CNA to RN

[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.