Which specialty/area is your externship in?

Saved_by_Grace · Jun 1, 2004

good luck to you! i know that you will be great!!!!!!!!:)

jaimealmostRN · Jun 1, 2004

Thanks so much! :)

JudithL_in_NH · Jun 1, 2004

I'll be in the ED; we start next Monday, but with a week-long orientation before we get to the floor.

I've been told I'll get all the hands-on procedures I'm willing to do! I've also been told I can "float" to other floors that interest me for a day or two, provided they can find a nurse there willing to precept me (the ED director implied it would not be a problem to find one)--maybe you'll be able to spend a couple of days in the ED?

purplemania, BSN, RN · Jun 1, 2004

Whatever you learn will come in handy at some point. I hope you get to practice skills too, but even if you don't I know that you will be learning protocols, how to read charts, how to do basic nursing care, etc. You will absorb much more than you realize and that will be something you don't have to learn as a new nurse. Good luck!

VgsNrs · Jun 2, 2004

Hey there, I was just reading your post on your externship, Congrats! But my question is, is this "externship" still part of your nursing clinicals? We pick a particular area in our last semester of the program and hopefully it is somewhere that you would like to work. I have just started my 4th semester (there are five) and I have NO IDEA where the hell I wanna be, and half the girls in my class dont know either! How did you know that this is where you want to be a nurse??

RNKITTY04 · Jun 2, 2004

I start my preceptorship June 28th. Due to a shortage (as usual) of available nurses we were "assigned" to our particular area. I will be doing my 120 hours in CCU at night 7p-7a, which is where I work as a PCT. How weird is that gonna be? Oh well at least I know the nurses and the routine.

JudithL_in_NH · Jun 2, 2004

My externship is completely separate from nursing school, so no, it's not part of clinicals. It is sponsored by the hospital where I will do it, and I'm paid (at about the rate of a PCT) for my time. At least in NH, one can apply for an externship after having completed two semesters of clinicals in an approved program, so ADNs are eligible inbetween years 1 & 2, and BSNs are eligible between Jr & Sr years. The state BON web site usually has a listing of the facilities that are approved to offer externships.

I originally asked to be placed on a med-surg floor, as I feel I need to reinforce my basic nursing skills. I still have children at home and didn't want to put my youngest in day care to do the externship, so I asked for part-time (24h/wk), 2nd shift hours (I also already have an every other weekend job as an ICU secretary). None of the med-surg floors had a preceptor available for those hours, so my application was given to the ED director, who seemed happy to have me on board for those hours ("Our busiest time!" :chuckle )

I've always been interested in critical care, but was thinking more PACU or ICU, and after a couple of years of med-surg, too. I really had never envisioned myself in the ED! The director was so reassuring about the level of support I'd be given, and the opportunities they could offer to bolster my skills, that I realized it would be a great place to extern. I've ended up being thrilled about the ED placement.

sagelola · Jun 2, 2004

I start my week-long orientation for my externship on Monday, too. I applied to 3 of the hospitals in the area, and had been speaking with the NM on L&D at one of them. She was on vacation and was supposed to call me back, but never did. In the meantime I had an interview at the Children's Hospital (my last choice, of course), and was hired on the spot. (That is why I haven't called the L&D NM back...maybe next spring?)

Anyway, I will be working in pediatric oncology/hemotology. It isn't what I want to do when I am finished, but it is a start, and I just want to 1.) WORK! and 2.) become more comfortable working with patients. Most of the other hospitals have the externs work as PCT's in order to get their preceptor hours, but not the Children's Hospital, which is nice. They just gave the Pediatric Nurse Extern's a raise, also, which now means they have the highest base pay in the area. We do not work 12 hour shifts, though, so there is no overtime.

I am still wanting L&D...that is why I went into nursing in the first place. But, I guess there is still time....right?

LauraLou · Jun 2, 2004

I have an externship in Postpartum. I started the beginning of May. It is a fun place to work because the patients are not sick and everyone is really happy because they just had a baby!

They don't let me do many "nursing" skills, such as Foleys, d/c IVs, etc, so mostly I function as a PCT. It is a little disappointing, but at least I am getting some experience and I definitely feel more comfortable with patients, nurses and the whole hospital environment.

I don't graduate until Dec 2005, so I will have next summer to find an externship where I can practice my skills. (At least that is what I tell myself as I am making beds and filling water pitchers all day long!)

jaimealmostRN · Jun 4, 2004

Congradulations everybody on your externships, I really think that it's so beneficial to work as one (or a PCT) b/c it helps you feel really comfortable with little things that some can struggle with in their first yr of nursing (like nasal cannulas, lab draws, etc). We just finished our first week of orientation and I think its going to be a lot of fun. :balloons: The only bad thing is that we can't do IVs which I really wanted to learn how to do....the angiocath thingie seems so complicated!

christinemj · Jun 5, 2004

I start my internship in Cardiac ICU on Monday, 6/7. It should be interesting, to say the least!! :)