Those darn points! How do you get em!

[henryswife]

I was looking through my nursing packet and i saw you had to earn points to get into the program. BUT!!! what thru me off was work experience ...its seems to me they all require you to have some sort of nursing experience.Which of course i dont.So if you dont have medical experience ..how do you earn points for the work experience?:trout:

[coolpeach]

My program does not have the work experience thing. It's sounds strange to me to. I would think you wouldn't be able to actually get patient experience until you had went to school. The only thing I can think of is maybe an aide of some sort. Some of your nursing homes will hire you without certification, and then certify you while your working there. Another route is to go through a CNA program and get certified. I am interested to see if anyone else knows anything. I would love to get in a hospital and actually work with patients while I am waiting.

[Daytonite, BSN, RN]

Call the school and ask them.

[casi, ASN, RN]

In my school it's basically required that you have work experience, it's also required that you complete CNA training before the program starts, so most people get their experience as CNAs.

Any medical experience counts though. You can be a CNA, CMA, EMT, Paramedic, Phlebomist, and so on.

I've seen that a lot of schools are looking at experience since nursing school is so competetive. They would prefer to give a seat to a person who's been in the trenches and knows the bad (and the good) side of nursing instead of someone who may have the idea in their head that they'll get to flirt with nurses while the CNAs change patients diapers.

This doens't mean that the student without experience isn't going to be an amazing student. The schools just need another way to figure out who their serious students are and they just need another way to sort through the competetion.

[Nurse-One]

Try voluntary work at your local hospital or nursing home.

See if that qualifys with your school

[SunnyCaRN]

Hello,

Don't worry so much about work experience. Not everyone is going to make all the points. At my school they give points for volunteering so look to see if that is a possiblility. To get points for working it has to be full time and over 2 years. Look and see if you complete a language if you get points and of course keep your GPA up.