On Saturday, April 5th, Central Seniors Anna Prill, Daniel Apostol, Ava Yates, Samantha Day, Annie Hanser, and Evan Miller attended CNA Skills Day at the Career Center. This year is the first year Central students have participated in the CNA course through Highlands College of Montana Tech. These six Central students will graduate with seven college credits and, with a passing score on the final exam (April 25th), obtain their official CNA licenses. After attending CNA Skills day, all six students were able to participate in a 3-hour hands-on experience that put their previous knowledge and studies from the class into practice.
The CNA class has many requirements, and Skills Day is just one of them. Because the class is completed online, all of the students are required to watch videos and fill out workbooks accordingly. Senior, Annie Hanser explains, “It would take anywhere from two to five hours to finish everything in one week”. Although the online part of the class can be done somewhat quickly, every student is also required to have 25 hours of work in a hospital, along with attending Skills Day. Considering that all the Central CNA students already took a CPR class, they only have to work 24 hours in a hospital. Hanser states, “We all had to sign up for 24 hours in a hospital, and they gave us a duration of three or four weeks to do it. You could sign up for up to a 12-hour shift in a hospital.” As described, the CNA class requires hands-on experiences in the hospital and a Skills Day at the Career Center.
The CNA Course is adamant about getting students to have hands-on experiences, including time at the hospital. However, Skills Day offers a different, more close-knit experience that focuses significantly on preparation for the final test. Additionally, it puts the information from the workbooks into practice. Senior Evan Miller describes his view on the hands-on experience stating, “We were assigned workbooks at the beginning of this year and within these workbooks there were instructions on how to perform different kinds of tasks. However, these instructions were not very helpful. So, it was nice to get insight and a hands-on experience on how to perform the different tasks.” Although the workbooks were important for preparation, the Skills Day experience put everything they had learned into action and practice. Aside from getting the hands-on experience, the students practiced teamwork with others while learning the skills together. Miller further explains, “My favorite part about the skills day was being able to work with other students taking this class and trying to problem solve with different students.” Teamwork, the hands-on experiences and the skills the students learned were all vital to the preparation and the informative experience of Skills Day.
As April 25th draws near, the students participating in the CNA course are much more prepared and have better foresight for what the test will look like. The hands-on activities and practices allowed the students to put the knowledge obtained from their workbooks into practice. The students additionally were able to practice teamwork while problem solving and learning together which is important when working in that sort of environment. CNA Skills Day was a success and prepared the CNA participants for their final test as well as helped build their confidence for working in a medical environment.
