Should i take a CNA course???

[cuyegs]

Should i take an online class to get ceritfied as a Nursing assistant or as an EMT or is it a waste of time? I need a job so it kind of fits.

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[acrobat]

I'm and EMT and it's awesome. Don't be a CNA- ull get no responsibility and ull spend ur days washing people's asses. Since society can't afford to have on call doctors or paramedics respond to every call they use highly untrained EMTS to do so. So people who take a 5 credit course get to take care of people who are really ****ed up and on the verge of death. it's awesome!

 

[Pkboi24]

I'm and EMT and it's awesome. Don't be a CNA- ull get no responsibility and ull spend ur days washing people's asses. Since society can't afford to have on call doctors or paramedics respond to every call they use highly untrained EMTS to do so. So people who take a 5 credit course get to take care of people who are really ****ed up and on the verge of death. it's awesome!

Haha, having to put my life in the hands of unskilled people. Love it.

 

[Queenshawtii]

I'm a CNA and you get to see the nursing side of the medical field. Yes, you do wash ass but there are a few different types of CNA's u can be such as Restorative and more recently a Medication Passing CNA these require further training though.

 

[acrobat]

Depending on the state u can do more training for EMT too. I am now an EMT IV-tech but the state is renaming it EMT- Intermediate technician as opposed to an EMT- Intermediate which is a very advanced rank. Our state now called EMT-intermediates EMT-Intermediate advanced to distinguish them from us.

I'm a CNA and you get to see the nursing side of the medical field. Yes, you do wash ass but there are a few different types of CNA's u can be such as Restorative and more recently a Medication Passing CNA these require further training though.

 

[MollyMalone]

EMT work is great clinical experience but you can do interesting things as a CNA, too. When I was a CNA I worked in outpatient care (clinic), long-term care (nursing home), and acute care (hospital). This gave me a very broad perspective on our health care system. Emergencies are sexy, but you get a lot of very useful knowledge about the long term sequelae of those emergent events working in long term care/rehab. It's pretty cool to take care of the guy who wipes out on his motorcycle and comes in with a big head injury and road rash everywhere... but you'll wind up with a lot more in depth understanding of neurology when you see exactly what he can and can't do a year down the road. Similarly, it's very exciting to take care of someone presenting with an acute MI, but if you're a CNA in the CCU, you get to see what happens next. Yes, as a CNA you will wipe people's butts. You'll feed them and toilet them and help them get dressed and check their vital signs. You can, if you work in a hospital, do CPR, observe bedside procedures, be trained in a variety of tasks from glucose monitoring to telemetry to Foley catheterization, follow a patient's course of care from start to finish, and, if you play nice with others and the nurses like you, you can wind up seeing pretty much any variety of surgery you want to watch.

The experiences you get will be different, but that doesn't make one necessarily superior over the other.

Also keep in mind that where you live will to some extent determine what you can do with either background. OSUdoc08, who will almost certainly post in this thread at some point, will tell you that EMTs can work in emergency departments, which I'm sure is true where he comes from but it isn't where I live. At my hospital we had one EMT working in our ED and he had to get certified as a CNA to do it.

Best of luck to you!

 

[Joebird22]

Well i'll be going from LPN to Associate level RN to Bachelors level RN before I apply to Med school lol...........

 

[acrobat]

Ya EMS depends on where you work too. In big cities paramedics generally respond to 911 because they can afford to hire em and work em nonstop on calls 24/7. The EMS in big cities will probably be private services that end up transferring overweight people from a nursing home to a hospital or the reverse in a non emergency situation- no other way to move em..

But if you get on in a small town then EMT's a fire department respond directly to 911 like we do. That's key. We have awesome equipment due to a rich ass republican in our town. They saved him 5 or 10 years ago and now he buys new everything for us.

Well i'll be going from LPN to Associate level RN to Bachelors level RN before I apply to Med school lol...........

 

[DoctorPardi]

Should i take an online class to get ceritfied as a Nursing assistant or as an EMT or is it a waste of time? I need a job so it kind of fits.

