Nursing Clinicals--how Long????

MikeyJ, RN · Jan 17, 2007

How long does it typically take to complete all your clinicals? Are they like lecture classes where as you do the same clinical for one semester or do you do different clinicals and can get all done in 1-2 semsters? Confused how they work---Thanx.

I am not trying to be rude at all when I say this, but a great deal of these questions you ask can be answered by doing some quick searching online. :wink2:

In regards to your question, it will differ at any school. With any nursing program you attend, you can't finish it in 1 - 2 semesters. All nursing schools have a pre-defined path of what their students can take and when they can take it.

For UNLV, we have an accelerated nursing program and it takes us 16 months straight through to finish the nursing portion of our BSN degree. At CCSN (go to their website to get an actual curriculum), it takes 4 semesters. All nursing programs are a combination of lecture-based classes and clinical-based classes. Each clinical class ususally consists of a few hours of lecture a week along with numerous hours of clinical time. Each semester you rotate through different areas of the hospital. For example, at UNLV they spend their first semester only in the med-surg unit (I think for 8 hours) learning the most basic and essential nursing tasks (IV's, foley's, injections, bed baths, etc.). The 2nd semester consists of the first half of the semester in pediatrics and the second half in OB. The 3rd semester is spent in acute care I believe and another area (two 12-hour shifts weekly). The 4th semester is done in an area of your interest (as far as I understand) and is completed by doing three 12-hour shifts a week. These clinicals are done in conjunction with classroom lecture and other lecture based classes (pharmacology, pathophysiology, etc.).

I'm not sure if I am making presumptions when saying this, but by your question, it sounds as if you want to complete a nursing degree as quickly as possible (I got that notion when you asked if you could complete this in 1 - 2 semesters). I've spoken with so many people with that notion -- they think of nursing as just "another degree". When in fact, nursing is a professional degree and should be looked at so. It shouldn't be rushed, but instead should be looked at as challenging and a change to develop yourself in numerous dimentions (professionally, emotionally, intellectually, etc.).

Well hopefully I answered your questions. I really do reccommend visiting a few different nursing school websites and looking at their curriculum to get a better idea of what awaits.