Does anyone else feel like their program starts off slow?

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Specializes in Telemetry.

I'm starting my nursing program in two weeks. It's a BSN program, and it's eight quarters long (equivalent to about five semesters). That's not counting time spent in prereqs.. this is just the nursing stuff.

We don't start clinicals until February I think, and we start in a SNF. We don't start in a hospital until the first week of April. From the first day of the program, we spend a few hours a week in skills lab, and I'm pretty sure it's the same setup as most skills labs. We have a couple of those high tech SIM people.

I read a lot of posts on here and it seems like everyone else starts clinicals immediately, and some programs even start med/surg theory immediately! Our first classes are just fundamentals, pathophysio, skills lab, nutrition (for those that still need it). We also have a big quarter-long project where we design a health program for healthy elderly people.

Is there anyone else out there who doesn't start clinicals immediately, and feels like their program starts off a little slower than some others? I love my program and I have no doubt that it's gonna give me a really great education, but I kinda wish we were starting clinicals sooner.

Ours didn't start out with clinicals. Im in an ASN program. Its 21 months long(7 quarters)I started in April and we wont start clinical until January.

My BSN program is like yours. You don't want to start clinicals until you get the theory stuff down. You need to learn skills too before you go out there with patients. Seems like you're going at a good pace. :)

Specializes in Telemetry.
My BSN program is like yours. You don't want to start clinicals until you get the theory stuff down. You need to learn skills too before you go out there with patients. Seems like you're going at a good pace. :)

That's what I was thinking - I need to learn the skills first. So that leaves me wondering, those that start in clinical immediately, what exactly do they do with the patients? (Not counting programs that require CNA certification or something)

My program starts clinicals in October, the first seven weeks are skill labs. We don't do med-surg until our third semester however, this semester is Geriatrics.

Specializes in student; help!.
That's what I was thinking - I need to learn the skills first. So that leaves me wondering, those that start in clinical immediately, what exactly do they do with the patients? (Not counting programs that require CNA certification or something)

We do skills for five weeks, then go to a swing bed facility. We are only allowed to do assessments, basic care (bed baths, foot care, etc.), and med passes this semester, I think. I'm trying not to look too far ahead so I don't freak myself out. So starting at the end of September, we'll go in and do vitals, head-toe/focused assessments, pain pills, and flu shots (at our school, supervised). Next semester we step it up and do wound care, I think. Then next year we learn IVs. So while we do jump in pretty quickly, we're very limited in what we can actually do. I like that because it gives us quite a bit of time to hone our skills, both in lab and on site. I have a friend in a program in the next state over, and she starts clinicals this semester, which is her second.

We started clinicals in week three. We had 10 hours a week in skills lab for the first two weeks, and covered basic skills like vitals, bed baths, injections, setting up a sterile field for wound care, etc.

Our first term of clinicals weren't in a nursing home or the hospital. They were in the community, so we did all the shots for flu shot clinics, did vitals in a middle school to assist a senior project trying to identify kids at high risk for HTN, spent the day at a wound care clinic, just all sorts of experiences that allowed us to practice the limited skills we had. By second term (we're on quarters as well) we were in the nursing home.

We are on quarters as well. Our first quarter focus is on head to toe assessments in a long term care facility. We don't start for a couple of weeks yet, but I believe that our clinicals begin in the 3rd week of class.

However, our school requires both an STNA and a CNA class as pre-reqs prior to applying to the program. So, everyone has already done ADL clinicals in a nursing home and has some experience with sterile technique prior to even applying to the course. The STNA course has 20 hours of clinical in a nursing home attached to it.

Specializes in Emergency Department.

Our ADN program has 5 weeks of skills only then four in the SNF/LTC, then took off with Med-Surg and worked up to 2 patients a week. This quarter we started off on 2 patients in Med-Surg right away PLUS skills on campus and skills testing all along WITH 6 hours of lecture a week and tests. Oh and somewhere in there we have to actually study and learn. It's mega stressful. I miss the days of sweet skills only ;)

Specializes in New Critical care NP, Critical care, Med-surg, LTC.

That may be a difference between BSN and ADN programs. I'm in an ADN program, we've only got four semesters, so clinicals start first semester. Our professors went over the differences between program types and they talked about how BSN programs have more theory instruction in general.

We start clinicals after 3 weeks of skills labs, but we were required to complete a CNA course and pass the state test before beginning so that we would already have those skills down. We start with 4 weeks of clinicals in a SNF and then move to a Med-Surg unit.

The material seemed simple at first, but it looks liek next weeks lectures are going to take off and become more complicated. The first few weeks seemed like review from the CNA class and a background on nursing theory and the profession as a whole.

Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.
That's what I was thinking - I need to learn the skills first. So that leaves me wondering, those that start in clinical immediately, what exactly do they do with the patients? (Not counting programs that require CNA certification or something)

We started clinicals within like 4-6 weeks I think it was. The clinicals we did first semester were in the nursing home and it was a lot of getting patient experience. Getting comfortable with patients and we did basic skills. We had skills labs and had to get checked off in Vitals, Cath's and so on, once we were checked off than we could do it in the nursing home. Second semester we did 6 weeks of Med/Surge clinicals that started within like 2 weeks of the semester. I learned more in my first day of med/surge clinicals than I did the entire first semester and my time in class.

The second half of the second semester we had Peds/ and OB clinicals.

I am in a 4 semester ASN or ADN (I can never keep them straight) program and had close to 2 years of pre reqs.

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