Please help, first semester of clinicals begin in January

[MonroeJ15]

hello everyone,

well, here i am waiting for clinicals to start in january and i am of course terrified. i attend dtcc (stanton) and anyone who has had any affiliation with this school knows the nursing counselors are......not always on their game. registration begins on nov 14th and i still have no idea what classes i need to register for. while i await their letter in the mail i am seeking the advice of anyone who has been a full time student in clinicals. i was curious of how many days of the week are we in class, is it all day every day? do we have class on campus and in a clinical setting every day? or just one or the other? i'm trying to get all my ducks in a row so to speak. any info would be greatly appreciated!

[Jen D]

I would talk with the other students who are already in the program at your school. Each program is different. You will most likely start out with classes 3-4 days per week and clinicals every other week for a day or two. During the end of the program they usually have less class time and more clinical time. I hope this helps.

[LadyinScrubs, ASN, RN]

If you are going to start in January, find out what nuring essentials book the beginning class is using and start reading. Reading ahead is very helpful as you will have so much to read in the program.

When I started my program, we went 4 days a week and one day a week for clinicals the first semester. Before we started clinical, we worked in the lab learing to do the basic skills. Some schools have the student go to clinicals one day or twice a week--it depends on the number of hours you put in on your clinical day. One year we put in 6 hrs another it was 8.

Your clinical hours will depend on the school and the professor/instructor. I agree with the suggestion that you talk to other beginning nursing students to get an idea. Sometimes the department hosts a tea and you can talk to other students in the program.

[Hygiene Queen]

We never knew where or when we were doing clinicals until after the first day of class.

As we were told in orientation, "From here on out, your new middle name is Flexible!"

Wreaked havoc on work schedules and babysitters, but it was, indeed, true.

[LadyinScrubs, ASN, RN]

"from here on out, your new middle name is flexible!"

wreaked havoc on work schedules and babysitters, but it was, indeed, true.

very, very true.