just wondering how many of you all have been through a nurse externship (this is what i asked about when i sent the email to check on availability) or a nurse tech (this is what the lady from hr called the position when she called me back). i specifically asked if this was a "nurses aide" position (which i don't want) and the recruitor said no.
what is the difference, if any, in the two positions?
if you have done either postion while in nursing school, what things were you allowed to do and what was your position called?
also, if anyone is from (d/fw) texas, would you pm me so i could ask you about what to expect as far as salary range?
At our hospital the nurse tech and nurse externship (we call it an internship instead of an externship...not sure of the difference) are the same. The nurse externship student immediately starts doing the same skills as a nurse tech here because they have already been taught those skills in school so they assume the student already knows how to perform those skills. Our internship is done the summer before our last semester of nursing school. But the skills are the same as other people have listed...no meds, no IV's or anything considered complicated.
The thing about our internships is that once we are hired we have to sign a contract to work for that hospital in that department as an RN for two years beginning as soon as we graduate from nursing school. So we have to make sure the internship is in an area we want to work. A nurse tech isn't guaranteed a nursing job in that department once they graduate from school. Sorry if all that is obvious information, I'm not sure how it's done elsewhere.
I have been both a nurse tech and a nurse extern. Where I live in southern California, only the VA hospitals have nurse techs. Basically as a nurse tech I was able to do everything I have learned as a student except pass meds. That was what was supposed to happen but depending on the charge nurse I sometimes was treated as a nurses aide. When I became a nurse extern (went to a different hospital) I was able to do everything as long as I had a nurse supervising me and as long as they were comfortable that I was proficient in doing certain skills I did them by myself, procedures like foleys and ng tubes. I definitely recommend it, either way because I think just the experience of working in a hospital helps increase your comfort level when working with patients. Plus, I never got to do NG tubes during my clinical rotation and barely any foleys or IV's but I did them all the time during my externship.
I also didn't have to work but I chose to because of the experience. I even took a pay cut from my normal part time job to work as an extern. You can't put a price on the experience you get. Being an extern isn't about the money... Money comes later when you graduate.
Ginyer
96 Posts
At our hospital the nurse tech and nurse externship (we call it an internship instead of an externship...not sure of the difference) are the same. The nurse externship student immediately starts doing the same skills as a nurse tech here because they have already been taught those skills in school so they assume the student already knows how to perform those skills. Our internship is done the summer before our last semester of nursing school. But the skills are the same as other people have listed...no meds, no IV's or anything considered complicated.
The thing about our internships is that once we are hired we have to sign a contract to work for that hospital in that department as an RN for two years beginning as soon as we graduate from nursing school. So we have to make sure the internship is in an area we want to work. A nurse tech isn't guaranteed a nursing job in that department once they graduate from school. Sorry if all that is obvious information, I'm not sure how it's done elsewhere.
Good Luck
Ginyer