[nilepoc]

What I did in school, was to try and get into the ICU's as much as possible. For instance instead of going to a regular floor, I went to the PACU for my med surg 1 rotation. Then I did cardiac SAC instead of the floor in med Surg 2, fpr peds, I was lucky and had a patinet that crumped on my first day in clinical and was allowed to follow her in the PICU for my 6 week clinical rotation. For my directed preceptorship, I was in the unit I currently work in a trauma ICU. As a result, I never worked a day on the floor. You will find it hard to emulate this strategy though, as I had very liberal clinical instructors, and not everyone is like that. I also did an externship on a CCU between year one and year two. You should try very hard to get into an ICU immediately after graduation.

I hope that helps

As for nursing anesthesia clinicals, I can't say as yet, I start them in about a year and a half. Georgetown is a front loaded program, meaning you go to class for a year before you ever touch a patient.

[malestudent-bsn]

So nilepoc, youre saying...try to get into as many of the intensive care units as I can? Meaning, sicu, micu, any kind of intensive care..correct? And that will assist me when I do go into nursing-anesthesia? But you didnt answer on how you felt about your nursing clinicals...was it fun, boring, worth it, exciting, did you learn what you needed to learn? If you can, tell me about a little about all ive asked you.
Thanks..nilepoc..I appreciate it.
malestudent-bsn

[PButler]

Hey nilepoc,
So could you talk to my wife for me about that "supporting your husband through school stuff". If I could convince her that it was a good idea, I might join you in Georgetown! He He!

[nilepoc]

Pbutler, I spoke to your wife this evening, she states she will take my info into advisement. Don't know what that means.

Malestudent I learned a great deal from my clinicals, and took a great many things away with me. But where I learned the most, was while extering and actually practicing as a nurse.

I felt that clinicals were a great deal of fun, I never had a problem with and instructor, nor a hospital. I hope you have the same luck should you choose to pursue nursing.

[PC Nurse]

I actually got my wife to support me for 2 years while I went back for my BSN and played football! It worked out for her though as now she can practice nursing as more of a "Hobby".

Nilepoc - Good choice on GUH as a program. I worked there for many years and now I'm across town at WHC/WCI (all MedStar).
The program was just starting when I was there and got great reviews. Drop a line if you need any info on the WDC area.

To all:
I found the best experience came not from my clinicals (learned pretty much nothing) but more from work experience. I had been a medic in the USAF and then worked in the downtown DC Emergency Rooms and Critical Care units. My goal was to be a trauma and critical care nurse and I found plenty of good RN's and MD's whom served as mentors. I was able to come out of my ADN program and move right into a CVICU and ED. The "clinical" in the BSN program was even more of a waste of time, mostly focused on home health visits which did little for a practicing ICU/ED nurse. What I found more helpful at this point was elective courses where I was introduced to Social Work and more in-depth psychology. These courses gave me the added knowledge to address my patients needs.

The worst clinical experience though was being assigned to the St. Elizabeth’s Psychiatric Hospital here in DC. It was a very “scary” place in terms of the care, patients and especially the neighborhood.