CNA to RN

[dmjacobsen]

I agree with this. Accounting and nursing seem to be the trendy occupations for people to jump to these days because they're touted as being highly employable. Not everyone is cut out for nursing and I'm sure some people have become bored to death with accounting.

Great advice!
I still will argue FOR the CNA....afterall, she thought she wanted to be a journalist too. I'm not condemning, just pointing out that there is nothing to lose with seeing healthcare from the inside before making a career change.

Not intending to be argumentative, but getting experience as a CNA to see if you would like to become an NP or PA is about as helpful as getting experience as a security officer to see if you'd like to be a DA. There is absolutely no crossover in the two except that you interact with people. A better option -- and one that would provide some networking opportunities down the road -- would be to ask an NP or PA if you could shadow them for a few shifts to see exactly what they do.

[Gaz]

I read this post yesterday and I was going to reply, but did not have time. I return and dmjacobsen has said most everything that I would have. There are no shortcuts. An accelerated BSN program is actually a compressed program. It means you quit your job, work twice as long, more days a week and get done sooner. The prereqs, if you don't already have them, could take you another year. Many of them are sequential.

Another consideration might be to become an LVN. In California they have a program called the "30 unit option." It is essentially a short LVN to RN transition; however, you can only work in California. Having said that, it is only open to LVNs with considerable experience. I personally would not recommend this, but there are always circumstances where this might make the most sense for someone.

In regard to PA school, I have noticed that in California some of the PA schools have prereqs similar to nursing schools. For Example at UC Davis the science prereqs for PA school are A&P I & II (labs), Microbiology (with lab), General Chem I (with lab), and the usual math, social sciences, etc. On the East Coast many of the PA schools require BIO I & II, Chem I & II, Bio Chem or Organic Chem, Micro, etc..

I agree with both dmjacobsen and Jennifer about becoming a CNA. It will not count toward or help you become an RN, but if you're already working on the floor, know the managers, fit in, and are dependable it could help you get a job when you graduate. As mentioned, you might have an advantage in the first month of nursing school. While the other students are shy about going into patient rooms, you will be running around giving baths, taking vitals, feeding patients with ease. Then later when you're learning about acid-base balance, electrolytes, interpreting lab values, focused assessments, burns, ob, psych, and many other detailed topics, your CNA license may as well be from a box of Cracker Jacks. Then suddenly the student who was afraid to give a patient a bath might be the person you need to explain something to you.

[sanantone]

Not intending to be argumentative, but getting experience as a CNA to see if you would like to become an NP or PA is about as helpful as getting experience as a security officer to see if you'd like to be a DA. There is absolutely no crossover in the two except that you interact with people. A better option -- and one that would provide some networking opportunities down the road -- would be to ask an NP or PA if you could shadow them for a few shifts to see exactly what they do.

I don't agree with that comparison at all. A security officer acts as a visible and physical deterrent. There is actually crossover between being a security officer and a law enforcement officer. A DA prosecutes cases. There is nothing physical about the job. CNAs have hands-on experience dealing with sick people. Are you going to tell me that nurses don't deal with sick people hands-on? The stress (and grossness) of dealing with sick people is something a lot of people can't handle. There is also physical stress from having to lift patients and be on your feet for long shifts.

What I'm getting is that Cookderosa is saying that working as a CNA can help someone figure out if they want to be in the medical field, not that it will help with an application or performance in a medical program. I've heard many nurses recommend working as a CNA before starting an RN program. As far as shadowing, I can only speak to this from a law enforcement standpoint. You can ride along with a police officer for a week, but you will just be watching. You won't directly feel the stress the police officer has to go through. You might also end up riding along during a relatively peaceful week. While being a security officer is a far step down from being a police officer, one who has worked in security for awhile knows what it's like to be cursed at, threatened, having to write long reports, and even sometimes being physically attacked. I know several security officers who have been assaulted and have had to shoot people. I know of security officers locally who have been murdered on the job. If I were hiring for a police officer position and had to choose between someone who was a security officer for a year and a person who shadowed a police officer for a week, I would choose the security officer given that the two candidates were equal. The security officer would have a more realistic expectation of the stressors of the job.

I've worked as a security officer and I've ridden along with a police officer. I've also worked for a law enforcement agency. If I were to go by my ride-along (shadow) of a police officer, I would think that the job isn't that bad.

If you work as something like a patient care technician or CNA in a hospital, I would think that would be better for networking than just watching someone for a few shifts. You would also be working right alongside nurses and PAs, not just watching them for a few shifts. Most security officers don't work alongside attorneys. Most security officers don't even work in a courthouse, law office, or any kind of legal setting. I had a student who wants to go to law school. I told her to do an internship as a paralegal or legal assistant.

[dmjacobsen]

I don't agree with that comparison at all. A security officer acts as a visible and physical deterrent. There is actually crossover between being a security officer and a law enforcement officer. A DA prosecutes cases. There is nothing physical about the job. CNAs have hands-on experience dealing with sick people. Are you going to tell me that nurses don't deal with sick people hands-on? The stress (and grossness) of dealing with sick people is something a lot of people can't handle. There is also physical stress from having to lift patients and be on your feet for long shifts. <snipped for brevity>

Somehow, my analogy didn't come across in the way that I intended. In my comparison, I was under the assumption that we were still talking about the PA/NP role, not the RN role, since that was the route that I recommended. Additionally, I intentionally did not mention anything about transitioning from security officer to police officer, which *would* have been appropriate if talking about a transition from CNA->RN. But, again, I'm talking about CNA->NP route, which is more like comparing an SO->DA route. Which, in my opinion, makes no sense. It appears that you agree with me in that respect, as you gave the exact same advice to your student, albeit applied to a criminal justice setting.

