Can I "shadow" a nurse for the day?

Denise,

I took an online Introduction to Public Health course at Kean University and one of the greatest things they had us do was shadow a public health nurse for a day through the local health departments. There is a major shortage of public health nurses and the local health department will "fall over backwards" to help you shadow one of their nurses. Even if you are planning to be more "hospital oriented," it was one of the greatest experiences of my life.

For any nursing shadowing experience, get a letter from your college or nursing school (deans office) requesting it and it will help facilitate your setting up the shadowing experience.

Give it a try.

Jersey Nursing Girl

I have never heard of shadowing a nurse unless you are in school or planning on working at the facility. What about volunteering at the hospital? That would at least get you in the door and you can see if you like the environment.

Denise, I live in Colorado, so I don't know specifics about northern New Jersey. In my town the major hospital handles job shadow requests through the human resources department. All the information needed to get the process started is on their website. They have a standard procedure to follow which involves:

1. Registering for an info session that covers a range of health care jobs.
2. Attending the info session. At the session, applications for a job shadow experience are available. The hospital limits shadow opportunities to two hours, with *one* health care worker.\
3. The application includes some health requirements (vaccinations, TB test, etc.), HIPAA statement and an essay question.

I'm finishing my CNA clinicals before I apply for the job shadow, so I can't tell you what that's like yet. I'm guessing either browsing the websites of the facilities you're interested in or calling the human resources would work for you. Good luck!

Dina

Don't talk to the main HR office, they're generally useless. Find out who the nursing recruiter is and contact them directly. Check each hospital's website, you should find a separate contact for the nursing recruiter somewhere in the employment/career pages.

Good luck.

You can also contact the education department. I did a day of shadowing the trauma team in Cooper Hospital down in Camden and it was well worth the drive! And I was a junior in a 4-year program. Good luck!

I work in a facility in North Jersey PM me, I will give you the information you will need in order to shadow there.