Hi,

I was a medical assistant for a long time before I went back to school to get my license....and came to realize that I was already burnt out during clinicals from school...

So I graduated but decided not to take the board exam...I prefer Medical Assisting, I work in a cardioligist office which is very different from a hospital setting..(duh)..
I suppose you have to try it out to see if it fits...that's what I did to get certified for my M.A., and I love it!!..never thought I would...
Good Luck to you...It is a great field if that is truly what you want to do!..

Moodygrl, you bring up a good point. One of our good CNAs burnt out in the nursing home but with her license she got her a job that she does like at a treatment center. You get that license and it is like the world is your oyster. There are so many fields that you can go into. One of the D.O.N.s even gave us a guilt trip on how since the home paid our tution that we should atleast stay at home for one year. She really started saying that when so many got their licenses and if the heat got too bad would not even get upset any more and just say ok then get their check and leave.

To be honest, the best nurses are the ones that are WILLING to do what the CNA's do. If you get stuck with a nurse who thinks she is to uppity to help you...then good luck!! I had the best nurse and she was willing to help anyone.
I think the D.O.N.'s need a day to work the floor just to knock them back to reality!! All they do is sit on their butts and tell everyone what to do. One day we had a day to where the worker got a day off and the D.O.N. had to work for that worker...yea right!! She worked an hour and said she had stuff to do in the office. The next meeting everyone was complaining about that one!!
I think you either have it or you don't. If you like to work and you are caring...then you will be fine. Its not a job to where you will be recognized but you will feel so much better within!!

I can be real a sense of 'we' when it is like that, unsure. It can become an even trade off in equality because in a sense it make everyone an aide because as a CNA I can say I need help or the nurse can say I need help and then we just do it together. I have never experience anything like it in any other job that I have worked at before.

Unsure..good point...most of the nurses I worked with were there because they WANTED to be...with no egos involved...sometiimes I witnessed nurses who lose sight as to why (in most cases...they chose that profession....Patient care...it's like most professions..you chose it because you get a deep satisfaction from..like you said..from within..

Yes it takes a certain type of individual..I tip my hat off to them!!..

well i am a housekeeper but i would say an lna is hard but the reward is when a residents smiles at you or knowing you are making a difference in the residents lives.I have helped out the girls on occasion and have total respect for what they do.
I work on the Altzheimers unit and those residents really win your heart.If you can handle death and **** then this is the job for you!!

I have been lucky that I have seen people of all stations of life. I have known the infamous and the famous. The poorest and some so wealthy they couldn't even put into words how much money they had. But only a few people stick in my mind as people I wish to be like and truely respected. All of those were people who respected themselves and found dignity in what they did. Weather it was very popular status jobs or not.
Being a helping professional is often NOT a glamourous job. Whatever abc's you put behind your name there will always be people who will think they are better than yourself and try to pass on the "grunt" work. Often those who look on You are only as good as the last person who's needs you met. That can wear you down for sure. But if you know in your heart that by majority you have done a good job or the best job you could do that is enough and you can sleep well.
In todays world you may not be paid real world for most helping jobs and that really doesn't seem fair for sure. If you have kids you may have to make enough to make the basics which often working in the jobs you mention would be hard. Hopefully the ageing Baby boomers flooding the market with needs for care will make it easier for the truely skilled to demand better wages but the reality is you may have to get better at manageing on less income most of your life if this is your career choice.
As I look back over my career life I do have to say the times I had more patient contact I was happier than when I had the position where I was delegateing the care and pushing papers. Luckily career testing can actually make you more aware of that information/prefernces so I would recommend that.

I like what you said, PacificStar. One day while working my job I copped an attitude and I asked my higher power to help me. It bothered me because every time I went to the nurses' station one of the ladies who is over the nurses and the aides kept putting all these news rules. I kept thinking they just don't understand what we go through. I mentioned it to the nurse. She said that they do undertand. I then asked why can't they just get off our back and let us do our job. Sure enough that is when my higher power started to help me because I went to an inservice and just after that while taking a break I overheard the lady who kept putting the rules up in the nurses' station say, "I am just an ulcer looking for a place to happen." And the amazing thing happened to me that seem so spiritual. I heard heard say the same thing I had said earlier, "Why can't they just get off my back and let me do my job." Eventually I got to meet people further up the ladder say the same thing even up to the administrator himself. Being an addict it made sense because it seemed like everyone had a monkey on their back and then I even noticed the doctor come in one morning venting. I thought wow this stuff really works. It is like I am just little sprocket in the wheel or just one little link in the chain. It really made my day.