CNA State Exam

This past Wednesday I took the state licensing exam to be a certified nursing aid.  Obviously I can't give out any specifics about the exam, but if you are worried about passing it, then you are wasting good energy.  When I was taking the class, my instructor gave us some advice about the exam and to use while working.  She said "always inform the nurse."  Basically anytime you see a change in a residents behavior or habits, change in vitals or any physical changes, report it to the nurse.  Have a question? ask the nurse.  See where I'm going with this?  As a nursing assistant, we are not only an extra set of hands for the nurse, we are an extra set of eyes and ears.  We spend more time with the residents than anyone else, so we will be the first to notice any changes and it is very important to report those changes to the nurse. 

To give you an idea of what the exam day was like, which I'm sure will vary greatly depending on where you take it, I will give you a rundown of what it is like in Kansas.

Before the exam:
After the class is finished, our instructor sends our information to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and lets them know if we passed or failed.  If you pass, then the KDHE  assigns you a test date and place and sends this information to our instructor.  If you need to reschedule the exam, you can contact KDHE and reschedule it through them.  Once I received my letter, about three weeks after the class, I had to print it out and bring it with me along with my social security card  and drivers license to the testing site, which was an hour away.

The day of exam:
My exam was schedule to begin at 1:45 pm.  I made sure I had directions to the testing site, my letter to test, and my required ID.  Once I arrived at the testing site I had to pay my $20 to take the exam.  I handed the lady my letter to test and she handed me a receipt.  I thought it was weird that she kept my letter, but thought that was the procedure.  I then went to the classroom where the exam was being proctored.  There was another lady checking everyone in and I gave her my receipt and my ID's.  She then asked me "Where is your Letter?" I looked at her a little confused and said "They kept my letter when I paid."  She then told me I needed the letter so she could cross it off her checklist, so I had to go back to where I paid for my exam and get a stupid piece of paper that said I could take this exam.  My first thought was, "Who the hell is going to pay $20 to take a test they do not have "permission" to take and won't get a certificate for because KDHE won't have their name on the record?" Plus, my name was on the list obviously showing that I did indeed have "permission" to take the exam.  I was a little pissed if you couldn't already tell.  Moral of this story - make sure you have ALL the required documentation and make sure you print out at least 5 copies of your letter to test! That is all.

ANYWAY,  once I showed her my letter and ID's I sat down to take my exam.  The ladies were all very friendly, but OMG!  How many times do they have to explain that we need to log into a website to see if we passe or failed and that we will not know "today"?  I'm jumping ahead here, but the ladies passed out a piece of paper that had the information as to where to log in to check our status, and WHEN to check it.  Granted, we do have to wait 3-4 weeks before we will know if we pass or not, which is a little ridiculous considering the exam is graded via scan tron. Seriously? I had to wait this long to find my MCAT score, but that was because they had to read THOUSANDS of essays. (That's government for you, right?)  The ladies were not sure if we would get anything in the mail, like our certificate or a letter stating we passed, because KDHE was changing the way they do things - going electronic and all.  They repeated the information a couple of times and a few people had questions related to this so we covered it THOROUGHLY.  Then two minutes before the test began, two more people came in to take the exam and then the door was shut.  The proctor then slowly handed out our exam and answer sheets and started to go over how to fill it out, when one of the late people asked, "When do we find out if we passed?" There was a collective sigh in the room as the lady explained it all again, and then showed her the piece of paper the information was listed.  Then the late comer had that gal to say, "oh, I was really hoping to find out today, but I guess I have to be patient," which prompted the proctor to start over with her explanation of when and where to go to find out the results.  *this is the moment I began banging my head against the wall, and I'm pretty sure I heard a few more thumps behind me.*  THE HORSE IS DEAD PEOPLE!!!

Finally, after going through EVERYTHING more than once, we took the exam.  The exam is 100 multiple choice questions and the time limit is two hours.  I finished in under an hour, and I even went back through the questions and my answers twice.  There were a few questions that I felt had some poor answer choices, but the test was very doable. While we were testing, the proctor went over to someone behind me and said, "oh, no! you have to use this pencil for the exam!" She handed out #2 pencils to all the testers when we checked in believing that any pencil we had with us would not work.  Her pencils were the only magic pencils the scan tron reader would recognize.  *rolls eyes*  (ok, ok, she was a lady in her 70's, so I will give her a little break.)  The test taker said, "no, it's ok.  I'm fine."  The proctor kept trying to insist, but the tester was adamant that her non magical pencil would be ok, and the proctor gave up.  I was trying not to laugh.  When I handed in my booklet, answer sheet and magic pencil, I was free to leave and I think I left a smoke trail to my car.  I could not get out of there fast enough. 

So, that is about it regarding the exam.  I hope you have a better testing experience than I did, but at least I got a good story out of it. 

Certified Nursing Aid Training

This post is long overdue, but I haven’t had a lot of time to write it, and when I did have time I didn’t feel like doing it.  :o)  I have completed my C.N.A class and a CPR class – both which were fairly easy, but very informative.  The class I took was online through We Care Online.  The people there were great and very helpful.  I did the clinical part at a nursing home about 30 miles away, and again, the staff and instructor were very helpful and friendly.  Our assignments were due each Monday and we had a week to complete them.  They consisted of reading a handful of chapters, posting answers to questions on the discussion board and then taking a unit quiz.  The clinical portion was basically the hands on training of what we read about.  We learned how to lift residents using gait belts and hydraulic lifts, how to properly bathe and clean the residents and feed them.  We spent one full shift shadowing other C.N.A’s in order to get a feel for what a day is really like.  Basically it is get the resident up for breakfast, help them change into clothes, brush teeth and hair and then make their beds and feed them if they need help.  After breakfast take them to their rooms or wherever they like to go until lunch, and then repeat for lunch and dinner.  It’s not too difficult, but it still takes a certain type of person. 

Even though the course was fairly simple, I am still nervous about actually working.  Like anything medical, the nurses and other C.N.A’s sometimes eat their own.  I am pretty sure I will get all the “scut” jobs and be treated like I should already be a pro, but once I get into the swing of things I am sure I will like it.  I think knowing that it is only a part time job and not my full time “have to have it in order to live” job will make me feel soooo much better.  I worked before at a place I hated but had to for the money, and it was awful.  Every day I had to bite my tongue so I didn’t say something that would get me fired, but oh! I wanted to tell them to shove it so badly!!   

After the class was completed, the director of the home instructed a few of us on CPR.  Normally you have to pay for this type of class, but they offered it to us free of charge and it only took a couple of hours.  Now, the only thing I have left to do is pass the state exam next month to become certified.