Ok....So What Now??

So Friday April 25th was last day of my CNA classes. I passed my class final with an 89% ,need to make up 12 classroom hours since I missed 2 school days and completed my Clinicals.

Once I complete my classroom hours I register to take my state test. Im less nervous than I originally was, still need to study my ass off and learn my skills down to a T. Im seeking independent employment with the elderly and/or persons with disabilities doing home care so I can bring my daughter along with me.

I will also be taking my Basic Life Support Class for Healthcare Professionals next week. I would like to take more classes  as well such as Phlebotomy, Human Anatomy Cadaver class and others.

Im thinking about either MA or RN. idk. I dont want to be a paperwork nurse, I want to be a patient care nurse or medical assistant that is involved in patient care. If I wanted to continue with office admin shit I would have stuck to being a customer service rep.

 I think now my ultimate goal is to own my own long term care facility after taking my clinicals at a dump and feeling sorry for those poor residents who have to deal with that daily. I plan on visiting there though again with the residents since that is the only thing I liked about that place.

The Philosphy I want to live by in the medical field is Patch Adams. Or my Clinical Nurse Instructor. She is a patient care nurse, communicates with her residents and CNAs and CARES. She loves doing CNA stuff and helping out her CNAs when she can. THAT is what I would want to be if I ever decide to become an RN. Personally after my contact with RNs Im unsure but the can always change with one person. If every RN followed the same principle and philosophy.

If I ever work anywhere it would be a hospice, home care or long term care facility. I have no desire to work in a hospital.

Well stay tuned and if you are in the Salt Lake City area, I am available for home care for your elderly family member. :) 

1st Day of Clinicals

Yep today was the day, to see if this is something I really could and wanted to still do and thankfully I still do!

Initially I was worried about changing briefs but now I have changed a few and it aint bad at all, in fact Im having more issues doing my vitals :p
 Always no matter how much they tell you in one class everything is going to be its always completely different when you are on the actual job.  For example either the facility, the CNA or all didnt do according to "standard" as in by the book.

E was our instructor for clinicals, she has been an RN for over 20 years, she offered some good advice before we started our shift. She said make sure you practice time management,  multi-task, get along with co-workers best as you can, interact with the residents not only to bond but to make your job easier so you can calm the fighters or those who do not want to do things like dress and shower and prevent getting yourself hit and some other good advice I cant remember.

She also said if you decide down the line to become an RN, you have a choice to be a paper nurse or a patient care nurse, I know I want to be a patient care nurse to be and bond with the patients, because most nurses have never been CNAs and think they are above that kind of work. SMDH. If I ever become a nurse I know I would like to model after E's philosophy to build relationships with your CNAs and residents to not only keep things running smoothly but to get to know who you are working with etc...

The biggest thing about becoming an RN would be to make sure you have worked as a CNA so you can understand where your CNA is coming from and help them out if they need it. idk still debating on that or an MA. I know I do not want to be on paperwork and would rather be out there helping my residents. Some RNs sit at their desk all day and dont give a shit to help CNAs at all. SMDH.

My purpose for becoming a CNA was first a career change from customer service, to be able to have a mobile job and not stuck in a cubicle the whole day and to have one on one with others who are more fragile, helpless and to help them. My preferred work as a CNA would be a nursing home, hospice and/or home care.

What I love most about being a CNA is that we are the eyes and ears of the patients health. We are the ones that are closest to the residents so we know how they feel better than anyone else, my only pet peeve about that is if there is anything wrong with the patient we must report everything to the nurse :p

I also know I would like to work alone as a CNA and handle my residents myself, unless I need help with moving a patient then of course I would call another nurse assistant to come in and help.

The facility OMG smh. The residents pay $5000 a month and get crappy food and small ass rooms. But I know they dont completely pay for it because of medicaid or medicare. Still though you would think that they would treat them better. We had 1 CNA caring for 20 residents at a time when the ratio is supposed to be 1:12. You would think with all that damn money they could get more CNAs and/or pay them more. I couldnt ever work for a facility like that or send any of my family members there plus its downtown on the east side and I dont play that neither lol!

