Has anyone taken an RN refresher course? I'm an RN returning to the field after several years at home with my kids. I understand the need for a refresher course, but I'm curious how well they prepare you for returning to work? Are they helpful? What kinds of things do they teach? It seems most courses offered in my area include clinicals in a LTC facility. How can this prepare a nurse to go back into an acute care setting?
Specializes in Education, IV Therapy, Travel Medicine.
Yes, the courses are helpful and in some states if you have been in-active a certain amount of time they are required in order to return. The reason some of them don't have many hospitals as the clinical site is the hospitals feel these nurses are few and far between and would rather concentrate on the student nurses and schools. I teach with a refresher program and it is heck getting in to a hospital in come cities. For instance, in San Antonio they have a consortium that decides on clinical sites a semster in advance and we can't get a spot when we need it even though we have a signed affiliation agreement. In Dallas we currently have a nursing home, a rehab center, and an adult health outpatient clinic and are still working on trying to get in a hospital. But, then in Houston we have a great clinical spot at a hospital but, 2 others that have signed agreements but, when we have a nurse in their area of town and they say they can't do it right now, they have too many students,etc. They are very short sighted because the refresher nurse is just got to get up to speed on the technoology and does not have the same learning curve as a new grad. Our main site has hired several of our nurses and one of my former refreshers is now 3 and 1/2 years later a nurse manager at the same site. So, we do what we can with what options are left to us to get the nurses back in. We offer in class which I think is the best way but, if unable to come to class then we do correspondence for coursework and then schedule clinicals. The correspondence still has lots of instructor interaction. I think it is important to return to practice safely so therefore, a refresher is most helpful.
Specializes in Home Care, Primary care NP, QI, Nsg Adm.
Thanks for this information. Perhaps can you help with this question. I intend to work in nursing or hospital administration at some point. Returning to the states after 14 years I think I need to get my foot in the door, so-to-speak. It is a starting-over point, yet with a significant amount of skills, experience and knowledge. In fact, one of the reasons I am planning to return is to avoid a time when I might not be re-contracted as the government hopes to fill foreign nurse held positions with Saudis, of which I am training Saudi nurses for nursing management positions and if only given a few months notice I could be in a serious position upon return with little ground work laid to get back on my feet. With that said, in your experience, do you think a refresher course is valuable from the standpoint of having a current knowledge base in general nursing, if I choose to pursue nursing administration and do you think this would be seen as a highly positive strategy by nursing recruiters, administrators, etc. Also, are refreshers, where available offered by employers or can they be taken for a fee and if so, what is the general length of time and costs involved.
Hope these questions are not a burden on your time.
I live in California and have been out of nursing for eight years. I'm in the same fix. Trying to figure out where to go for a refresher course or if it is even going to be helpful. I am doing a lot of research on line. I would take advice and help from anyone. I live in the Santa Clarita area and used to be in emergency medicine and oncology before that. I know the knowledge is there, it just needs to be pulled out of me. I hope it's like riding a bike....
I did a refresher course through South Dakota State University. The theory portion was online, at your own pace. The clinical portion was at a hospital about an hour and a half away, but I was lucky they already had a contract with SDSU, since I am in NY. Apparently, a lot of hospitals across the country have contracts with them. The class required 80 clinical hours. You have a year to complete both the theory and clinical work.
I thought the class was very helpful. I had not done bedside nursing in about 10 years, so I needed to brush up and gain a little confidence back. I was also finding that every job I applied for required a refresher, since it had been so long for me. I would recommend it! Just check with SDSU first, to be sure there is a facility nearby that will allow you to do your clinicals there.
TexasNurseEducator
96 Posts
Yes, the courses are helpful and in some states if you have been in-active a certain amount of time they are required in order to return. The reason some of them don't have many hospitals as the clinical site is the hospitals feel these nurses are few and far between and would rather concentrate on the student nurses and schools. I teach with a refresher program and it is heck getting in to a hospital in come cities. For instance, in San Antonio they have a consortium that decides on clinical sites a semster in advance and we can't get a spot when we need it even though we have a signed affiliation agreement. In Dallas we currently have a nursing home, a rehab center, and an adult health outpatient clinic and are still working on trying to get in a hospital. But, then in Houston we have a great clinical spot at a hospital but, 2 others that have signed agreements but, when we have a nurse in their area of town and they say they can't do it right now, they have too many students,etc. They are very short sighted because the refresher nurse is just got to get up to speed on the technoology and does not have the same learning curve as a new grad. Our main site has hired several of our nurses and one of my former refreshers is now 3 and 1/2 years later a nurse manager at the same site. So, we do what we can with what options are left to us to get the nurses back in. We offer in class which I think is the best way but, if unable to come to class then we do correspondence for coursework and then schedule clinicals. The correspondence still has lots of instructor interaction. I think it is important to return to practice safely so therefore, a refresher is most helpful.