Commuting to clinicals from 1 hr away??

[nursingstudentwannabe, BSN, RN]

Hi all!

So I'm currently making my class/clinical schedule for fall 2019. A lot of my class/lab days are already long, and clinicals start at 7 am. Thing is, I commute from about 45 minutes to 1 hour away from the clinical setting locations. That means I'll have to be up by 5:15 in order to be out the door by 6:00 to arrive in time by 7:00. I'm just a little concerned because literally everyone has been telling me about how intense junior year is going to be, and the commute isn't going to make things any easier.

I might be a wimp, but does anyone/did anyone ever commute that far for clinicals? If so, how did you guys manage? Is it that bad? Any tips from any nursing commuters?

Thanks!!! :)

[Luchador, CNA, EMT-B]

My commute so some clinical sites is 1.5 hrs. I have to get up at 4 to be there by 6.

You can record lectures from class and listen to them.

Spotify on the phone and a Bluetooth gizmo in the car are good.

An hour isn't bad at all.

[caliotter3]

After I almost was killed on the freeway during one of my hour and a half + commutes for clinical one time, I was told by my unsympathetic clinical instructor to book a motel room the night before. While she made no effort to pay for my hotel accommodations, her recommendation turned out to be a solution that worked for me, but only because I had enough credit available on my credit cards to be able to do this at that particular time.

[Luchador, CNA, EMT-B]

40 minutes ago, caliotter3 said:

After I almost was killed on the freeway during one of my hour and a half + commutes for clinical one time, I was told by my unsympathetic clinical instructor to book a motel room the night before. While she made no effort to pay for my hotel accommodations, her recommendation turned out to be a solution that worked for me, but only because I had enough credit available on my credit cards to be able to do this at that particular time.

Done that too. I'm in Colorado and when it looked like a blizzard was hitting my town, but not where I had to drive to, I'd get a cheap hotel the night before near the hospital-- thus avoiding starting a whiny thread titled "late to clinical and flunking" or "missed 2 clinicals because snow and dropped from program! HELP!"

[Mergirlc, MSN, APRN, NP]

I second the people advising getting a motel/hotel room. I've always used Priceline's Name Your Own Price thing and have gotten some great deals. I would strongly suggest looking into this because sometimes the rates are way better than what the published rate is on the hotel's website.

This was many years ago, but once I submitted a bid of $35/nt for a motel room for a Ramada Inn in a small town. It got accepted. I saw the regular rate on their website was $69/nt. Basically, I got it at half price! I'm not going say you'll always get great deals like this, but they are out there.

[Lunah, MSN, RN]

Yep. I lived in the DC area when I was in paramedic school. Everything was a lengthy commute! My paramedic clinicals were all over the Northern Virginia and DC area in several different hospitals - Inova Fairfax, Inova Alexandria, Washington Hospital Center, Medstar, Fort Belvoir, etc. And to top it off, I lived an hour west of DC. I found it helpful to listen to relevant audio lessons - this was before podcasts, but that is what I would do now. ?

[nursingstudentwannabe, BSN, RN]

Holy moley! I don't have it as bad as I thought at all! An hour and a half away, and clinical starting at 6?! My commute is a trip down the street in comparison

Thanks for the tips, especially the hotel suggestions. My area gets a lot of snow, so booking a hotel in the winter is inevitable.

[AnnieNP, MSN, NP]

You could also ask if any other classmates have to travel that far and see if they want to share a room.

[ThatChickOmi, ADN, RN]

There's a student in my class that lives like 1-1:15 away from the school further upstate...depending upon site, tack on another 20-30 mins. I remember when she was in my clinical group second semester, unless she hit the highway well before 5:30am there was a ton of traffic. And we're in the NYC "metro" area in Connecticut. Traffic is horrendous here. I know of a few classmates that were super close and crashed at eachothers' apartments. If you're cool with someone like that, that may work. A cheapish hotel room may have to do in a pinch.

Sometimes ya gotta just roll with the punches.

[nursingstudentwannabe, BSN, RN]

Thanks for the all suggestions!!

[kkbb, MSN, RN]

Other idea is to see if you have a friend closer to the clinical site and see if you would be able to stay there once in a while. I did that for a clinical that was 2 hours away. I would buy her dinner as payment. We would study the night before and actually had fun while doing it.

[sillymu, BSN, RN]

On 3/28/2019 at 11:12 AM, kkbb said:

Other idea is to see if you have a friend closer to the clinical site and see if you would be able to stay there once in a while. I did that for a clinical that was 2 hours away. I would buy her dinner as payment. We would study the night before and actually had fun while doing it.

A few students in our class did this. They would have sleepovers the night before and then only have a 20-30 min commute and then drive the hour home. We also had one student who would drive up after class and spend the night in a hotel so she'd be 5 mins away. Not everyone has the money or the time for that though lol. I would have to be up by 4:45 just to leave no later than 5:10 to get through the snow and be there by 6:45 so i could start at 7. You'll be ok if you have to make the drive. Some people record lectures and listen to them so they can study. It makes for a long day, but it's worth it.

I hope your clinical is one day a week. Two long days with over an hour commute is tough.