Ideas for Internships?

[shannon81]

Hi All!

I am going into my junior year of nursing school - all is well, finished my first clinical rotation at a rehab. I live in the Boston area, so I am attempting to get my feet wet before I graduate.

I am starting to get concerned because I have very little experience in hospitals and I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions/advice/experiences of some sort to become more familiar with a specialty or a certain floor?

As of right now, I would like to go into L&D nursing, or OB nursing- but I feel like without being familiar with the field, there would be no way for me to know what I like and don't like.

And senior year clinical seems like it's cutting it close?

What did you do for work/internships during nursing school?

[RunBabyRN]

Are there any schools in the area that offer a summer preceptorship? I know in CA, Chico State offers one, and a lot of people (even if they don't attend Chico) do that in the summer in between junior and senior year. It's a good way to keep up your skills and build your resume. Do a Google search, and if possible, talk to upper classmen and get their input.

[Natasha A., CNA, LVN]

I've sent my cover letter, resume and letter of recommendations to a few hospitals, medical centers and pharmaceuticals for a research assistant internship and received a few replies back today of interest. i suggest talking to some nurses already in the field for feed back and insight. maybe on the faculty at your school or nurse director?

[Sparrow91]

I would talk to your adviser about internship opportunities. I worked as a CNA both before and during nursing school. I also did a internship during the summer between my junior and senior year at a local hospital. I choose to do the medical/surgical unit to help improve with my fundamental skills and experiences. There definitely was a big difference between myself and my piers in abilities and comfort level during senior year because of my extra experience. It also made me more comfortable in deciding to do a specialty for my preceptorship. My internship unfortunately was not a paid one, there aren't any currently in my state. I actually had to pay $1,000 dollars to do it (it was worth 4 credits towards my degree). But it was honestly worth every penny. Good luck to you!