Melvin Said:

Question for Registered Nurses regarding education, experience and finding a job?

We Answered:

Okay,


While being a CNA will certainly add to your patient care techniques and manner, and it is much more significant to your future career as an RN than food service or retail is, it's not going to make or break whether you get the job as an RN or not. When hiring new grads, most units/departments in the hospital setting hire the grad nurses that worked for them as Student Nurse Externs (which you can do after a semester of clinicals...some areas such as ED or Critical Care want 2 semesters). In all the years I've been a nurse, I have yet to meet a co-worker who was selected over another candidate simply because she (I work in OB- our staff is female) was a CNA at some point. Again, what I'm trying to say is that CNA's are a valuable member of the healthcare team and working as one is certainly more relevant than retail, but it's not that big of a deal when securing an RN position...what you learn in a 6-8 week CNA course, you learn in the first 3 days of nursing classes. If it helps you pay the bills and is flexible enough for you to attend school, get enough study time, and provide a little insight into healthcare, go for it!