What to Expect Your First Year of Being an STNA
Posted on April, 15, 2015 by admin
Are you looking to become a State Tested Nurses Assistant, but aren’t sure what to expect your first year of STNA training? A career as a state tested nurse aide can be a rewarding path, if you are willing to put the hard work and effort into your training and classes. Here are some items of interest you can expect from your first year as an STNA.
Quick Placement and Job Security:
In this day and age, many college and university students are struggling to find work post-graduation. Lucky for you, our STNA course has a 95% success rate with job placement, meaning after taking just under three weeks of training you will be likely to find placement. There is a worldwide need for nurses, and always an abundance of jobs available throughout the USA for nursing assistants; whether you choose to work in a hospital, retirement home, hospice, or for private home care.
A Fast-Paced Environment:
Being an STNA is not for the lazy or the faint of heart. Working as a STNA, you will sometimes be put in a fast-paced working environment with plenty of roles and responsibilities heaped on you. Working at a retirement or assisted living home, you may be assigned many patients/rooms in a small amount of time, meaning you will be trying to care for a dozen people’s needs and desires, such as bathing and dressing, all at once. With proper training and a good attitude, you’ll be able to handle yourself just fine. If you feel overwhelmed, take a 2-minute timeout just for yourself to focus on breathing and remaining calm. A positive attitude will carry you a long way. Remember, you are there to help.
Uncomfortable Tasks:
While you may not think twice about helping out your family member with an illness, helping a complete stranger can be a little uncomfortable at times, especially when dealing with their excrement, or washing their genitals. Because we are not used to caring for someone else’s needs in this way, it can be a little jarring at first. Remind yourself that this person is sick and they need your help. Treat your patient as you would like to be treated in such an awkward position, offering them dignity and respect by the way you deal with them.
A Rewarding Career:
While not everyone goes into a career as STNA with a desire to change people’s lives, you will inevitably find that this will happen. You will change people, and they will change you. Your job as a nursing assistant will be difficult at times, but its discomforts are far outnumbered by the numerous rewards brought to you when you see how your attitude and care can change a person’s life or experience.
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