CNA Diaries: Week 1

One week into my Certified Nurse Assistant (CNA) training done and I nearly was too. Since Im taking my class with the Red Cross the coarse  differs a little from the usual as it is completed within the full span of six weeks. So as you can imagine they pack an incredible (-ly painful ha ha) amount of skills needed from us as CNA's. The skills themselves  plainly involve simple things from hand washing (Yes, we actually do get tested on this..OVER and OVER) and making beds to taking vital signs, giving bed baths serving meals and lots of detailed work in between.  But in all honesty, the academics and memorization involved was actually a very small part of the pain of the first week. The real challenge? Getting along with fellow classmates.

 I love getting to know new people. I think its incredible how diverse peoples lives can be yet somehow, can also be interwoven and similar in so many ways. Being in a new classroom setting was something I looked forward too. This coarse is also the stepping stone of my nurse prerequisites Im wanting to complete before applying for  pre-nursing, so I was excited about being in an adult class. I was looking forward to learn as much as I could about being a CNA as well as adulthood because I thought Id probably be one of the younger class members and surrounded by the maturity I thought Id be surrounded with, I couldn't imagine a better learning environment, right? 

  

Wrong.

Apparently things like, "general class etiquette" or "common courtesy" are not so general or common. Eating food loudly, talking at the same sound level as the teacher to others sitting near, texting, and snide comments about how "under qualified" out instructor (Who is an RN which is more then any of us can try to match up to right now seeing as how we are all STILL STUDENTS) is. Theres no excuse for it either, age wise I mean. They are all out of high school and majority of them are parents to small children. That kind of behavior is just rude but the blatant disrespect of a not just a instructor but simply another human being is paralleled by the fact that the class we were in was limited and there was a full waiting list of people who genuinely wanted to be here and maybe even were in dire need of income through CNA certification
 Being at this new point in my life where Im seeking out a lot more independence I feel myself looking at the world with new eyes and seeing things Ive never thought about around me and in people. And Ive realised that even through each moment in at this point in my life is a new lesson.
So heres a first:
 

#1:    Age does not define maturity level.

There's a bunch of reason a person doesn't act their age Im sure, but through this past week of class Ive realised that that demographic is a lot wider then I thought.

And with that I take rest..A whole new weeks continues..Dear God give me grace not strangle anyone.