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How to Thrive in Healthcare: 5 Tips from Active CNA's

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Have you ever wanted to level up in your career? Do you find it challenging or daunting to start? Or, do you see too many obstacles in the way or an unclear path to start a program (or finish)?

Students from Dreambound enter our vocational programs with a wide range of experience in healthcare, and by the end, all of them have the capacity to pass their state exams and find a new job. Many of these alumni have returned to our programs to mentor students; that way, every student can partner with a mentor. In this blog post, we'll give you an exclusive sneak peek into some of the tips and mentorship that alumni CNA have provided students, as well as key lessons they have gained from working with Dreambound.

Tip #1: Prioritize Ethics

CNA's have demanding jobs: they serve patients, they communicate with nurses, and they have to handle life-and-death situations. In a fast-paced place like a hospital or a nursing home, it can be hard to know how a patient needs your care. Our mentors recommend that you keep some ethical principles in mind:

  • Put the patient first in your role

  • Help, not harm

  • Treat everyone with respect

  • Empower each patient to make choices

These rules apply across healthcare roles and help with assessing situations. By remembering to put your patient first, for example, you will find it easier to handle complex procedures or address emergencies. Many procedures remind CNA's to consider privacy and patients' agency, and if you keep principles like these in mind, it will greatly simplify your job. That, and you will stand out for always serving your patients with care and all the respect they deserve.

Tip #2: Clarify Your Values

Once you have prioritized the ethics of healthcare, you have a lot of freedom to shape your experience on the job. Dreambound's mentors have succeeded because they connected with values (personal estimates of what matters in life) and used them, both in their application process and on the job, to define a good experience for them.

Here are questions they used to evaluate jobs on the basis of their values:

  • Who/what matters to me?

  • What should others know about me? What should they know is important in my life?

  • What's a time when I felt happy/proud/fulfilled? What was I doing and why?

  • What are 3 qualities I must have in my work environment? Which matters most?

  • What are 3 qualities that I cannot have in my work environment? Which matters most?

Your values are personal, and they are yours; they are not right or wrong. For example, you can value money and still be an ethical person. Money can help people support their families, serve causes and others, and develop independence, so if you feel something is important to you, give that priority time in your life. A value can come from greed, envy, and more, of course, but you need to know what you value to find the best motivation for it.

Many CNA's do not stay with their employers for very long. A value exercise can give you the criteria to choose the best employer for you.

Tip #3: Seek out a Mentor

Fel Gonzaga
Written by
Fel Gonzaga

Fel is a student support representative who guides enrollees to the right program and answers their queries. She's committed to helping students and takes pride in her work. In her free time, she enjoys sightseeing and hanging out with loved ones.

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