After CNA class

When I look for work where should I look for a job the hospital or clinics or a nursing home?? Please tell me your experiences!
They're such different environments, it really depends on what your personality is and what your long-term career goals are. I've worked as a CNA in two outpatient clinics and in a hospital and enjoyed them all in different ways. Here is sort of how I'd break it down:Clinic: Moderately fast paced since visits tend to be short. Patients are generally in pretty good health. Limited opportunities to develop relationships with patients, since only if they return again and again to the clinic will you get to know them (although this depends on the type of clinic). Generally you'll develop a wide range of skills. Depending on your clinic you may do vitals, blood draws, basic lab tests, assist in outpatient procedures, and a variety of office type work such as restocking, entering things into the computer, etc. The day is very scheduled and it's important to keep people on time for their appointments.Hospital: Very fast paced generally. Patients can be very sick with major wounds and/or multiple chronic illnesses which you may find an exciting challenge or totally disgusting. Many of the patients will be very dependent on you for help. Can be very rewarding to see someone improve and walk out the door a week or two later. More chances to develop relationship with patients since you will often see them for several days in a row (or weeks). Some hospitals really value CNAs and invest a lot in educating you and providing opportunities to learn new skills (EKGs, blood draws, stoma care, etc), in others you will feel like an unappreciated bed-bath giver and the CNA role is very limited. It's important to figure out during your interview or before which type of place it is. Time is unscheduled and it's important to be able to prioritize (4 people may want your help at once - who do you see first?)LTC: I've never worked in one, but off the top of my head I'll say that this probably where you have the greatest chance of developing really long term relationships with patients. Many of them will feel like family to you since you care for them every day for years, of course, if they drive you nuts this can be a problem. I suspect that compared to the clinic and hospital the care is routine in the sense that you may know every morning to help Mrs. Z with her breakfast first thing, then to wash Mr. L then to help Ms. K into her wheelchair, whereas in the hospital every day is pretty crazy and you have to come up with a new plan for your day. I would suspect that there's not a lot of opportunity to learn new skills, because most residents are stable and not requiring lots of tests or interventions. Possibly if you worked at a LTC facility that also had a sub-acute rehab floor this might be different though.Hope this helps. If you want to be a nurse someday I would opt for hospital, either now or in the future, however I personally loved working in clinic because of the diversity of tasks and skills you needed to learn to do the job.

I've worked in long term care and in a hospital. I loved Ltc but it was much more work. The bonus is that you pretty much have the same patients every day. Usually it's a higher ratio. I would have 14 patients in Ltc. Now I have 7 but that's because I work acute rehab. Med surge floors are about 14 however most of the patients can do for themselves and you mostly get vitals and help them to the bathroom change sheets etc. Ltc is rewarding because of the relationships you develop But you also have to deal with losing them. Honestly I'd say you should do both. If your plan is to become a nurse, ultimately. Hospital will give you the best education. Good luck.

Thank you guys!

"wherever you can get a job" might be the best answer in this economy.

Can a CNA get hired in a clinic?

sure. plenty of cnas can do clinic work.

Anywhere you can for sure, but my vote is definitely hospital 100%!