Becoming a Nurse Assistant

It is a bit unreasonable to expect school leavers to know what job they want to do. Working as a nurse assistant will give you some responsibility while also giving you a chance to earn and learn.

You won’t earn a lot but you will gain valuable experience in the healthcare environment. You will be able to see what other professionals do from day to day and therefore you should be able to make a more informed decision about your future career.

There is no huge time commitment involved in becoming a nurse’s aide. It only takes 75 hours of training and in most states you can start work after about 20 hours of that. You will have to be supervised closely. But when you compare the amount of study time involved to other careers it is not a big deal.

What qualities must you have to become a nursing assistant?

While you may not know what section of the medical world you want to work in you must at least know that you want to work with people. If you find computers or gadgets more interesting than people the role of the certified nurse assistant is definitely the wrong one for you.

When you start work as a nurse’s aide, you will get to see all the highs and lows of working with the general public. Not everyone has the patience to deal with the elderly or the sick. Some are better suited to this type of career than others. You cannot be lazy either as this is a physically as well as emotionally demanding role. You may see yourself as the next Florence Nightingale but in reality you will spend a lot of your time on chores that are similar to housework i.e. cleaning, changing beds etc.

Is there a future for nurse assistants?

The good news is that once you pass the CNA certification exam you should have a job for life. Although your license can be revoked if you don’t work as a nurse for a certain period of time, you can usually get it reinstated fairly quickly once you show you have the necessary skills. There is no way a computer can take over the role of the nurse’s aide. They may make life a little easier but until computers develop feelings there will always be a need for the personal touch in medical facilities.

But don’t get too excited at the thought that 75 hours training will equip you with a job for life. Most certified nurse assistants burn out or transfer to a new career. Although the money is reasonable for a school leaver it is not sufficient to support a family in most instances. Not when you take in the hours of backbreaking work that you are expected to do. You will have to stand for long periods of time and a significant number of CNA’s decide to quality as registered nurses. The hours are similar but the role is more challenging and much better paid.

Combine earning with research

But the fact remains that becoming a certified nurse assistant is a good option for school leavers to combine earning with research into the opportunities that exist in the medical career field. You will come across positions you may never have thought of such as a radiation therapist or perhaps a cardiovascular technician. There is no better way to gain an understanding of a medical career than to speak to the people working in that position and to observe them as they go about their daily routine.

If you decide that you would be interested in training for a particular position you are going in with your eyes wide open. You know the highs and lows before you start studying. This can be motivating and a lot of mature students perform significantly better than their younger peers. Part of this is the fact that being older they should be more mature. But knowing what you want to work at is a more powerful motivator than studying for a course because your grades got you in or your parents thought it would be a good career for you.

You won’t have the same problems with student loans as other graduates have

Some of the medical careers you could choose to enter will require less studying than others. There may be a chance for you to continue working as a certified nurse assistant perhaps on a part time basis while you study for your new qualifications. This will help reduce the burden of debt you start your new career with as your student loans should be considerably lower. Also working in medical facilities will help you to develop contacts which could be useful when you are looking for relevant work experience for your new career.

So why not consider becoming a nurse’s aide. You must be at least 16 in most states. You should pass your NNAAP – the certified nurse exam – to show that you are professional and committed. This will impress your bosses and it may open new doors when you start looking for work experience for your new role. There are plenty of options available to the school leaver. Going to college is an obvious one. Becoming a certified nurse assistant is less obvious but may prove very valuable.