Is shadowing a requirement?

[VitruvianMan]

Hello, Please don't chide me for asking this, because my school is not very clear when it comes to answering this question. I'm considering on going to nursing school after I get my bachelors in Astrophysics, because I'm kind of too late in terms of registering for the nursing program at our school (as well as having to fulfill alot of requirements in an headache amount of time), and a RN had suggested this idea to remedy the situation. However, I was tipped off that you need to shadow nurses like how you have to shadow doctors to go to med school, if you want to go to nursing school. Is this true? If so, what happens if you don't shadow and can you shadow NPs (nurse practitioners)?

[NICU Guy, BSN, RN]

No you don't need to shadow a nurse before getting into nursing school. What she was recommending is to shadow a nurse to give you an idea of what they do and see if you want to get into nursing. Also you would understand areas that you could study to prepare you for school (meds, medical terminology, etc.)

[phuretrotr]

Don1984 may be correct in that you don't have to shadow as I'm not completely sure, but some schools may list shadowing a nurse as a requirement or a recommended thing you do to have a better chance to get into nursing school. Your best bet would be to look at the nursing schools you're wanting to apply to and see if they have any requirements or recommendations on shadowing. You say your school is not very clear on the subject. What do they say to the question, "Do you require or recommend applicants to shadow a nurse before applying to the nursing program?"?

Also, I don't think shadowing a nurse practitioner would apply because although they are nurses, a basic RN does not do all of the things an NP does. So you might get a different picture of what an RN does all day.

If you need or want to shadow a RN but don't know anyone in the field, many hospitals offer people interested in nursing to shadow a RN for a day. Just look around on your local hospital websites for information on shadowing.

[Bruce_Wayne, ASN, RN]

I think shadowing is the wrong word; they call them clinicals. During clinicals you will be given patients and expected to help provide for their care. You won't be alone, the patients will also have an employed nurse there to take care of them as well.

Now for your better schools you will have a teacher present on the floor you do clinicals on to help you with skills, knowledge, check your work, etc. For the not so good schools you'll be dumped off on a nurse that doesn't have the time or motivation to baby sit you.

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

...... However, I was tipped off that you need to shadow nurses like how you have to shadow doctors to go to med school, if you want to go to nursing school. Is this true? If so, what happens if you don't shadow and can you shadow NPs (nurse practitioners)?

To answer the first question in bold type, I think you may have a confusion of terms. There is no requirement for med students to "shadow" a doctor prior to going to medical school, like there is no requirement for nursing students to "shadow" a nurse prior to going to nursing school. The term "Shadow" simply means you are spending the day following someone around, seeing what they do and how they do it, learning the basic idea of what that job is. Many nursing schools strongly suggest you do this prior to entering school, as you might find that you do NOT want to be a nurse once you see what is typically required (and this changes dramatically depending on the area of nursing: hospital, clinic, nursing home, etc etc).

If, as Bruce suggested, you are actually thinking of "clinicals" rather than "shadowing", I assure you that there is no graduation from any nursing school without this. It is a primary component, and a considerable amount of time is spent on this core curriculum.

As to the second question, following an NP around, it's not of much use at this stage. It will take you several years to become an RN, after which you will be required to gain experience in order to apply to schools where you can study to become an NP. Shadowing an NP much later down the road might be a good idea, though, if you think that might be of interest. Regardless, you can't get there without becoming an RN first, so....one step at a time.

[NurseyM]

I attend a community college currently as a pre-nursing student. They don't require shadowing to get into the RN program, but I did shadow an RN for a day on my own time to get a feel of the flow of things/typical daily routine. I would HIGHLY recommend it even if it's not required. I was only to shadow for 4 hours, and ended up staying for 6 hrs with my RN. The experience really gave some insight on every little detail that is involved. When people say there is a lot of charting, they are NOT kidding. Regardless, the experience just reaffirmed for me that I wanted to be an RN.