What are you most excited about now that you’ve finished CNA training?

In 2022, we trained nearly a thousand new CNAs. As their 6 week program wrapped up and they looked ahead at taking the CNA exam and starting their careers, we asked them what excited them most about finishing their training. Here’s what they had to say:

We learned that most of our students are very excited to get to work:

• “Excited to get back to work and just be helping people and use all the skills that I learned.”
• “Working and further in my career.”
• “I’m excited to start work.”
• “Finally become licensed and just begin this new journey in this career.”
• “Growing more in the healthcare field.”
• “Going to work, getting that money, and just helping people.”
• “I’m most excited about starting work, getting to put the training that I’ve learned out here in class to work. I’m excited about testing myself, testing my skills, and just being able to help out in the field.”
• “I’m most excited about the new experience that’s coming for me at the new workplace that they provided me with and just to see how everything works out.”
• “Starting work!”

We are excited that so many of our students are already thinking about the next step in their education:

• “I would say I’m most excited about going out into the field, getting more experience, and then hopefully pursuing a career in nursing and going to nursing school.”
• “I’m excited to go back to school again, get a degree.”
• “For me, I’m attending SBC to the RN, so it’s basically giving more hands on training as a nurse. So that will just take a bigger steps to get accepted and also taking care of patients and getting to know more people.”
• “Yeah, same. I’m going for my RN as well, so just to gain experience and just to further my career in the medical field.”
• “I’m just more excited to go all the way to the top. I don’t want to stop at just CNA. I want to go LPN, RN, get my Master’s, get my doctorate. A lot of my family are nurses, and so I want to show them that I’m not just going to stop at RN. I can go all the way and get my doctorate.”
• “I really can’t wait to take care of new patients. I’m looking forward to the experience, and I really want to build my career as a nurse because I want to do my RN. It’s just a stepping stone to the future.”

And we weren’t surprised at all about the heart and compassion we heard from our CNA students:

• “Working with my residents and hearing their stories, honestly.”
• “I’m most excited about working with my residents.”