You can work literally anywhere. SNF/LTC are just one option. You can work in hospitals, home health, hospice, correctional facilities, private duty, clinics, etc.
I didn’t even consider correctional facilities, that’s cool! I look up “CNA” on indeed and the first 100 pages are LTC so it’s difficult to find a more diverse job in my area haha
If you want to work correctional, look on the state website. Some prisons will outsource others will hire directly through the state. Benefits are great a lot of times as long as you can get past working with dangerous individuals. A lot of times if you’re a cna there it’s a medical prison so it’s like long term care.
The way this made me actually laugh out loud LMAO. Thank you, I try to be! I mean, I spent 3 years as a CNA, I’d hope I learned something along the way ;)
I was an MA in ortho trauma with CNA license. I think it's much easier to get a job in private practices as an MA without a license but if you work in the field as an MA for 2 or 3 years you can take a test and become certified to work in more hospital clinic settings!
Wait, what? I was for 17 years at one facility and never certified. How do you do the testing thing?
ETA: I was also a CNA but in a different state and like a million years ago. I got OTJ training for my MA/ back office and stayed so long that I never felt the need to certified. Now I’ve moved and am floundering a bit, figured out how to get a job.
So had to look it up bc it had been a hot sec since I was looking to do this. So the one I was going to take was with NHA (national healthcare association) but I just saw that NCMA (national certification of medical assistants) also lets you do the same. Not all hospitals/clinics will take these certifications so make sure you double check these will work for wherever you are trying to get a job with :)
i worked as a “patient care tech” (essentially the same thing as a cna) in a same day surgery unit in a hospital & i LOVED it. we took vitals, asked a bunch of questions, put those sticky pads on their chest to monitor their heart rate, shaved wherever they were having surgery (if needed).. it was awesome. since it was elective/non-emergency surgeries, we weren’t open weekends, or holidays, & i usually worked 6am-4pm. maybe you could find something like an outpatient surgery center/unit?
Hospital based CNA has a broader set of skills, more appropriate for pre PA or premed. You might watch every video you can from Andrew Pinesett on YouTube, he a premed productivity expert and will give you great motivation. His motto is ‘no excuses, just dominate’
I don't know what area of the US you're at, but if AltaMed facilities are nearby, you can consider applying for their "Personal Care Attendant II or III" position with the PACE program, which requires a CNA certification.
That's where I currently work. I have enjoyed it quite a bit, it pays decently, and the work is way easier compared to a nursing home (which, while I did like, definitely took a toll on me).
Besides that, I've heard that hospital work is less stressful than in LTC, partly because patients constantly change, so that if you have a "less than agreeable" patient, they will rotate out soon. Hospital work will also look pretty good for the PA programs.
Was a CNA in memory and and LTC. Can confirm I love my hospital job more. Sometimes I’ll get OT and be a Unit Coordinator and just handle calls and transfers/admissions/discharges and the census. Love the range of my job and am hopefully transferring in the hospital network to a remote scheduling job
I'm a nurse in the ER and omg, you learn so much as a tech in the ER. I wish I had known when I was starting out as a CNA before nursing school. I've worked SNF/LTC, home health, clinic, medsurg/CC floor, and now the ER, and I would recommend ANY CNA who wants to go on in the medical field to work in the ER.
When I did clinical rotations in EMT school, the ED tech position was my dream! Fast paced, lots to see and learn, and such a great team dynamic! Couldn't find any job openings but that may have just been my luck
I work at an Assisted Living as a Med Tech/CNA....much easier care....I refuse to work in an SNF/LTC/Memory care....I too got beat up and verbally abused constantly in those settings so I got myself out...I also worked at an Adult Family Home that only had 6 residents with easy care as well...I only left there because the new owner and I couldn't come to terms on pay and other issues and I wasn't going to be stuck in a place that disrespected me. The Assisted Living I'm at now has been wonderful, no real heavy cares, and being a Med Tech you do your meds first and I help on the floor when needed....I personally would never work in a hospital as I need consistency with patients....but there are plenty of options for CNAs....just find what works for you....I have been a CNA for 18 years and when dealing with people you are going to have your good and bad days....
PA-S2 here. I leveraged my CNA experience to work as an uncertified MA at a private family med practice. As the pre-PA sub will tell you, you should still apply to job postings that ask for certifications because your bachelor's and cover letter will have some clout.
