Schools misrepresenting clinical site locations

[LPNtoRNin2016OH]

Wondering if this a common occurrence. I go to a fully accredited, nonprofit, respected, and traditional nursing program but I go for LPN-RN completion which is a class of 30, they also have a traditional program that runs along the same lines that is a class of 90.

I thoroughly vetted this school because I didn't want to have a repeat experience of my vocational schooling days for my LPN. I was provided a list of the clinical sites they use, all hospitals. So of course, I expected all my clinical settings to be one of the sites listed on the sheet.

We recently found out last clinical and our transitional role (I think for traditional students they call this capstone or preceptorship) could be at a skilled rehab (well now they are calling it a Transitional care unit”) in a nursing home if we are placed there. Our other two sites are a hospital and VA center. All of the traditional program students are going to the best hospitals in the area. This nursing home was never listed on the paper, had I known this was even a possibility, I would not even have attended this school. Quite frankly, its embarrassing and a slap in the face to the 3 yearsof hard work I put into my education to get into this program.

Is this common? And could this affect my hiring potential after graduation? I was assured I would have excellent clinical sites from every person at this school I talked to, as it's accredited and attached to a major University, I felt comfortable trusting that. Now I feel like I made a huge financial mistake and could have just gone to a Fortis type school and could have been done in 18 months instead of the 4 years its taken me because Ihad to take every single pre-requisite as I had no post HS schooling other than my LPN schooling where of course credits do not transfer. I feel taken advantage of and it does not feel good.

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

Would you rather have clinicals outside a hospital or have to wait a semester to graduate? Sometimes there just isn't any other option when multiple schools are fighting for the same clinical sites, clinical sites decide not to renew a contract, a school decides not to renew a contract, or any other reason a clinical site is no longer available.

[applesxoranges, BSN, RN]

I would like to clarify a few items and then make a comment.

1. All BSN programs have a community health clinical to prepare nurses for work in the community, in such jobs as public health, school health, occupational health, etc. The community health clinical also educates future acute care nurses about public health theory, issues of health in the community, and local community health resources for refer of hospitalized patients. This knowledge is, in my opinion, fundamental to have for excellent nursing practice.

2. I know that in many communities, acute care hospitals are no longer hiring ADN nurses and even refusing to house their clinicals in favor of the BSN student.

3. The author does not state if she is in a BSN program, but this is irrelevant to her issue. All students should have the same experience. If there are not enough acute care clinical slots, students should rotate from sub-acute to acute within the semester. This option seems the fairest.

1. This is in reference to a preceptorship. Preceptorship is different than clinicals. It is supposed to be designed so that the student works closely with an experienced nurse. As far as I have seen, most associate degree nursing programs do have a community component. Maybe 10 years ago it was different but most modern ADN programs are only slightly different than BSN programs. In my area, the main differences are actually general education credits.

Although the new trend for nursing programs is to change how they do classes and incorporate more and more into the nursing classes. I only vaguely understand it and haven't kept up with the latest in classrooms.

2. It is a bit more complex than that. A lot of factors get into being hired. Earning a BSN isn't a guarantee of having an acute care job.

[Buyer beware, BSN]

OP:

Look at things in perspective. You are going to graduate with a BSN. You already have a leg up on the other students because you are a LPN. You are doing well. The clinical is horse pooh. This thing no matter where it is doesn't matter in the overall scheme of things. It has little bearing on developing your present competence or future employment opportunities. Nursing school is meaningless when it comes to actual hands on training anyway. It's all on the job that you learn. School is just a lot of mostly nonsense and fluff. Get the sheepskin from the good school your going to and totally forget about that Fortis idea that's like saying I went to Corporate University

So I hope at this point you've calmed down enough because I would hate to have to escalate and say, get a grip already!!!

[Extra Pickles]

Maybe I'm not getting something here, but while I can see that the OP is upset at not going to one of the schools that were on The List at the time she or he enrolled, I don't see what the real problem is now. The title of the thread says that the school "misrepresented" its clinical list, OP are you saying that you think someone pulled a switcheroo on you for some underhanded purpose? If so, what? You are saying that they misrepresented their clinical sites which in other words is saying that they lied to you, defrauded you somehow. Do you really believe this?

As the others have said clinical sites do change. There is no way in heck that the school you're going to would guarantee you a year and a half in advance that these are the only sites they will ever send you to and that there is no chance of another clinical site becoming available.

You wanted to go somewhere else I can totally understand. But to claim that you were defrauded, intentionally misled at enrollment about where you might have a rotation 18 months down the road is a bit much.