNA! IT is a once in a life time experience and if you ask me I think all Premeds should have a taste of what CNA's go through on a day to day basis.

 

[JourneyAgent]

I have been a CNA for about 3 months and I plan to apply to medical school this cycle. I can definelty tell you that being a CNA you see it all and do it all. On my very first day at the hosptial where I work. A patient passed away from pancreatic Caner and the CNA's are required to do the Post-Modern Care. I being a new CNA on the floor went along with the other CNA's. It was my first time in setting having to cleanse and dress a deceased patient. Its a experience that happens all to many time in the medical profession but I will always remember it because it was the moment that I knew if I could do that I could do anything I put my mind to. So yes go be a CNA! IT is a once in a life time experience and if you ask me I think all Premeds should have a taste of what CNA's go through on a day to day basis.

Let's not get carried away. It's still all new to you and you have the mind state of a passing traveler. You most certainly do not DO it all. There's a reason in you're in charge of the deceased.

Do another 5 - 10 years of it and get back to me about your feelings on your lot.

I insist on a huge caveat to your assessment to make it true. In your off cycle year or just to gain some health care experience at some point in your preparation, fine, go do it. The OP's query was a more nuanced question. And certainly should not be advised by someone who doesn't have to pay a larger price for tourism on their way to being a doc.

 

[Sabate]

Completely disagree.
Furthermore, I was advised by a retired dean of admissions of a med school (he helped pre-meds in his spare time in an emeritus role at the university) to get a CNA job - he said he didn't care about EMT jobs so much since they don't spend 100% of their time with patients like CNA's did. EMT's spend a lot of time driving around BS-ing with their co-workers and don't tend to humanity's most basic needs.

I definitely felt this way as an EMT. You see someone's bad days but you rarely know more than 15-30 minutes of their life. I have a lot of respect for my friends who have worked as CNAs and the work they do is much harder than a bad MVA. CNAs also get to see way more patient care and medicine than EMTs. EMS is very removed from EM and you get limited exposure to what EM physicians actually do.

 

[TactFR44]

I know this is old but I had to respond as some comments on here regarding CNAs induced N/V. You are in no place or position to discount anyone's experiences. You and the moderator on this forum have no business mindreading what 'adcoms' think about clinical exposure experience.

You seem to be so far up your smug high horse that you cannot comprehend the scope of patient care beyond your level. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to wrap their head around how crucial the techs are in a hospital or how much devotion one has to their patients if they can handle/stomach the job that is CNA.

The experience is invaluable and it will most definitely be a great addition to anyone's application as it shows that individual is committed to their patients. I would much rather have a doctor who respects the little guy in corner than a stuck up narcissist. Humble beginnings everyone. Humble beginnings.

I don't know man. There are hippies in the system. Occasionally high up the chain. But it surprises me the interviewers were interested.

Regardless, if you're a CNA and you love taking care of people, by all means talk about that part of yourself.

But if the question is whether to rearrange a successful career to become a CNA, then it's a F@ck No! from me. Someone who thinks the system would be better if every one had to do a few different roles in healthcare before advancing.

Even so there nothing inherent in the act of collecting a paycheck to do anything. Nothing morally superior about being meek and powerless. The people who are groovy to work with, just are. They can be computer programmers, army medics, or shoe salesmen. There's no occupation that assures human decency and conferring dignity to the work of others.

It is somewhat beneficial to the health of the delivery system for it's participants to more aware of each other. But there's just as many successful people from all sorts of fields being asked about their experiences as well. I don't believe that your experience suggests much as prescriptive course for someone considering the diaper change as a career shift.

I've done plenty dirty work. And all my desire to make people around me feel good at their work would've been with me whether I had enough talent playing bass to not have had to change diapers in the first place. I would've been happier describing to an interviewer how Bootsy Collins thought my funk chops were legit during and interview than waxing Bolshevik about the soul purifying aspects of wiping @ss.

Perhaps that's just me.

 

[forgetful]

As the original OP (who forgot about this thread pretty much immediately after I posted the question...) I appreciate your bumping this. I have nothing but respect for CNAs, and I've decided to obtain a license once I finish my pre-requisites. I want experience working in long-term care, and I like having the opportunity to build relationships with patients over time.

I know this is old but I had to respond as some comments on here regarding CNAs induced N/V. You are in no place or position to discount anyone's experiences. You and the moderator on this forum have no business mindreading what 'adcoms' think about clinical exposure experience.

You seem to be so far up your smug high horse that you cannot comprehend the scope of patient care beyond your level. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to wrap their head around how crucial the techs are in a hospital or how much devotion one has to their patients if they can handle/stomach the job that is CNA.

The experience is invaluable and it will most definitely be a great addition to anyone's application as it shows that individual is committed to their patients. I would much rather have a doctor who respects the little guy in corner than a stuck up narcissist. Humble beginnings everyone. Humble beginnings.

 

[TactFR44]

As the original OP (who forgot about this thread pretty much immediately after I posted the question...) I appreciate your bumping this. I have nothing but respect for CNAs, and I've decided to obtain a license once I finish my pre-requisites. I want experience working in long-term care, and I like having the opportunity to build relationships with patients over time.

Of course! I was just flabbergasted at some of the comments on here. Physicians/PAs who I shadow commend me greatly for my plan of action especially my work as a CNA. Also, I'm not too sure why but many of the threads regarding CNA jobs emphasize working in long term care (aka a nursing home). I would understand how long term care can be beneficial (as it is!) but I feel obtaining a tech position in a hospital exposes you to so much more.

In my state, you can simply 'challenge' the CNA test. No training classes needed = no $$ spent. I learned all my skills on https://www.youtube.com/user/4yourCNA and the written portion was extremely easy (extremely easy = no studying required, common sense). I got my license, applied at all the hospitals and received 3 interviews at a major teaching hospital in my area. I've been teching ever since. Maybe in other states you are required to have some type of mandatory education classes but that is not necessary in all states. I would look into it for your state.

Like another poster stated above, being a licensed medical staff means you are making assessments on your patients and the nurses NEED you. Trust me. The nurses NEED you. They fall apart without a tech on the floor. For example, let's say I decided to not report an abnormal EKG to the nurse, or I took a blood sugar and it was >500 mg/dl or <30 mg/dl but it was never reported. Oh, and of course if your patient is complaining of dyspnea and don't go immediately run and grab the nurse, pulse ox, dynamap. I can let you reason out the consequences and let you piece together how a licensed CNA is more beneficial than a volunteer.

"Common sense is not so common"-Voltaire