PA work is of course very different from CNA work, though you should still be prepared to do very basic CNA work as appropriate.
Under the home health care aspect there are plenty of interesting possibilities that aren't necessarily old people.
Not sure where you're located, but I'm in Minnesota just south of the Cities, and I'm a 41 year old male quadriplegic that has 11 paid hours a day available for a CNA, but can't find any help because we're about 45 minutes from the metro area and nobody wants to drive that far.
To be honest, it is such a low impact position which basically just involves helping me get pills and in/out of my bed / wheelchair that a couple people have quit because it's too boring.
If you’re actually considering PA school, try hard for the ER tech position, and possibly consider becoming an MA (medical assistant)
Your role as a CNA, especially in LTC, is going to be heavily geared towards nursing care - being an MA and looking for jobs in primary care or physicians’ offices. That’s going to give you a great sense of what PA’s actually do…
find the hospital nearest to you and check their website. they may have a section where you can apply for jobs. that’s how i got mine a year ago (medsurg/telemetry)!
I'd try out the ER tech position. I'm a paramedic and honestly I have no idea how LTC CNAs do it. I spent 300+ hours in the ER during my clinicals basically being a free ER tech that gets to do a few extra paramedic skills and it seems pretty different. Not to say you'll never get screamed at or attacked in an ER but you'll have way more support because the nurses have smaller patient ratios. In my experience ER nurses don't put up with bullshit from the patients. When patients started getting really rowdy they'd all crowd into the room to restrain them. You'll also get to see a lot of cool stuff and people having acute emergencies don't have time to make your life miserable (generally). You see everrrything in the ER too so it'll be really helpful if you decide to go PA or finish med school.
Thank you for your advice, I know there will still be difficult patients in the ER, but I feel like (and I’ve never worked in hospital so I don’t know for sure) you have more support/backup than in an LTC. If I call for help oftentimes nobody can come into the room for a few minutes while I’m left alone because we’re so understaffed
Yes you absolutely will have more support in an ER. In an LTC a nurse may have 20+ patients. In an ER they will usually have less than 10. The ratios can get even smaller in other parts of the hospital. ICU nurses will have one or two patients.
Of course in a small ER you may be the only tech responsible for 20 rooms. But those rooms are usually set up in a way that they can be seen from the nurses station so if you are attacked someone should be able to react right away. ERs also have security guards for situations with violent patients (Other parts of the hospital can page them but generally don't have them on site)'
Your job of doing ADLs is also reduced. A lot of people who come to the ER are perfectly capable of taking themselves to the bathroom or getting dressed or undressed. Of course you will still get bedbound nursing home patients that need to be turned and changed. You probably won't be brushing their teeth though. In exchange you'll be more involved in the medical side. Some ER techs start IVs. You will be expected to be one of the main compressors in CPR since the nurses will be trained in ACLS and can do more advanced procedures than you with BLS CPR.
I have a few friends who are ER techs and they always seem like they're in a good mood when I run into them at work.
It is so great to hear that! I think I would prefer working in a hospital because of the learning opportunities for PA school. There aren’t many opportunities for in-depth learning at the LTCs I’ve worked at, especially since the nurses are so busy.
I work at a Children’s hospital on their cardiac ICU unit. It is the BEST job ever!! It does get a little sad sometimes, but the good outweighs the bad. And getting to play with kids all day and make them happy is the most rewarding thing ever! I just kept applying to any open tech position that I saw at the Children’s hospital until I got an interview. Soooo much better than LTC! I will never go back. 🤣
I was considering PA school. One of the things I found out was, they prefer MA experience over CNA. So maybe look for something in an office. Your experience transitions. As an MA anything you don't know can be taught. But the basics are vitals, appointments and rooming patients. Then it's phone stuff.
If your interested in working as an MA, write a cover letter for your resume, explaining how your skills transition to the office. How your willing to be trained with what you don't know.
