I kind of want to shadow a nurse sooner rather than later.

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Hi guys. I'm working on my prereqs right now and I have 3 more quarters after this one (so a year) to go.

I want to make sure I'm making the right choice. I saw in another thread that someone said "If you walk into your clinicals filled with dread, you know you don't belong" or something similar.

I just don't want to wait until I've already been accepted to a program to figure out if I belong or not.

So far I don't have any doubts, but I think a day of shadowing a nurse could really refocus me.

Anyway, is it way too early? Can people who aren't student nurses even shadow nurses? How do I find out how that works?

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As a CNA I am around the nurses almost constantly. Are you looking for just something more in depth than that? As a CNA I think your hospital might allow you.

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As a CNA I am around the nurses almost constantly. Are you looking for just something more in depth than that? As a CNA I think your hospital might allow you.

I work LTC, so I get a pretty good idea of what the nurses do there, but I'd kind of like a glimpse into a different setting. I can't imagine working LTC as a nurse forever, honestly :blink:

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Specializes in PACU, pre/postoperative, ortho.

You can definitely shadow now before you are in a program. We have high school kids shadow all the time. You just need to contact some facilities to set it up.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

You will have to obtain 'official' permission from the hospital in order to shadow anyone. Many organizations are very reluctant to do this for anyone who is not already formally enrolled in a clinical education program due to regulatory & legal restrictions. FYI, it is a violation of HIPAA to permit anyone access to patient information (including observation) unless they need access to the information in order to provide care. Shadowing does not fit this "need to know" category.

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Specializes in mental health / psychiatic nursing.

Contact local hospitals to find out if they allow shadowing and what the criteria for shadowing are. A couple of my local hospitals allow it but only to nursing/med/pre-nursing/pre-med students (with verification of status) and only on specific units within the hospital. From reading the description of what is allowed and what you see it is more of an informational interview than a genuine job shadow.

If you want a glimpse of a different setting you may also look into volunteering in a different healthcare setting than where you work.

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