RN School Clinicals on Resume??

[Graduatenurse14]

I graduated in May 2014 and got my first and only RN job in November of 2014. I had a nurse who helps mentor nurses look at it and she said to take the Nursing school clinicals off since I have a job now.

I went to a great mix of clinical sites at the #1 hospital system in my region and I also worked at one of their hospital as a nursing assistant for 3 years while in school.

I want to keep it on but if the trend is to only have paying RN jobs on there, I don't want to buck it.

Thanks in advance!

[caliotter3]

Eh, think you are approaching the time limit for the school clinicals. Once you hit the three year employment mark, I would go ahead and remove them. Not much of a problem if you aren't actively seeking work at this time.

[Graduatenurse14]

I am actively seeking a new job.

[caliotter3]

Then, I would tailor your resume for the prospective employer. If, say, you wanted to go to a certain area and you had one of those memorable clinicals in that area, then leave it. But if your current job listing already overshadows the clinical experiences, then time to take them off the resume. In six months, I would remove them anyway.

[elkpark]

I would leave them off (I'm not a fan of ever putting school clinicals on a CV, unless it's some kind of v. special, unusual clinical that most students didn't have). You're no longer a new grad; your >2 yrs of actual nursing experience should be able to stand by itself.

IMO, if you have some unusual school clinical experience that directly applies to a position for which you're applying, the appropriate place to talk about that would be in your cover letter.

Best wishes for your job hunt!

[Mavrick, BSN, RN]

Your clinical "experience" in nursing school is irrelevant. You may as well highlight that you can use a pen as well as type. It is expected you have some limited exposure not "experience" in a variety of clinical areas by your school. You did not function as an RN. At best you may have shadowed a real nurse and were allowed to hand a pill to a patient that the RN had already checked and verified was the appropriate med to give.

The only experience that matters now is what you have been paid to do. More and more employers will actually verify the number of hours you worked at your former employer to determine what step to pay you at based on that experience.

Smart to have some one check your resume. That shows good judgement and makes up for trying to use nursing school for more than it is, a requirement to enable you to take a standardized test. What you studied, where you did your clinicals, your grades or how many organizations you were in are a distant stepping stone to who you are today.

[historylady, MSN, RN]

I don't know anything about the clinicals you were exposed to, but my final two clinicals, I was expected to handle my case load on my own. My nurse preceptor watched, answered questions, and oversaw what I was doing. I think it has a lot to do with initiative. I took the initiative, so I did.

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

Clinicals are part of school and are covered under your listed education. Nobody really cares where you did clinical rotations, since it is understood that you can't get the degree or license without having done them. They don't count as experience in any way. However, bringing up things you learned in clinicals during your interview can demonstrate basic knowledge and general passion for the specialty. Putting them down as "experience" is goofy.