Hey all, long time no see! Anyway, I am finally working in the hospital!!! I got a Nurse Tech position in the psych unit. my main concern is this:
I have not taken the CNA exam for this job. Though I am premed right now and my boss said I do not need to be a CNA, I really wanted to get the CNA title so that I may float to the medical floors and get familiar with all the other units. Does anyone know where I can get a free exam prep for the CNA exam? I figure they are all the same pretty much, so I am not prejudice as to where the test prep is from. Has anyone else done this while a premed? I love this job, but in NO way do I want to be a nurse. I respect them with every ounce of my soul, but I really don’t think I am cut out for nursing. I am just looking to further my knowledge the easiest way possible.
Any help is much appreciated!
I have no idea! However, hopefully some of our nursing cadre will be able to steer you.
Congrats on the new job! Keep us updated!!!
A CNA is a certificate program. I did this many many years ago at age 16 so things may have changed. First, generally you must take a course to get a CNA not just take an exam. When I took it many summers ago it was 120 hours and given at the local hospital. It consisted of classroom,clinical time and exams. Check in your local area.
A CNA is a LONG LONG way from a professional nursing degree. It covers basic skills such as taking vital signs, providing personal care etc. A CNA would as you say allow you to get some varied experience. Some places will allow individuals to work as a nurse's assistant without the 120 CNA class, but generally this is the minimum.
I hope this is helpful.
Shirl
I am already working as a nurse's assistant, but without the actual certification, that is why I am looking to take the exam. Here they allow us to challenge the exam and bypass the course completely. I do not want to be a nurse by any means; my goals are strictly to be an MD. I just want to be able to float throughout the hospital as a CNA (other units will not allow us to float if we do NOT hold the CNA designation). I am still in school, so this is the perfect part-time job for me. As soon as I am a CNA the field opens a little wider… 
I appreciate the replies and will keep checking to see if anyone has any exam info. Thanks
I just started a CNA class yesterday as a stepping stone to returning to college and eventually (hopefully!) medical school. Unfortunately, in my area they do not allow us to bypass the education portion of the requirements for licensure.
Like you, I am not really interested in nursing, I guess I’m just more of a “leader” and decision maker by nature and the things they’re teaching us in class are just serving to reinforce my instinct. But since I can’t afford to go back to school to finish pre-med till next fall, I figured this was the closest I could get right now to the medical world.
Go to www.promissor.com. They are the agency that administers tests for many states, and they have practice tests that you can take online. I think they charge a small fee, I haven’t popped for it yet so I don’t know if the tests are worth it, but I personally haven’t been able to find anything else.
Also, you may want to type certified nursing assistants into a search engine. It will pop up with all sorts of sites that probably have links to this type of stuff. I did it but haven’t had time to research what came up-if you do, you can probably find it this way.
Good luck!!