No Peds clinical site- does my school suck?

[Ihearthearts]

I am just starting my OB/Peds semester, and it seems that we do not have a clinical site for pediatrics (due to low census at the small hospital we were assigned to). This is a huge disappointment for me and many of my fellow students who were really looking forward to working with children this semester. The rumor is that our school didn't turn it's paperwork in on time, and all of the other schools in the area have all the good sites :/ Furthermore, I am paying ALOT to go to a private school and get a bachelor's degree. In summary, we will be going to pediatric dental clinics and doing health teaching at a middle school, and spending more than a few days in our SIM lab to achieve a "clinical" experience. I am frustrated, especially after reading other posts about how great other SN's peds clinicals were. So my question is- how common is this? Should we be outraged? Does this happen frequently at other schools? Any perspective would be very much appreciated!

[springchick1, ADN, RN]

We didn't do Peds clinicals either. We did L and D and newborn but that was it. I was really disappointed because I was really looking forward to it. I KNOW I don't want to do labor and delivery or newborn (I know. I'm probably the only girl ever who doesn't want to work in one of these areas but oh well:)) so I was really excited about the Peds rotation. We just did stuff in the Sim Lab to make up for it.

[ChristineN, BSN, RN]

When I was in nursing school I did have a peds rotation, but one of the other schools in my area did not, and I ended up working with some of the new grads from that program at my first job as a new grad in peds. They were good nurses, but they knew they were not as prepared as the new grads from other programs to work peds. They realized this, and they requested additional assistance from the unit educator as well as a slightly longer orientation, which my unit honored. They are now amazing nurses which thrived in peds. Bottom line, this won't keep you from getting a job in peds, but just be open and honest about your limitations

[llg, PhD, RN]

You need to find out exactly WHY your school doesn't have a peds clinical site to answer your questions. Is it because there is an extreme shortage of available peds opportunities in your area? Are other local schools in a similar situation? Is it because your school is unable to recruit and retain qualified faculty to teach the clinical? Is it because the local hospitals that offer peds have a low opinion of your school and won't give them the slots?

Only when you have the answers to the questions above will you be able to answer your question.

[kaydensmom01]

I would also be questioning my program if I didn't actually have a true peds clinical.

[zzbxdo]

Our area had very little opportunities with such a minimal pediatric population. We had a strong l&d with as much pediatrics as possible but nothing much could be done about it. I recalled some of my classmates (3)took care of one patient who just watched cartoons all day. We made up for the experience by doing a 4 day trip to a large children's hospital. 3 strait shifts, as much continuity of care as possible. Was pretty cool.

[Ihearthearts]

Thank you for your feedback ChristineN, that is very encouraging. It's reassuring to hear that other schools have had the same issue and getting hired to a peds unit is still possible. Thx!

[Ihearthearts]

"You need to find out exactly WHY your school doesn't have a peds clinical site to answer your questions. Is it because there is an extreme shortage of available peds opportunities in your area? Are other local schools in a similar situation? Is it because your school is unable to recruit and retain qualified faculty to teach the clinical? Is it because the local hospitals that offer peds have a low opinion of your school and won't give them the slots?"

Thank you llg- these are exactly the questions we need to be asking. I really appreciate your feedback :)

[Ihearthearts]

Doh. Just figured out how to quote to respond (tho I made it look like I quoted myself... . This is my first post - thanks to everyone for your feedback and insight!! Keep it coming :)

[seconddegreebsn]

Can you do some volunteer work to compensate for the loss? I know you won't get the same hands on experience, but you will get to see the workings of the unit and speak to the nurses who work there? I'm doing that to compensate for our lack of ER rotation.

[Swellz]

In terms of somewhere you can go to make up for a lack of ped's rotation, I had a couple community days at medical daycare facilities. Those days were actually a lot more interesting than my actual ped's floor, where they transferred anything interesting to the big hospital in the city and the census was so low that every patient had a nurse and two nursing students.

[Stephalump]

We get very little peds experience, as well. I spent one entire day on the peds floor thinking it would never be enough, and then I figured out WHY we only spend one day there.

It was almost completely empty. Only one nurse, meaning only one student per clinical day. We have a huge Children's hospital about an hour away, and all the hospitals are here seem to love to send kids there for anything more than a mild case of dehydration.

We do peds simulation as well, and we did have a day in a pediatric clinic (where I shadowed an NP and a medical assistant...a day of my life I can't get back), but that's about it other than our L&D and NICU rotations.