The CNA I shadowed was pretty nice but there were a couple of instances that I would handled differently. For example there was a senior in her wheelchair sitting in the dining area 3 hours before dinner, I asked her if she was hungry and she said yes and that dinner wouldnt be for a couple of hours so then I went and found the CNA and told her and she did nothing. Another thing is it was before our night shift ended and she didnt want to change the heavy woman but changed her roommate.

I also dont think that the CNAs in general moved the patients very much so they had bed sores on their bottoms and other places on their bodies. :( Plus the heavy woman had asked for ice over an hour ago and they never brought it to her, its not that hard to do neither and they never move her! 

I was happy though that I got to connect with a resident since that was my wish in also pursuing this career.  Im seem to attract Latin/Mexicans as friends lol, the same at the hospital where I volunteer at too lol.  She was great she loved being at the home, she said her life was easy and she is 80 years old and no one bothers her. She spoke no word of English but I could understand most of it.

Then there was G, he was getting ready for his sisters viewing and funeral for the next day. He dressed real sharp. Then you have R, he is your typical dirty old man and hilarious lol.

Anyway now that I know what to expect, today will be a lot easier I think and I can do more. Instead of Nurse shoes, tennis shoes, my feet were killing me yesterday from running around, I dont need my wrist watch with a second hand since they use a digital vitals machine, I dont need my vicks for the smell because I have a stuffy nose and can never smell anything anyway, I can bring a lunch to heat up instead of a plain cold lunch etc...

Trying to remember if there was anything else? Oh well. 

So you can pretty much say Im ready for Day 2 of Clinicals ;)

Modern Day Candy Striper

 What is a Candy Striper? According to Wise Geek it is "

A candy striper was traditionally a young, female hospital volunteer; a concept that originated in the 1940s. The unique job title represented the candy cane look of the red and white-striped pinafores worn by the volunteers. Traditionally, the girls sewed their own pinafores. East Orange General Hospital in New Jersey started the first candy striper program in 1944.

During the 1950s and 60s, the popularity of candy stripers was widespread. In general, the goal of a candy striper was to make a patient's stay in the hospital more pleasant. Initially, a candy striper simply delivered mail or patient meals, but as nurses became overburdened, the volunteers took on additional duties. Now, a candy striper might help feed, or read to, a patient; assist as a patient is discharged; or deliver messages. Other duties include transporting book or video carts to patient rooms.

Much has changed in candy striping over the years. In the early years, the training to be a candy striper lasted months, but now most hospitals train the volunteers in a few days. Currently there are male candy stripers; although most hospitals have a higher percentage of young female volunteers than males. "Volunteer" is the more likely term used to refer to a candy striper nowadays, and the uniform is not likely the red and white jumper of years past. "

I just realized Im a modern day Candy Striper and as a hospital volunteer, interesting and DUH :p

1st & 2nd Day CNA Training

Classes started on Monday...We did book work, received our books & supplies, learned how to make a residents bed and do vitals for blood pressure and pulse. I also slept in the morning of class.

I was really exhausted after school, I was up for a few hours and then fell asleep during the movie Coneheads. I did not do my homework for Monday night so I tried to get up at 5:30am today and do it then but I only got through a couple of pages.

So, today, ALL day today, we worked on Chapter 2 and watched videos. Chapter 2 was the longest chapter ever and I am happy it was finally done. I also slept in the morning of class again :p I guess nothing unusual since in High School I slept in school too lol!

Anyway today we made residents beds again and did more vitals. We need to practice vitals 50 times or the paper will get returned back until its completed. On Chapter 1, I got 100% on the quiz and today on Chapter 2, I got 87% I wasnt too concerned since I passed.

