Clinicals

hikernurse · Apr 8, 2008

Our clinicals were at completely different times than class. Call your school and ask; they might not know exactly when times are scheduled (it may vary from semester depending on the facility), but they can give you a place to start.

elkpark · Apr 8, 2008

Clinical hours vary greatly from classroom hours and are largely dictated by the clinical facilities to the school, depending on what hours/settings they have available.

If you are in an "evening" program, I would imagine that most of your clinicals would take place in evening hours, but it's not safe to assume they will be the same hours as your classroom time.

I'm sure your school will inform you in advance about the hours and other policies/expectations specific to clinicals. Keep in mind, also, it's not uncommon for students to need to visit clinical facilities in advance, before the actual clinical time, to pick up and research client assignments, etc.

In general, you will be putting in a fair amount of time "above and beyond" your scheduled classes and clinicals -- much of that (studying, obviously) you can do at your own convenience, but some of it will need to be scheduled within specific time frames ...

Fiona59 · Apr 9, 2008

Our clinicals were set by the hospital. We worked all three shifts. To quote an instructor, "nursing is 24/7 and you chose to be here". Sounds cold, yes, true-yes. It's only after you graduate do you have the luxury of being able to pick the shifts you want to work.

Clinicals were long days. You usually had to be there half an hour before your shift and stayed about the same if not longer to discuss the day. So plan for 1430-to 2345 for evenings and 0615-1545 for days. Plus homework.

*Scrubs* · Apr 9, 2008

Luckily, I have a part time job that is flexible.....but how are the people who work full time supposed to keep their jobs? I can only assume the will be many 7-3 CNA's that will be taking class with me. How will they keep their day job? And why would they not have mentioned that at orientation? I expected the whole program to be hard but that is going to make it impossible for some people!

elkpark · Apr 9, 2008

Nursing programs are generally considered full-time courses of study. There is no expectation or guarantee that students are going to able to work full-time while going to school. Some people do so, but that is their choice. If you enter a nursing program, it is your responsibility to be available/present for all the scheduled/required classes, clinicals, activities, etc, and, if you choose to work, it's your responsibility to work that around your school schedule.

On the other hand, not all programs do full, 8-9 hour clinical days on a "regular" shift schedule. Some programs do 6 hour clinical days, some programs do 12-hour clinical days on the weekends, etc. There are many possibilities. It sounds like your program is specifically designed to be an evening program, so the clinicals may well be scheduled within the same time-frame as the classes. You will have to clarify that with your school.

hikernurse · Apr 9, 2008

Luckily, I have a part time job that is flexible.....but how are the people who work full time supposed to keep their jobs? I can only assume the will be many 7-3 CNA's that will be taking class with me. How will they keep their day job? And why would they not have mentioned that at orientation? I expected the whole program to be hard but that is going to make it impossible for some people!

That's nursing school for you :rolleyes: . And the thing is, times will probably change each semester. We were told not to work--and each semester we were individually asked if we were employed. Most of us were and there was no penalty, but we had to assure the instructor that we would put school first.

Fortunately most hospitals (I don't know about LTC's) are willing to be flexible with employees who are attending school--after all, it will benefit them in the end.

I worked PT in NS and it was hard, but I guess you do what you have to do. Your family has to eat :).