Does anyone else feel like their program starts off slow?

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I'm starting my nursing program in two weeks. It's a BSN program, and it's eight quarters long (equivalent to about five semesters). That's not counting time spent in prereqs.. this is just the nursing stuff.

We don't start clinicals until February I think, and we start in a SNF. We don't start in a hospital until the first week of April. From the first day of the program, we spend a few hours a week in skills lab, and I'm pretty sure it's the same setup as most skills labs. We have a couple of those high tech SIM people.

I read a lot of posts on here and it seems like everyone else starts clinicals immediately, and some programs even start med/surg theory immediately! Our first classes are just fundamentals, pathophysio, skills lab, nutrition (for those that still need it). We also have a big quarter-long project where we design a health program for healthy elderly people.

Is there anyone else out there who doesn't start clinicals immediately, and feels like their program starts off a little slower than some others? I love my program and I have no doubt that it's gonna give me a really great education, but I kinda wish we were starting clinicals sooner.

Thats the difference between and BSN and ADN. I'm in an ADN and in my 1st semester we did 4 clinical days at a nursing home, and 4 days at a hospital. Then in my second semester we did them basically all semester. 4 years VS 2 years, its a lot faster!

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Specializes in Telemetry.
4 years VS 2 years, its a lot faster!

2 1/2 years vs. 2 years :)

But yeah this makes a little more sense to me now.

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2 1/2 years vs. 2 years :)

But yeah this makes a little more sense to me now.

Except that many BSN programs have two years of pre-reqs and the nursing program is then 2 years as well.

My BS program is a bit different in that we have 3 years in the program....yet we start clinicals just two weeks in to the first term.

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I'm in an ADN program with 4 regular semesters and 1 summer semester. In our first semester, we didn't go to clinicals until the last couple of months of the semester. It amounted to about 11 days of actual patient care. Our school calls it front-loading - teach the skills that will be needed first, however many weeks that takes, and THEN go take care of actual patients. Now in subsequent semesters it doesn't take us as long to do the front-loading so we get to the actual clinical sites sooner. I also think that for the first couple of semesters they tried to gently ramp us up, rather than throwing total newbies right into it. That would be kind of shocking for the students :eek: and probably not too good for the patients, either!

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Specializes in None.

Our ADN program has 4 weeks of just skills lab before we start out at a nursing home and then go to the hospital. I was all kinds of excited to know that they weren't just going to throw us in a nursing home and make us learn on our feet! I think it would be hard to start clinicals so quickly after starting NS, especially for those, like me, who don't have any medical experience whatsoever.

A BSN program near me doesn't start clinicals until the 3rd semester of NS. I thought that was kind of crazy.

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Specializes in Telemetry.
Except that many BSN programs have two years of pre-reqs and the nursing program is then 2 years as well.

My BS program is a bit different in that we have 3 years in the program....yet we start clinicals just two weeks in to the first term.

Yeah, I was referring to just the nursing courses when I said 2 1/2 yrs vs. 2 yrs. The BSN programs in my area all have between 2 and 3 years of nursing major courses.

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