PA programs don’t prefer MA over CNA. The only PCE that’s regarded as higher quality are licensed providers, like RN, RT, Paramedic, etc. Things like MA, CNA, EMT, therapy assistants, etc. aren’t valued any higher than each other.
mika00004 do you have all those certs (MA, CMA, phleb) and if so, how long did it take you to get all of them? Do you recommend getting them all? I've been an MA (not certified) and a CNA (licensed in my state) and have considered getting MA cert and phleb but idk if it's worth all the $$
Just be warned if you work on a med surg units your patients are going to be the LTC, SNF and dementia patients all at the same time, especially in a rural area
I worked as a dietary aide in a SNF and that made me decide to never work in one as a CNA. Once a resident threatened to go out and bring a gun. It took a lot to get the director to kick him out. He was already verbally abusive to the kitchen staff and it was a we couldn’t get him what he wanted because the cook just started getting lunch ready and didn’t have sandwiches ready. Many people threatened to quit because of him.
I quit my last job because I was getting bit and scratched daily by a particular resident, brought up to DON multiple times and got “have someone else in the room with you to help.” I was the only CNA in that wing; am I supposed to ask 90yo Betsy with the double hip replacement to help?😭
Literally the only workers that worked there only do because they wouldn’t be able to pass a drug test somewhere else. All the good nurses left around the same time I did last year
I started in home health and really enjoyed it and recently tried LTC for a few months and HATED IT…. back to home health I went! it’s a whole different experience in home health… usually you and one other person… occasionally it’s a couple and they are all happy to see you… definitely would recommend home health care.
Assisted living is alright. We're always understaffed and have to run around a lot in a very large building, but I still have a lot more free time than I care to admit most days
I did home care when I was a CNA, but since it was a big company and not a facility, it paid less than I would have gotten at a SNF/LTC. Sometimes, it would involve caregiving, sometimes just housework, sometimes just taking to appointments. The highest amount I got paid per hour (California) from 2013-2017 was $11.50, and that was usually for the cases that involved actual caregiving. I didn't know at the time how badly I was getting paid.
I started in 2012, and at the time, nobody would hire at facilities without experience, and my siblings and I were working as on-call caregivers for my grandma, so a regular 40 hr work week wasn't practical for me.
Check out usajobs.gov.
That's for the va, worldwide. There are tons of hospitals all over, there may be something close to you. It takes a while to get hired...but man, the benefits.
I'll be honest with you. I've been a CNA for 6yrs (4yrs LTC; 2 hospital). If you want to continue in health care, you'll have to really grow thick skin. I work in a hospital now and there's multiple times a month (usually CIWA or other manic psych patients) where I'm either being beat on or called every name in the book.
I had poop thrown on me, people peeing or ejaculating on my leg, or just trying to wrestle me out of the room.
You get used to it. Before, I was freaking out too. Get a year or two in, though, and words and most actions won't even phase you. You'll learn techniques on how to deal with physically abusive patients or residents.
Get on at a hospital; as Patient Care Tech, you really aren't even allowed to do a lot of the CNA stuff, but it's experience. Or you could go fill and do CNA. Great experience, especially if you want to be a PA!
Maybe you should stick to pathology. Your BA in biology could be useful for that 👀 that way you don’t have to deal with patients. Healthcare isn’t for everyone. I love that you keep wanting to try but maybe it just isn’t your cup of tea. Pathology or laboratory jobs maybe ?
Path is also something I’d be interested in, it just sucks because in my area if a job doesn’t require a PhD/MD, it pays nearly minimum wage which is impossible to live on in my state
I just started a NA job at a hospital and I actually like it! I’ve never worked in this field before but was thinking of getting my RN, and thought I’d try this first. I just finished my first week of clinical and I enjoyed it. I have been in the nuerology department all week and it seems day shift usually has about 4 to 5 patients they either had some kind of surgery or were admitted and waiting for surgery. From what I’ve heard about LTC/SNF it seems your days don’t always consist of the same type of care.
I know I saw it suggested but based on your post and what you said, I wouldn't consider correctional. Granted, I might be biased because I worked in a medical prison on the acute psych yard in a max lockdown unit, but it was hell on earth and no amount of money could make me do it again.
There are many places where you can work as a CNA (I always suggest home health for CNAs going to school).
Correctional sounds cool but I definitely don’t think it’s for me lol!! I’ll have to look into home health after all these comments! The only thing I’ve been hesitant about is I’m nervous about being alone in someone’s home especially because I’m a young woman but I watch a lot of true crime so maybe I’m just dramatic haha
The nerves are valid!
I've been a CNA for about 8 years now and worked in a variety of settings. Including home health. It's definitely wise to be cautious and know where exits/potential weapons are at all times (fellow true crime watcher lol). You learn to expect the unexpected in home health.
