Aspiring nurse with questions

U.S.A. Texas

Published

I have applied to the Texas Tech Accelerated BSN program, with hopes of starting in January.

I've been reading through the forum, and I have a few questions.

- Can someone explain the nurse residencies or new grad programs? Is this common/useful/necessary? (I didn't know they existed.)

- In nursing school, do you complete clinicals in every area of the hospital to help you decide which area you'd like to be in?

- My end result will be grad school to become a NP. What is the best way to accomplish this?

Any advice or information on to share?

Thank you!!

Editorial Team / Admin

Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN

6 Articles; 11,658 Posts

Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
I have applied to the Texas Tech Accelerated BSN program, with hopes of starting in January.

I've been reading through the forum, and I have a few questions.

- Can someone explain the nurse residencies or new grad programs? Is this common/useful/necessary? (I didn't know they existed.)

Basically, these are programs that prepare new nurses to actually work as a nurse. School does a general preparation, but the days of programs that provided grads ready to hit the floor running are long gone. Basically, you'll need to learn how to be a nurse during your orientation.

- In nursing school, do you complete clinicals in every area of the hospital to help you decide which area you'd like to be in?

It is impossible to expose students to every nursing specialty. Depending on the job market, you may also be stuck taking whatever you're offered. If you like a specialty in school, great. If not, many nurses have changed specialties many times looking for the right fit.

blueindigo79

163 Posts

clinicals are usually pediatrics, labor/delivery, med/surg, psych, and we had a geriatric one and a community clinical. each school may be different

TheCommuter, BSN, RN

102 Articles; 27,612 Posts

Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
In nursing school, do you complete clinicals in every area of the hospital to help you decide which area you'd like to be in?
The Texas Board of Nursing requires clinical hours in medical/surgical nursing, maternal/child nursing, psychiatric/mental health nursing, and pediatric nursing.

As mentioned above, having nursing students rotate through every single hospital floor for clinical rotations would be impractical and impossible, especially in light of the shortage of qualified clinical nursing instructors.

Thank you!

If you do a residency program, are you hired at that site after completion? Or is it just for the experience? I would think they're putting a lot of money toward you for the training, so they'd want to keep you.

Im interested to try L&D and ER, because I've never worked in either of those area or really been exposed to either on a clinical side.

Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

My organization conducts 'transition to practice' (residency) programs for new grads at several of our facilities. "Transition to Practice" is the new label for these programs. Program participants are assigned to a 'home' department that usually reflects the area in which they are interested.... including ED, OR & Critical Care units.

Acceptance to a TTP program is a competitive process that takes into account GPA, exit test scores, admission essay, & references. Participants also must sign a 2-year work agreement. Participants are NOT guaranteed a job, but for the last couple of years, we have ended up offering jobs to all of them. If there were no jobs available, the work agreement would be voided. It's important to note that there may not be a job offered in the area that a participant wants.... this will not void the agreement. Participants who do not fulfill the work agreement are required to pay back a pro-rated amount, which is reduced to reflect the time that they were employed.

The above information reflects my organization's practice. Others may be very different. Does this help?

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