Opportunities to Shadow a Nurse

[walkerso]

Hi,

I am thinking about going back to school to become a nurse. I would like to shadow a nurse in the clinic for a few days though, because I don't want to jump into anything to hastily and find that I don't like it.

One nurse told me that this is hard to do, find someone who will let you shadow them, because it can be a really big hassle for them and make their day super stressful when someone is shadowing them around. But, I need some exposure to the field of nursing somehow!

Does anyone have any good suggestions. I live in the Albuquerque, New Mexico area. We have three large hospitals here, and I have approached two nurses, but haven't heard from them yet.

[Mike R, ADN, BSN, RN]

Because of Patient confidentiality rights called HIPAA, it will be hard for one to do this as an outsider. I might suggest volunteering at your hospital of interest and working on the floor to get the inside peek.

Hopefully others here will have other suggestions as well.

Good luck!