I definitely wouldn't take a CNA class unless you are really interestd in nursing home's or geriatrics. Everything I have heard about those classes is that you learn absolutely nothing, pay like 700 bucks and clean nursing home patients from top to bottom.

 

[DoctorPardi]

EMT work is great clinical experience but you can do interesting things as a CNA, too. When I was a CNA I worked in outpatient care (clinic), long-term care (nursing home), and acute care (hospital). This gave me a very broad perspective on our health care system. Emergencies are sexy, but you get a lot of very useful knowledge about the long term sequelae of those emergent events working in long term care/rehab. It's pretty cool to take care of the guy who wipes out on his motorcycle and comes in with a big head injury and road rash everywhere... but you'll wind up with a lot more in depth understanding of neurology when you see exactly what he can and can't do a year down the road. Similarly, it's very exciting to take care of someone presenting with an acute MI, but if you're a CNA in the CCU, you get to see what happens next. Yes, as a CNA you will wipe people's butts. You'll feed them and toilet them and help them get dressed and check their vital signs. You can, if you work in a hospital, do CPR, observe bedside procedures, be trained in a variety of tasks from glucose monitoring to telemetry to Foley catheterization, follow a patient's course of care from start to finish, and, if you play nice with others and the nurses like you, you can wind up seeing pretty much any variety of surgery you want to watch.
Best of luck to you!

I guess my view is somewhat skewed because I am a nurse's assistant and I bypassed the whole CNA deal. My stepmom luckily worked at a hospital and got me a job in the OR there. So if you are getting a CNA just to get a job at a hospital then I can see it.

I don't actually know how difficult it is to get a job at a hospital with no experience/certification, because I got a job with neither lol.

 

[Pkboi24]

I guess my view is somewhat skewed because I am a nurse's assistant and I bypassed the whole CNA deal. My stepmom luckily worked at a hospital and got me a job in the OR there. So if you are getting a CNA just to get a job at a hospital then I can see it.

I don't actually know how difficult it is to get a job at a hospital with no experience/certification, because I got a job with neither lol.

Ditto, I worked in the OR for a year too. Surgeries were interesting to watch, but the work was crap. An articulate chimpanzee could have done my job. The nurses boss you around like you're their indentured servant. The doctors boss the nurses around likewise. You get in a bad attitude and mishandle the patients, and they take their anger out on the physician. It's an all too vicious cycle.

 

[DoctorPardi]

Ditto, I worked in the OR for a year too. Surgeries were interesting to watch, but the work was crap. An articulate chimpanzee could have done my job. The nurses boss you around like you're their indentured servant. The doctors boss the nurses around likewise. You get in a bad attitude and mishandle the patients, and they take their anger out on the physician. It's an all too vicious cycle.

Well I actually have a really good OR work experience. The hospital I am at is pretty laid back, there are some bitchy nurses, but for the most part they are real nice to us. We just sit on our asses most of the time studying, playing cards, reading, waiting for rooms to come out.

Plus they have been really flexible about hours, basically every semester I've needed a new schedule and they help me out.

 

[Dorise04]

I am working in a hospital as a dietary aid and I will be taking my CNA classes this august. Since I work in a hospital it will be easier to get a job as a CNA. But most people I know including my sister had to start working at a nursing home and have at least a year experience.


But it all depends on where you live


Good luck!

 

[cuyegs]

how hard and how long does it take to get an EMT certification? in california

 

[CardiacIntensivist]

how hard and how long does it take to get an EMT certification? in california

About 3 months or less. Easy as cake. You can choke on cake.

Actually, how hard it will be will depend on you. When I took the course I thought it was fairly straight forward and simple. However, there were other people in my class who were taking it for the third time and still barely managed to get their license (and no, their outside life didn't hamper their ability in class). It's actually kind of scary how some people who shouldn't have the license actually do have it.

Edit - didn't see your in california till now. I took mine in NYC but I think it takes around the same time anywhere to get that license.

 

[SeminoleFan3]

how hard and how long does it take to get an EMT certification? in california

I took it in San Diego last summer in 8 weeks.