To reiterate, my advice is only in regards to the end-goal of becoming a midlevel practitioner, specifically a PA. If one wants to take the longer, more-tortuous path of CNA->(LPN->)RN->NP instead of a direct-entry PA program, then by all means, go for it.

As an aside, CNA's do not generally work "alongside" PA's. By and large, CNA's work in nursing homes and on medical/surgical inpatient units. CNA's would have little to no need to interact directly with a practitioner in these settings, as their chain of command goes through nursing staff first. This isn't to say that they can't or don't socialize with practitioners, but that there is very little opportunity to do so, given their typical workload.

[sanantone]

Somehow, my analogy didn't come across in the way that I intended. In my comparison, I was under the assumption that we were still talking about the PA/NP role, not the RN role, since that was the route that I recommended. Additionally, I intentionally did not mention anything about transitioning from security officer to police officer, which *would* have been appropriate if talking about a transition from CNA->RN. But, again, I'm talking about CNA->NP route, which is more like comparing an SO->DA route. Which, in my opinion, makes no sense. It appears that you agree with me in that respect, as you gave the exact same advice to your student, albeit applied to a criminal justice setting.

To reiterate, my advice is only in regards to the end-goal of becoming a midlevel practitioner, specifically a PA. If one wants to take the longer, more-tortuous path of CNA->(LPN->)RN->NP instead of a direct-entry PA program, then by all means, go for it.

As an aside, CNA's do not generally work "alongside" PA's. By and large, CNA's work in nursing homes and on medical/surgical inpatient units. CNA's would have little to no need to interact directly with a practitioner in these settings, as their chain of command goes through nursing staff first. This isn't to say that they can't or don't socialize with practitioners, but that there is very little opportunity to do so, given their typical workload.

Okay. I was thinking more along the lines of the OP having to become a nurse before entering a nurse practitioner program. However, there are some direct entry MSN options.

[bluebooger]

Great advice!
I still will argue FOR the CNA....afterall, she thought she wanted to be a journalist too. I'm not condemning, just pointing out that there is nothing to lose with seeing healthcare from the inside before making a career change.

yeah, better to be exposed to the smell, blood, urine and feces now rather than later when you've paid 30 k in tuition and then discover being around sick people sucks

[dmjacobsen]

Okay. I was thinking more along the lines of the OP having to become a nurse before entering a nurse practitioner program. However, there are some direct entry MSN options.

For the sake of clarification, PA (Physician Assistant) is a direct-entry Master's program that is not in any way tied to nursing. All direct-entry MSN/FNP programs that I have ever researched have required the student to obtain their RN along the way, due to state licensing regulations -- and rightly so. However, that adds a significant amount of time to the process. That's why I advocate for the PA route in OP's case.

[dmjacobsen]

It's interesting to note that OP posted this same question just four months ago, and received answers from some of the same people in this thread.

[cookderosa]

Not intending to be argumentative, but getting experience as a CNA to see if you would like to become an NP or PA is about as helpful as getting experience as a security officer to see if you'd like to be a DA. There is absolutely no crossover in the two except that you interact with people. A better option -- and one that would provide some networking opportunities down the road -- would be to ask an NP or PA if you could shadow them for a few shifts to see exactly what they do.

Sigh..... I feel like this thread is a warzone! Let me tell you MY experience with being a CNA. My goal, to become a CNM, was based on my 10 years as a doula and 20 year consumer of midwifery care. Let me add, I volunteered for a CNM as a medical assistant for 4 weeks, and was a free clinic volunteer for 2 years. My mom was a nurse her whole life, and I enjoyed science classes, so I thought I might take the sciences and see if I could pass them. I did pass them, so the nurses and doctors I volunteered with encouraged me to apply to nursing school. I did, and got accepted to every program I applied to. One program required CNA certification as a pre-req. I completed my CNA in a nursing home (6 week course that I enjoyed) and then landed a job on the OB-GYN floor with some GENEROUS pull from 2 CNMs who had privilege at that hospital. One month in, and I knew I didn't want to go through nursing to become a CNM. I won't go into all the "whys" that went into my experience, but my point is that getting in there and seeing, smelling, listening, observing, is all valuable when you're an adult considering a career change. My experience might be unique if I didn't watch adult after adult go through a similar experience in the culinary program I worked for. They watched chefs on TV, loved to cook, and after 1 month in a kitchen were DONE. It's not about the specific task, an observant thoughtful person can learn a LOT from just being in the place they are considering. That's it, I've said my two cents.

[sanantone]

For the sake of clarification, PA (Physician Assistant) is a direct-entry Master's program that is not in any way tied to nursing. All direct-entry MSN/FNP programs that I have ever researched have required the student to obtain their RN along the way, due to state licensing regulations -- and rightly so. However, that adds a significant amount of time to the process. That's why I advocate for the PA route in OP's case.

Yes, I know because I've looked into UT Austin's alternate entry, psychiatric nurse practitioner program. It takes 3 years to complete. The first year is all about earning the RN license. My local physician assistant program is 2 years.