Now we are skipping over to Chapter 6 which is due tomorrow and I did that today during class so I have more time to relax. We are getting skills done since we are doing Clinicals next week so we need those done first before we can do our hands on work.

Tomorrow we need to wear a pair of clothes over our scrubs so we can learn how to change and dress residents and then Friday we are bringing a cup, snack and spoon so we can learn how to feed residents. Its quite amusing but fun. :D

I asked our teacher (who is an RN) if they really are phasing out LPNs and she said yes and I also asked her about accelerated RN courses and she said those only work for those who already have a degree in something. I digress on the latter though.

Im loving training though, its so different than what I am used to doing. :) The medical field is really new to me, vs what I normally have done which is call center customer service - office admin - internet network marketing - telemarketing. I really think CNA is what I was meant to do since I like caring for others.

Start CNA Classes Monday!

I did everything I had to do! Im nervous! I haven't been to school in over 10 years and I will be traveling daily to 3 different cities for school, babysitter and home.

I have my scrubs, alarm set, class paid for, papers printed for school and my lunch & tote bag ready.

The only thing I need to do is purchase at the school is a wrist watch with a second hand, my stethoscope, my bp cuff, textbook and handbook.

More on my first day of class tomorrow night! ;)

How Long to Nap

Funding Approved for CNA Classes BUT....

First they need for me to PROVE I can really do this CNA job....

So they made a list of things for me to do. Which I did the VERY same day after my meeting with DWS. This aint no joke to me. (meeting was Thursday, March 27th 2014 at 930am)

First thing I had to do was get a letter from the school stating all the additional fees I would incur aside from the cost of the class. Such as needing a stethoscope, bp cuff, scrubs, plus costs to take the state exams and such so I can get my certificate/license to be an official Certified Nursing Assistant. I did, as soon as I got home I emailed the school and asked them for my request via the DWS in order to get my funding and then I saved the file and sent the first email regarding the school costs with an official letter head from the school.

Second thing I needed to do was get info from my friend who was going to watch my daughter during that time after school and on spring break (since its around the same time) of how much she would charge hourly. Now, my friend is a really good friend and stating she would do it for free. But I wasnt going to put her out like that. She is a stay at home mom and we all need money for our family and bills. So I got the info from her and then emailed the DWS counselor the info. 

Third and most important I had to justify that I can get a CNA on my schedule and MY terms. So I had to send her 7 jobs that have flexible shifts to become a CNA. Which I did and found very easily. (she only requested 5 total) Because the 2nd meeting with her and at the beginning she stated "Im sorry but as a CNA with no experience starting out you will need to work graveyard and a 12 hour shift because of other experience I had with other CNAs". CALLED BULLSHIT! Some healthcare jobs are VERY flexible with your needs based on what I found and since I had been researching this for awhile.

I do want to make it quite clear though, I told her if for some reason she decides I will not get the money for my classes, I will raise the money myself some way. She told me she didnt want me leaving feeling like that. Well....So I told her well Im looking at all my options and if I cannot fulfill your requirements then I will get it myself although I would prefer to get it from yall. 

See, I cannot work a regular 12 hour shift or graveyard right now as a Nurses Assistant because Im also a housekeeper & pet sitter for my parents who are over the road truck drivers and they need me to take care of the pets, run errands and clean the house and I quit my corporate call center career for an big shipping company back in March 2012 (which I was with for 6 years) so I can help my parents while they are on the road working.

Plus, ALL my daughters life she has been in daycare or had a sitter. NO MAS! I will not put her in daycare again. I will work 1-2 days a week while she is in school and figure out what to do during the summer and holidays when she is out of school. Hence I need a VERY flexible schedule.

And now again I WAIT! The class starts on Monday, April 14th. So Im kind of on edge now waiting for this process to hurry up! They did send out the visa card that I need to activate but monies are to be determined by what I need for my classes and childcare.

During the 2 week training I cannot put my focus anywhere except on my classes so I can pass and get my certificate and be done! Which I will let everyone around me know.