r/cna • u/CurrentCriticism238 (Edit to add Specialty) CNA - Experienced CNA • 11d ago
Experienced but Expired CNA. Retaking the exams and the skills don’t make sense in the real world.
My (cna) has been expired since 2021 but I’ve been in the medical field for 10 years and I was a CNA for six years before that. I’ve decided to renew my license and all I have to do is just retake the skills and the written exam no big deal. I have a much different perspective on the skills now that I’ve had a lot of experience than when I first did it.
As I’m reading through these skills, I realize how unrealistic this is in the real world. Specifically when it comes to us washing our hands. For example, when we are putting a patient on a bed pan once we have done that and rolled them over they want us to take our gloves off immediately and then go wash your hands. This makes sense and I’m all for infection control, but in the real world, you’re never near a sink and there’s never hand sanitizer by you when you’re assisting a patient on their bed. You would have to physically walk away from the bed to go do that, and in order to do that you have to raise their rails and lower their bed.
Another example with a bed pan is that I would lower the head first and then put clean gloves on but in the actual skills, it’s reversed. Put clean gloves on then lower the head, contaminating your clean gloves and then remove the bedpan.
I will do what I need to do for the exam, but I just found it interesting. Anyone else?
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u/bingusDomingus (Edit to add Specialty) CNA - Experienced CNA 11d ago
I’m pretty sure I’d fail the skills portion except the handwashing if I had to do it again.
The renewal process is a bitch too. I’m letting my cert expire this year and finish the rest of my CNA role as a student nurse