senior practicum - not what I expected

You say this is the first year they've assigned senior practicums randomly. I think you should make it a goal to make sure this is also the last year they do this -- it may be easier for them, but it's not good for their students!

I would find out how many of your classmates are also unhappy with their assignments, and then all of you should go to whoever's in charge and complain. It's ridiculous to assign senior practicums that way -- I understand that they might not be able to accomodate everyone's first choice, but they should still take your preferences into account. At my nursing school, we gave them a list of our top three choices of nursing field (e.g. med/surg, peds, etc.), our preferred shift, and preferred hospitals, if any. They did a pretty good job -- most people got their first choice and most of the rest got their second choice.

Here's another idea -- is there anyone in your class who actually wants to do community health, and if so, would the school allow you to switch with them? Although, even though I work in public health now I still think it's a bad choice for senior practicum (at my school, it wasn't even an option) -- most community health jobs want you to have some inpatient experience first, and you're right that doing your senior practicum in a hospital will improve your odds of getting an inpatient job.

So definitely go and complain. Explain that it's inconsistent with your career goals and that you want to be switched to something that will help you actually get a job after you graduate!

Good luck!

People who hire know you do not have much say over these things and will not hold it against you. That said, after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, we were one of the Texas towns chosen to house hundreds of storm victims. Our local nursing school's community health class saved us so much time and headache! They got the facility organized, assessed for chronic and acute conditions, triaged, assisted Red Cross and in general did a great job. You might be surprised by what you learn. I still remember my project and still use some of the concepts.

"Here's another idea -- is there anyone in your class who actually wants to do community health, and if so, would the school allow you to switch with them?"

not really.. right now all the students are trying to ask to be switched out of community health. we were recommended to just figure it out amongst ourselves instead of getting anyone else involved.

I don't get this whole placement method

Last year, they made the students decide by themselves who gets what without getting any faculty involved in the process. The year before, they let students say their first, second and third preferences.

This year, we only could list our first preference. Plus if there were more people choosing one thing, they do a lottery... They do not take account of our preferences and it's sad that many of the people who already have jobs at Med-surg units get what they want for their senior practicum.

Thank you for your encouragement. I am afraid of speaking out in general, and I am not sure how the others are feeling about voicing complaints either

I am surprised that Community Health was an option. That being said, there is a lot to learn out in the world, and you may enjoy it.

I was a home health nurse for many years, but for my senior practicum (during the Jurassic Age), I opted for our neuro unit. I wanted to make sure that I truly didn't like it as much as I thought I did!! I learned a lot, though - at that time it was the only floor that allowed female nurses to cath male patients. Foleys and straight caths. Became quite adept!!!

So if they cannot change it, remember that your placement was random, and do the best you can under the circumstances.

Best wishes!!

In your career, you will often times be faced with things that you really don't want to do.

I say take this, and use it as a great learning experience and embrace what you have been given.

It may not be your first choice, but once you get started, there may be aspects of community health that you love.

Either way, I hope with whatever works for you turns out for the best.

How ridiculous is that system?! I would complain to the Dean and then to the dean's boss, the president!

What attrubutes make this the "best school in the country? They obviously accepted too many students and have run out of clinical sifgts, instructors or both. I"m old enough to be very leery of anything or anybody who claims to be the best.

In your career, you will often times be faced with things that you really don't want to do.

I say take this, and use it as a great learning experience and embrace what you have been given.

It may not be your first choice, but once you get started, there may be aspects of community health that you love.

Either way, I hope with whatever works for you turns out for the best.

I mean I am interested in Community health nursing (maybe something I might do far along in my career as a nurse), but that's not where the hospital wants students to have experiences to be hired as New Grads, according to what I have heard. Also, I have not had any med surg experience since last year in the beginning of my nursing program (at peds we were not allowed to give a lot of the injection or medications, and in Psych we're not even assigned patients and cannot give meds). I just wanted more experience at an inpatient setting.

Thank you for the advice. I emailed my instructor to see how I can maximize my experience at Community Health - maybe have it relate more to inpatient settings.

When I went to school, we didn't have practicums (but we did have more med-surg that you). Our "management" clinical was in LTC. We did ONE med pass and ONE day of treatments. The rest of the time we coordinated care. I became a peds, then nicu nurse, but in that clinical, I did learn about mangement, prioritization, coordination of care, delegation, teaching (I had to do an education project for the CNA's), and a whole lot more.

I am very sorry that you have not gotten the clnical experiences you want and probably need, but make the best of them. Give honest feedback to the school. Spend some time thinking about you can capitalize on this in cover letters & interviews.

I did my senior practicum in Community Health and I still got hired into Med/Surg after graduating. I learned so much and I absolutely loved it. It felt so nice to sit down with the people coming in and having non rushed conversations with them and getting to know them. I missed it very much when I got to the hospital. I have since learned that I don't like Med/Surg. So if you can't change it, then go with the flow and make the best of it. You're so close to graduating so you can do it!

I did my senior practicum in Community Health and I still got hired into Med/Surg after graduating. I learned so much and I absolutely loved it. It felt so nice to sit down with the people coming in and having non rushed conversations with them and getting to know them. I missed it very much when I got to the hospital. I have since learned that I don't like Med/Surg. So if you can't change it, then go with the flow and make the best of it. You're so close to graduating so you can do it!

That is good to hear. How did you talk about your practicum experience during interviews? What points did you stress that you thought was important? What setting did you do your practicum in?

Thank you for your comment. It makes me feel a lot better that there are ways to make my experience appealing to the Med-surg area

I'm graduating from an associate degree program this month. The clear trend I have observed in our region (I know this differs across the country) is that employment experience matters far more than BSN versus ADN or the specific clinical/practicum sites you had during school. The people in my class who have employment experience as a patient care tech, even if that employment was only for the past 6 months or so, have been the people who get many hospital interviews and multiple job offers. However, that's not to say there has been no success for those who did not have employment experience. But it is taking them longer to get interviews/offers, and there are far more of those people who are graduating without offers than those who have experience.

All that to say, my biggest advice for any nursing student is to do whatever it takes to get a tech job. I would go so far as to say don't let yourself graduate without that experience! Even take a semester or year off of school to land a tech job if necessary. Most state BON's don't allow you to work as a tech after you pass the NCLEX, so if you graduate and can't find an RN job, you won't be able to "back-track" to get the experience employers are looking for. Also, if you take time off, when you come back to school you'll have a fresh shot at getting the senior practicum you wanted. Network like crazy to get a tech job - that is far more effective than only applying online without personal connections. Call nurse managers and ask if you can shadow. You can create your own practicum in that sense. Then, when you have gotten to know some of the staff through shadowing, you can inquire about a tech job. If they see that you are eager, that you asked good questions during the shadowing time, and that you are a kind and polite person, they just might "create" a tech opening that didn't exist before. They are often looking to replace techs who graduate from nursing school - they usually hire for those spots around 2-3 months before spring and winter graduation time.