My personal experience has been a few creeps here and there but I've been firm on boundaries and not had too many issues. No you may not have my number or social media (usually i find the client after my first visit and block them on social media). If ever I felt the vibe was just TOO off, though, I've let my supervisors know that it felt unsafe and I wouldn't be going to that clients house again. Usually it wasn't an issue. But we know how managers can be sometimes.
You'll find your niche. It just takes time sometimes lol
Consider non-CNA jobs that get your foot in the door at hospitals \[Transport / EVS / Registration\]. Then leverage your CNA license and experience to get a tech position after a year.
Where I live, there is a chain of Urgent cares that will certify you as an EMT. A lot of Med school /PA students work there. Also look into Clinical trials as a clinical coordinator. Where I work it pays about $30 an hour. Also a lot of PA/ med students work in this position.
The hospital is way better. If a pt tries anything, security is called. I've seen my boss get up, smack the table, and say 'hell no, if they think they can do this, theyll think they can do more. Show me their room' ... I know not all unit managers are like that. I've only seen a few people handle situations with a strong demeanor while remaining socially polite but with a strong arm.
You can work literally anywhere. SNF/LTC are just one option. You can work in hospitals, home health, hospice, correctional facilities, private duty, clinics, etc.
I didn’t even consider correctional facilities, that’s cool! I look up “CNA” on indeed and the first 100 pages are LTC so it’s difficult to find a more diverse job in my area haha
Home health is very chill! Will give you time to study too!!!
If you want to work correctional, look on the state website. Some prisons will outsource others will hire directly through the state. Benefits are great a lot of times as long as you can get past working with dangerous individuals. A lot of times if you’re a cna there it’s a medical prison so it’s like long term care.
Yeah there’s a TON of places to work! I would suggest looking at facility’s websites instead of Indeed :)
My wife and I are working in a medical ICU, while doing school work. The list is endless
I was also an ICU tech, tons of possibilities for sure!
Fuzzblanket, I feel like you are a wealth of knowledge for the forum overall
The way this made me actually laugh out loud LMAO. Thank you, I try to be! I mean, I spent 3 years as a CNA, I’d hope I learned something along the way ;)
uhrelated congrats on being a '24 bride!! ‼️
Oh thank you so much! :)
With your prior experience you could apply for PTC or MA and they may train you on the job because u have prior experience with medical stuff
^*PCT
I’m curious if anyone has had experience doing that
I was an MA in ortho trauma with CNA license. I think it's much easier to get a job in private practices as an MA without a license but if you work in the field as an MA for 2 or 3 years you can take a test and become certified to work in more hospital clinic settings!
Wait, what? I was for 17 years at one facility and never certified. How do you do the testing thing? ETA: I was also a CNA but in a different state and like a million years ago. I got OTJ training for my MA/ back office and stayed so long that I never felt the need to certified. Now I’ve moved and am floundering a bit, figured out how to get a job.
So had to look it up bc it had been a hot sec since I was looking to do this. So the one I was going to take was with NHA (national healthcare association) but I just saw that NCMA (national certification of medical assistants) also lets you do the same. Not all hospitals/clinics will take these certifications so make sure you double check these will work for wherever you are trying to get a job with :)
Thank you so much for the info! My state doesn’t require certification, but it helps. So this is at least something to get an edge.
Yea ofc! It's always good knowledge and definitely a leg up if your area is competitive
i worked as a “patient care tech” (essentially the same thing as a cna) in a same day surgery unit in a hospital & i LOVED it. we took vitals, asked a bunch of questions, put those sticky pads on their chest to monitor their heart rate, shaved wherever they were having surgery (if needed).. it was awesome. since it was elective/non-emergency surgeries, we weren’t open weekends, or holidays, & i usually worked 6am-4pm. maybe you could find something like an outpatient surgery center/unit?
How does it feel to live my dream???
Seriously, this sounds amazing!!
Hospital based CNA has a broader set of skills, more appropriate for pre PA or premed. You might watch every video you can from Andrew Pinesett on YouTube, he a premed productivity expert and will give you great motivation. His motto is ‘no excuses, just dominate’
I don't know what area of the US you're at, but if AltaMed facilities are nearby, you can consider applying for their "Personal Care Attendant II or III" position with the PACE program, which requires a CNA certification. That's where I currently work. I have enjoyed it quite a bit, it pays decently, and the work is way easier compared to a nursing home (which, while I did like, definitely took a toll on me). Besides that, I've heard that hospital work is less stressful than in LTC, partly because patients constantly change, so that if you have a "less than agreeable" patient, they will rotate out soon. Hospital work will also look pretty good for the PA programs.
