How can I make up clinical hours?

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For a combination of reasons, I've missed a bunch of days of clinical at school. Today the program director informed me that they do not offer anything to help students make up hours, and so I need to find something and pay for it on my own. She didn't give me any other information, so now I'm left wondering what to do? Do I just walk into a facility and ask??

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Hello,

I find it very alarming that the school does not have a formal policy on what students can do to make up clinical hours. Not even any suggestions! Yeesh. Do you have good experiences with this school or is this indicative of how they are run?

In my programs, we made up clinical hours through a combination of spending time in skills labs, writing care plans or writing about nursing articles. Ask your teachers if they will accept any of the above.

Check other nursing programs and see if they allow outside students to use their skills labs.

Hospitals typically will not allow a random student just drop by and shadow nurses without a professor readily available. You could ask the nurse educator of the units your school has a relationship with about what they will allow though.

Unless your class and school is so small that there is only one group of students going to clinical rotations at a time, ask other professors if you can tag along with other clinical groups to make up for the time you have missed.

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Specializes in LTC, Memory loss, PDN.

Making up clinical hours in lab or writing about articles? :eek:

This almost makes me understand why employers are so reluctant to hire new grads.

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Making up clinical hours in lab or writing about articles? :eek:

This almost makes me understand why employers are so reluctant to hire new grads.

Yes, that is very true.

However, I should have clarified that clinical absences are limited to 12 hrs per semester.

Any more and the student has to repeat the class.

At the very least there is a cap to how much a student can miss and get away with busy work instead of actual bedside experience.

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Specializes in LTC, Memory loss, PDN.

Yeah, my school had a small # of clinical hours you could miss, but I don't remember how many.

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Specializes in Med-Surg/urology.

We're only allowed to miss 1 day of clinical. There is no make-up clinical. Anyways, I do remember reading on here a long time ago about how some one paid their clinical instructor ( I think about 40/hr) to accompany them privately on the unit so they could make up their missed clinical hours.

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Hi....In my program if we miss one clinical we have to do an 8 hour computer assignment. From what I understand the assignment is a case study and it takes the full 8 hours to complete. If we miss two or more clinicals, I believe we have to pay an instructor close to fifty dollars per hour to make them up. Thankfully I have not had to miss any!

In your case I don't know what you should do. I'm very surprised that the program director didn't provide you with any information on cinical makeups. Good luck!

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Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.

You're lucky they are affording you the potential opportunity to make up the clinical hours, many programs would just issue a clinical failure and drop you from the program (resulting in the possibility to have to pay back some of financial aid to the state or federal government.)

Inquire with your clinical instructor(s) and/or check your student handbook for the policy. You may be able to pay your instructor to make up your clinical hours. (Often the rate is $40-$50/hr and the time is determined at the convenience of the instructor with a concrete deadline to complete)

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Specializes in ER, Trauma, Med-Surg/Tele, LTC.

For my program, since all the clinical groups met on the same days, we could not go with another clinical instructor's group. We had to return the following term to make up hours with the following graduating class. Although we attended the graduation ceremony with our classmates, our paperwork was delayed for as long as it took to make up the missing clinical hours.

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Holy cow.

You can make them up?

Crikey.

Missing clinical was like Instant Fail... just add water.

What the heck??

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At my school, missed clinical = instant fail. Missing a "bunch" of clinical days wouldn't even begin to be an option at my school!

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Specializes in psych, addictions, hospice, education.

Where I teach, a student can make up 3 clinical hours, and it can be stretched to 6 in extenuating circumstances. 3 can be made up through an alternate assignment (writing,research, other projects). More than that have to be made up at the clinical site. If it works out that the instructor can be at the site, then the student can do the makeup work there. If the instructor can't be there, the student fails. If it's toward the end of the semester, it's possible it won't work due to no time available.

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