High School student wondering about the nursing profession.

ktrop03 · Oct 25, 2016

If you do the RPN program, you have 2 years of schooling. The RN is 4 years (except in Quebec which it is 3 years). You learn sciences, arts and psychology. But mostly how to be a nurse. For your last 2 questions it depends on how your program is build. Some has clinical in a theory course and some no. But I would said you at least have 10 clinicals for a RN. Not to sure for the RPN. I would look at a college where the RPN (Practical Nurse) is offer to see how many clinical there is.

loriangel14, RN · Oct 25, 2016

You get several hundred hours of clinicals. As stated by the previous poster RPN is 2 years and BSN is 4. It will depend on the facility but getting into either specialty as a new grad isn't likely. My RPN program had 6 clinical placements. The last one was 3 months of full time hours. You will likely change your mind about where you want to work once you get some clinical experience.

loriangel14, RN · Oct 25, 2016

Explaining what is taught would be difficult. If you have any specific questions just ask.

madricka, BSN, RN · Oct 31, 2016

I did a Bachelor of Science in nursing at a university and it was 4 years (8 semesters). We had clinical every single semester except the first one. I don't think it's common but in our program we got to choose our placement settings. I had a strong interest in oncology and palliative care so I was lucky to get those without a problem. Some other students wanted pediatrics or L&D and got those. Some students didn't care and ended up in general med-surg units. In our 3rd year we had community placements and everyone went to totally different places -- I was in an elementary school for the first semester and a women's shelter for the second. By the end of the 4 years we had over 1,000 hrs of clinical. Oh, and if you can request, try to get a place close to home so you're not traveling far super early in the mornings (extra hard in the winter!).

In addition to that we had a lot of classes in nursing theory, health assessment, anatomy/ physiology, pathotherapeutics, ethics, psychology, etc. In the BScN program you do get to pick your electives (non-nursing classes) from a list so there is some flexibility there. Be prepared for a lot of group work, we had it in every single class. I hated it at first but did get used to it over time.

It's a pretty heavy commitment but very satisfying when you finish. And you do get close with the people in your classes/groups. It's a homework-intensive program, a lot of readings and assignments. Clinical days you have to be at the hospital around 6:30am to get your patient info and be ready for report.

At the end of your degree/diploma (for RPN) you still have to write the NCLEX (pass it) and register with the regulating body of your province before you can start working.

When I finished everything I was hired by the same unit I did my consolidation (that's what they call your final clinical rotation). I had requested oncology/palliative & did my clinical at the unit/hospital I wanted so I was happy to start working there afterwards.

I wouldn't worry about "competitive" areas now. Nursing school first! You might see a different area you didn't know existed and fall in love with it.

As for NICU, I think in order to work in any ICU in Canada you need to do an extra post-grad certificate in the area. Maybe that's just Ontario? I could be wrong. I know before I started working in critical care I had to do the critical care certificate program -- but I was sponsored by my hospital to take it so I didn't have to pay for the program and I was paid my full time wages while in class (& started working in CrCU the week I was finished).

There are so many options!

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Nov 1, 2016

As for NICU, I think in order to work in any ICU in Canada you need to do an extra post-grad certificate in the area. Maybe that's just Ontario?

The NICU and PICU at the hospital where I work hire new grads right out of school. There is no requirement on either unit to have any additional training other than what is provided with orientation. In fact, when I brought up the fact that other ICUs in our hospital system put their new hires through a critical care certificate program at the local college to one of our intensivists, I was told we "weren't considered critical care". Kinda blew me away...

I have peds critical care certification through CNA, but that was a choice I made, not an expectation. I got my first PICU job in another province without any additional training. It's just not a thing.

madricka, BSN, RN · Nov 1, 2016

The NICU and PICU at the hospital where I work hire new grads right out of school. There is no requirement on either unit to have any additional training other than what is provided with orientation. In fact, when I brought up the fact that other ICUs in our hospital system put their new hires through a critical care certificate program at the local college to one of our intensivists, I was told we "weren't considered critical care". Kinda blew me away...
I have peds critical care certification through CNA, but that was a choice I made, not an expectation. I got my first PICU job in another province without any additional training. It's just not a thing.

Really?? That's crazy! Having done the course and worked in critical care/trauma and floating to step-down ICU and regional burn unit, I think anyone working with highly acute patients should take the additional training/education. It's a VERY intense program and covers pretty much anything and everything you will see (& the patho, theory, drugs, etc) -- plus a mix of in class days (literally 8am-3pm in the same classroom covering every system, all common ICU meds, etc) & several weeks of clinical. In addition to the course my unit gave us an additional 2 weeks of all day/everyday in-services covering anything directly related to the unit but not covered in the program. We were not required to have ACLS but not having it was frowned upon. To even get hired into the unit you needed to have at least 2 years post-grad experience in an acute care unit (I had been working in the same hospital in surgical oncology with a high acuity level, lots of rapid response calls, etc). I honestly couldn't imagine coming out of nursing school and jumping into an ICU setting without having the taken the critical care program. I wouldn't do it. Even after finishing the program and all the in-service days and clinical and buddying (they pair you for the first month after you finish the program), I STILL felt unprepared! So yeah, brand new baby nurse fresh out of nursing school? Yikes! It's not about competence or anything, just about confidence, comfort, and experience.

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Nov 2, 2016

Oh I'm NOT disagreeing with you. I'm just relating my own observations. The lack of core critical care education our new hires bring with them, which isn't remedied by the didactic portion of their orientation, is a serious failing but my concerns fall on deaf ears. And it's exacerbated by the selection of preceptors our educators place them with for their bedside orientation... people who have worked on the unit less than a year are often asked to "buddy" with the newer hires. As I say, I don't disagree with you at all... but our administration does.