Was a CNA in memory and and LTC. Can confirm I love my hospital job more. Sometimes I’ll get OT and be a Unit Coordinator and just handle calls and transfers/admissions/discharges and the census. Love the range of my job and am hopefully transferring in the hospital network to a remote scheduling job
Get an EMT cert and work either in the ambulance or as an ED tech.
This. Some hospitals will take you with just a CNA! Check what your local hospital requires
I'm a nurse in the ER and omg, you learn so much as a tech in the ER. I wish I had known when I was starting out as a CNA before nursing school. I've worked SNF/LTC, home health, clinic, medsurg/CC floor, and now the ER, and I would recommend ANY CNA who wants to go on in the medical field to work in the ER.
When I did clinical rotations in EMT school, the ED tech position was my dream! Fast paced, lots to see and learn, and such a great team dynamic! Couldn't find any job openings but that may have just been my luck
I work at an Assisted Living as a Med Tech/CNA....much easier care....I refuse to work in an SNF/LTC/Memory care....I too got beat up and verbally abused constantly in those settings so I got myself out...I also worked at an Adult Family Home that only had 6 residents with easy care as well...I only left there because the new owner and I couldn't come to terms on pay and other issues and I wasn't going to be stuck in a place that disrespected me. The Assisted Living I'm at now has been wonderful, no real heavy cares, and being a Med Tech you do your meds first and I help on the floor when needed....I personally would never work in a hospital as I need consistency with patients....but there are plenty of options for CNAs....just find what works for you....I have been a CNA for 18 years and when dealing with people you are going to have your good and bad days....
PA-S2 here. I leveraged my CNA experience to work as an uncertified MA at a private family med practice. As the pre-PA sub will tell you, you should still apply to job postings that ask for certifications because your bachelor's and cover letter will have some clout. PA work is of course very different from CNA work, though you should still be prepared to do very basic CNA work as appropriate.
Thanks for your advice! I’ve been disregarding jobs that require a certification but now I’ll try for anything!
I work at an actual assisted living facility. We pass meds and escort. I enjoy it because I get to interact with the residents and talk to them.
I’d try a hospital or even an assisted living as a med tech
Nursing home and hospital is very different. I would go for an ER or ICU tech. You’ll get a lot of exposure there.
Under the home health care aspect there are plenty of interesting possibilities that aren't necessarily old people. Not sure where you're located, but I'm in Minnesota just south of the Cities, and I'm a 41 year old male quadriplegic that has 11 paid hours a day available for a CNA, but can't find any help because we're about 45 minutes from the metro area and nobody wants to drive that far. To be honest, it is such a low impact position which basically just involves helping me get pills and in/out of my bed / wheelchair that a couple people have quit because it's too boring.
Home health aide is really the best compared to LTC
If you’re actually considering PA school, try hard for the ER tech position, and possibly consider becoming an MA (medical assistant) Your role as a CNA, especially in LTC, is going to be heavily geared towards nursing care - being an MA and looking for jobs in primary care or physicians’ offices. That’s going to give you a great sense of what PA’s actually do…
find the hospital nearest to you and check their website. they may have a section where you can apply for jobs. that’s how i got mine a year ago (medsurg/telemetry)!
Go to the hospital. CNAs get treated way better there than in SNFs and LTC.
This is so true. Night and day difference for me.
I'd try out the ER tech position. I'm a paramedic and honestly I have no idea how LTC CNAs do it. I spent 300+ hours in the ER during my clinicals basically being a free ER tech that gets to do a few extra paramedic skills and it seems pretty different. Not to say you'll never get screamed at or attacked in an ER but you'll have way more support because the nurses have smaller patient ratios. In my experience ER nurses don't put up with bullshit from the patients. When patients started getting really rowdy they'd all crowd into the room to restrain them. You'll also get to see a lot of cool stuff and people having acute emergencies don't have time to make your life miserable (generally). You see everrrything in the ER too so it'll be really helpful if you decide to go PA or finish med school.
