Student looking for summer internship

[LizFeldmann]

I am nursing student looking for a summer internship for the summer of 2018. By then I will have completed my junior year of nursing. I am interested in NICU and would love to get experience there. Does anybody know of hospitals that have a program like this? Also are there any kind of housing options available with these summer internships?

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

"Summer" internships are rare to nonexistent in the nursing world all together and definitely in the NICU. The sickest areas of the hospital are the most at risk areas and volunteerism or unnecessary people are heavily discouraged. Add in the pediatric security component and you can see where they are coming from.

Your best bet of any kind of an internship would be to secure a student nurse internship, if any hospitals around you do this. A couple do in my area, but the majority do not. Essentially the role of "student nurse intern", makes you a prn PCT (patient care technician), a role that is basically identical to a CNA, but often with the ability to practice some nursing skills as time and the nurses you work with allow. This would be a paid position. I have never heard of any hospital having housing for something like this. I have never seen any hospital allow this kind of position in pediatrics and definitely not in NICU or even adult ICU.

Best of luck to you. I suggest calling the hospitals in the area nearest to you (to avoid the need to try and secure short-term housing, which will be expensive) and see who offers this kind of position, then apply as soon as possible. It will be competitive.

[NICU Guy, BSN, RN]

Norton Children's Hospital in Louisville, KY. We have about 6 summer interns in our NICU each year. Almost all are offered a position upon graduation. It is one of our primary routes to getting an RN position in our NICU.