shadowing a nurse?

[Kassiopeia]

Hi everyone. I was wondering if anyone know if there is such a thing as shadowing a nurse? If so, how do I go about finding one? Do you even get a response when you contact the nurses? I am in Northern Virginia area btw.

The reason I am asking is because I really do not know much about this profession and reading things online doesn't make up for the real experience. The reason I don't know is:

I just graduated with B.S. in Biology and wanted to apply to med school next year but the length and cost of education scares me. In addition, I went with my mom to a doctor last week (she needed the doctor) and I was just observing. I HATED it that the doctor only spent ~5-7 minutes with her. And then she just left like she has somewhere else to be. I mean I know she has other patients, I know these are the rules of the hospital, and she does not have a choice but to be so brief, but I still hated it lol. I've been looking into accelerated BSN programs (there are 3 in my area: George Mason, GWU, Georgetown) but of course I want to make sure nursing is for me before I commit to that path.

Sorry if this was more of a rant than a question. But you guys seem like nice people here :).

[PacoUSA, BSN, RN]

You are so sweet ... and because of that I will answer your post, LOL! JK

I was able to shadow a nurse quite easily ... how? I volunteer at a hospital and because of that I have come to know many nurses personally. Once you get to know them, it will be easy to chat with them and let them know that you want to be a nurse and ask them if there are opportunities to shadow. It's often easy, they usually go to their nursing manager to get approval and in my hospital anyway it was relatively easy to get the OK.

I suggest that you do start volunteering at a hospital if you are not already! Not only is it good to have this experience for your applications, it gets your foot in the door with nurses and meeting them and chatting with them. You have some excellent hospitals in the DC area already! And you never know if this networking could eventually lead to a job.

By the way, I have heard good things about Georgetown's accelerated BSN program, and they have an 80% scholarship for those who can commit 3 years after graduation to an affiliated hospital. Worth looking into!