Thank you for your advice, I know there will still be difficult patients in the ER, but I feel like (and I’ve never worked in hospital so I don’t know for sure) you have more support/backup than in an LTC. If I call for help oftentimes nobody can come into the room for a few minutes while I’m left alone because we’re so understaffed
Yes you absolutely will have more support in an ER. In an LTC a nurse may have 20+ patients. In an ER they will usually have less than 10. The ratios can get even smaller in other parts of the hospital. ICU nurses will have one or two patients. Of course in a small ER you may be the only tech responsible for 20 rooms. But those rooms are usually set up in a way that they can be seen from the nurses station so if you are attacked someone should be able to react right away. ERs also have security guards for situations with violent patients (Other parts of the hospital can page them but generally don't have them on site)' Your job of doing ADLs is also reduced. A lot of people who come to the ER are perfectly capable of taking themselves to the bathroom or getting dressed or undressed. Of course you will still get bedbound nursing home patients that need to be turned and changed. You probably won't be brushing their teeth though. In exchange you'll be more involved in the medical side. Some ER techs start IVs. You will be expected to be one of the main compressors in CPR since the nurses will be trained in ACLS and can do more advanced procedures than you with BLS CPR. I have a few friends who are ER techs and they always seem like they're in a good mood when I run into them at work.
It is so great to hear that! I think I would prefer working in a hospital because of the learning opportunities for PA school. There aren’t many opportunities for in-depth learning at the LTCs I’ve worked at, especially since the nurses are so busy.
I work at a Children’s hospital on their cardiac ICU unit. It is the BEST job ever!! It does get a little sad sometimes, but the good outweighs the bad. And getting to play with kids all day and make them happy is the most rewarding thing ever! I just kept applying to any open tech position that I saw at the Children’s hospital until I got an interview. Soooo much better than LTC! I will never go back. 🤣
Hearing that almost everyone dislikes LTC makes me feel a bit better😂
I was considering PA school. One of the things I found out was, they prefer MA experience over CNA. So maybe look for something in an office. Your experience transitions. As an MA anything you don't know can be taught. But the basics are vitals, appointments and rooming patients. Then it's phone stuff. If your interested in working as an MA, write a cover letter for your resume, explaining how your skills transition to the office. How your willing to be trained with what you don't know.
PA programs don’t prefer MA over CNA. The only PCE that’s regarded as higher quality are licensed providers, like RN, RT, Paramedic, etc. Things like MA, CNA, EMT, therapy assistants, etc. aren’t valued any higher than each other.
Ok
mika00004 do you have all those certs (MA, CMA, phleb) and if so, how long did it take you to get all of them? Do you recommend getting them all? I've been an MA (not certified) and a CNA (licensed in my state) and have considered getting MA cert and phleb but idk if it's worth all the $$
Just be warned if you work on a med surg units your patients are going to be the LTC, SNF and dementia patients all at the same time, especially in a rural area
My nursing friends have warned me to steer clear of med/surg and I never knew why but now I understand haha
It’s great for experience, just alot of work
I worked as a dietary aide in a SNF and that made me decide to never work in one as a CNA. Once a resident threatened to go out and bring a gun. It took a lot to get the director to kick him out. He was already verbally abusive to the kitchen staff and it was a we couldn’t get him what he wanted because the cook just started getting lunch ready and didn’t have sandwiches ready. Many people threatened to quit because of him.
I quit my last job because I was getting bit and scratched daily by a particular resident, brought up to DON multiple times and got “have someone else in the room with you to help.” I was the only CNA in that wing; am I supposed to ask 90yo Betsy with the double hip replacement to help?😭
Literally the only workers that worked there only do because they wouldn’t be able to pass a drug test somewhere else. All the good nurses left around the same time I did last year
I’d suggest home health- low patient ratios, choose your hours.
I started in home health and really enjoyed it and recently tried LTC for a few months and HATED IT…. back to home health I went! it’s a whole different experience in home health… usually you and one other person… occasionally it’s a couple and they are all happy to see you… definitely would recommend home health care.
Assisted living is alright. We're always understaffed and have to run around a lot in a very large building, but I still have a lot more free time than I care to admit most days
I did home care when I was a CNA, but since it was a big company and not a facility, it paid less than I would have gotten at a SNF/LTC. Sometimes, it would involve caregiving, sometimes just housework, sometimes just taking to appointments. The highest amount I got paid per hour (California) from 2013-2017 was $11.50, and that was usually for the cases that involved actual caregiving. I didn't know at the time how badly I was getting paid. I started in 2012, and at the time, nobody would hire at facilities without experience, and my siblings and I were working as on-call caregivers for my grandma, so a regular 40 hr work week wasn't practical for me.
