lakers4life Posted January 17, 2016 Share Posted January 17, 2016 I'm currently in my 2nd year of undergrad at UCLA. Is it possible for an undergrad to accumulate healthcare experience? I'm not sure how to even approach becoming a CNA, Medical Assistant/scribe, EMT, etc. Do you need to take classes to be certified in order to become one of these? How difficult would it be to obtain a position for healthcare experience? Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kcmccoy Posted January 17, 2016 Share Posted January 17, 2016 if you're in school full time I would say do CNA. RN's have to do CNA class on top of their curriculum so it's do-able. there is also patient care tech, phlebotomy tech, and EKG tech. all of those are relatively brief (6-8 weeks.) CMA, EMT and scribe programs are anywhere from 1-2 years, not to mention a lot more in depth and more expensive, which can make juggling them with full time undergrad very hard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kcmccoy Posted January 17, 2016 Share Posted January 17, 2016 Also, pretty much all of them require graduation from a school. CMA, scribes and EMTs have to be through an accredited school. I believe RNs can teach CNA classes. patient care tech is prob the most flexible. they might hire a patient care tech who had experience in nursing facility care or home health care! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbum Posted January 17, 2016 Share Posted January 17, 2016 I'm currently in my 2nd year of undergrad at UCLA. Is it possible for an undergrad to accumulate healthcare experience? I'm not sure how to even approach becoming a CNA, Medical Assistant/scribe, EMT, etc. Do you need to take classes to be certified in order to become one of these? How difficult would it be to obtain a position for healthcare experience? Thank you. Check with the continuing education people at community colleges in your area. Traditional EMT-Basic programs are usually a few months long and accelerated courses can be found that are only a couple of weeks. CNA is typically a very short class...in my state, you don't even have to take the class...just pass the test. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cop to pa Posted January 17, 2016 Share Posted January 17, 2016 UCLA offers EMT-B with online, accelerated, or weekend options. American Red Cross offers CNA at city of Commerce, Long Beach, Glendale, Santa Monica and Canoga Park. A quick check found several paying jobs for each within 10 miles of campus. I got my EMT in Community College when I grew up in the San Gabriel Valley in the mid-1990's and I remember many private ambulance part time job positions in LA proper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murphycol31 Posted January 17, 2016 Share Posted January 17, 2016 If you don't want to do additional courses to become a CNA or EMT etc just contact local hospitals about volunteering. Let them know your goals for volunteering and they will help match you with an area that best suits you. Some volunteering positions let you get as many hours as you want and some are set schedules. At one point in time I was volunteering at two different hospitals in two different departments (MRI, ER). Deff start now so you can really rack up those hours and use your summers to dedicate to this as well. Be ready to do multiple clearances, drug test, tb test, doctor checkup, and flu shot. Either way, if you start now you'll be in good shape :) Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ONE40pt6 Posted January 18, 2016 Share Posted January 18, 2016 Check with local hospitals, some have EMS academies offering EMT courses. Mine (in NW Indiana) does 2 EMT courses per year...2 nights per week for 6 months. Finish by taking the NREMT-B exam for state licensing. Other resources include NREMT and NAEMT, both of which should provide local programs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pancakes Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 I asked a very similar question on here about a month ago. I was not interested in taking extra courses due to the finances and length of time it would take to start gaining hours, and someone suggested Direct Support Professional. So I looked it up and there were so many open jobs where I live. There was 2 weeks paid training and in that time, I became CPR certified and am certified to pass meds. I'm already working directly with clients and have accumulated roughly 80 hours in a month working part-time, which might be of interest to you since you are probably taking a lot of classes right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lanime Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 You may have to travel a bit, as UCLA is a very competitive hospital and even the volunteer spots can be hard to get. I did an unpaid summer nursing internship there and had to compete with 100s of applicants from across the country. EMT is a great course to take and can open up a lot of opportunities for jobs/experience! There are usually summer options available, which are shorter in length. Also, grab whatever certs you can (BLS CPR, ACLS, etc); many of which have portions available online through the AHA. Good luck and remember to focus on one thing at a time & enjoy the journey as much as your end goal! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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