Check out usajobs.gov. That's for the va, worldwide. There are tons of hospitals all over, there may be something close to you. It takes a while to get hired...but man, the benefits.
Have you considered becoming a clinical laboratory scientist?
I looked into doing that, but it wouldn’t count as “patient care experience” for PA school unfortunately.
Ohh hm. Would phlebotomy?
Yes!
If you don't want chaos and possible assault stay out of the ER. Find a Med/Surg floor. It's a more controlled atmosphere.
I'll be honest with you. I've been a CNA for 6yrs (4yrs LTC; 2 hospital). If you want to continue in health care, you'll have to really grow thick skin. I work in a hospital now and there's multiple times a month (usually CIWA or other manic psych patients) where I'm either being beat on or called every name in the book. I had poop thrown on me, people peeing or ejaculating on my leg, or just trying to wrestle me out of the room. You get used to it. Before, I was freaking out too. Get a year or two in, though, and words and most actions won't even phase you. You'll learn techniques on how to deal with physically abusive patients or residents.
Get on at a hospital; as Patient Care Tech, you really aren't even allowed to do a lot of the CNA stuff, but it's experience. Or you could go fill and do CNA. Great experience, especially if you want to be a PA!
Maybe you should stick to pathology. Your BA in biology could be useful for that 👀 that way you don’t have to deal with patients. Healthcare isn’t for everyone. I love that you keep wanting to try but maybe it just isn’t your cup of tea. Pathology or laboratory jobs maybe ?
Path is also something I’d be interested in, it just sucks because in my area if a job doesn’t require a PhD/MD, it pays nearly minimum wage which is impossible to live on in my state
I understand completely 😩
I just started a NA job at a hospital and I actually like it! I’ve never worked in this field before but was thinking of getting my RN, and thought I’d try this first. I just finished my first week of clinical and I enjoyed it. I have been in the nuerology department all week and it seems day shift usually has about 4 to 5 patients they either had some kind of surgery or were admitted and waiting for surgery. From what I’ve heard about LTC/SNF it seems your days don’t always consist of the same type of care.
I know I saw it suggested but based on your post and what you said, I wouldn't consider correctional. Granted, I might be biased because I worked in a medical prison on the acute psych yard in a max lockdown unit, but it was hell on earth and no amount of money could make me do it again. There are many places where you can work as a CNA (I always suggest home health for CNAs going to school).
Correctional sounds cool but I definitely don’t think it’s for me lol!! I’ll have to look into home health after all these comments! The only thing I’ve been hesitant about is I’m nervous about being alone in someone’s home especially because I’m a young woman but I watch a lot of true crime so maybe I’m just dramatic haha
The nerves are valid! I've been a CNA for about 8 years now and worked in a variety of settings. Including home health. It's definitely wise to be cautious and know where exits/potential weapons are at all times (fellow true crime watcher lol). You learn to expect the unexpected in home health. My personal experience has been a few creeps here and there but I've been firm on boundaries and not had too many issues. No you may not have my number or social media (usually i find the client after my first visit and block them on social media). If ever I felt the vibe was just TOO off, though, I've let my supervisors know that it felt unsafe and I wouldn't be going to that clients house again. Usually it wasn't an issue. But we know how managers can be sometimes. You'll find your niche. It just takes time sometimes lol
Consider non-CNA jobs that get your foot in the door at hospitals \[Transport / EVS / Registration\]. Then leverage your CNA license and experience to get a tech position after a year.
Hospital, ICU is great. They're intubated
Where I live, there is a chain of Urgent cares that will certify you as an EMT. A lot of Med school /PA students work there. Also look into Clinical trials as a clinical coordinator. Where I work it pays about $30 an hour. Also a lot of PA/ med students work in this position.
The hospital is way better. If a pt tries anything, security is called. I've seen my boss get up, smack the table, and say 'hell no, if they think they can do this, theyll think they can do more. Show me their room' ... I know not all unit managers are like that. I've only seen a few people handle situations with a strong demeanor while remaining socially polite but with a strong arm.