Published Jan 20, 2017
Rocknurse, MSN, APRN, NP
1,367 Posts
I'm wondering what the clinical experience was like for all you guys. Did you enjoy your experience? Did it put you on the right track in the area you wanted to work in? Did you feel like you learned a lot? What was your preceptor's style? I'm in the surgical ICU right now and am having a great experience. I got to round right off the bat and shown how to formulate a critical care note which is written slightly differently than the traditional SOAP note we use in school so that's a bit of a learning curve. I also got to help put in an A-line on my first day. I was delighted! My two preceptors are excellent teachers and are showing me how to think in terms of differential diagnoses right off the bat rather than listing in my note what has already happened like I did when I was a nurse. I'm super excited to continue to learn even more. I like the ICU I'm in as they have a wide range of complex surgical patients, from post-craniotomies to full-on GI surgery. Very satisfied right now.
What's very noticable to me is the completely different vibe, style and treatment as an NP in the inpatient setting in contrast to being a RN which is all I've known thus far. It's quite liberating in many ways. It's a completely different flow and way of being. I like it!
traumaRUs, MSN, APRN
88 Articles; 21,268 Posts
I did as much of my clinical time in critical care (PICU) and then for my adult clinicals I did most of them in the ER.
I love both environments and was very fortunate to know a lot of my preceptors.
RescueNinjaKy
593 Posts
I too am very curious what clinical rotations are like for nurse practitioners. Keep it coming !
babyNP., APRN
1,923 Posts
Although my specialty is NICU, I was able to do a few different types of rotations. I did hours in well-baby nursery, labor & delivery, antepartum, fetal surgery consultation & observation of a surgery, developmental follow-up clinic, and then of course the bulk of my hours was in the NICU.
I loved seeing all the aspects of care from prenatal through delivery through to follow-up of former NICU babies. To be clear- all of those hours were covered in 1 semester and none of them counted towards my clinical hour requirement to become a NNP, but I felt like they gave me a more rounded picture of what families go through from prenatal to delivery to developmental peds clinic follow-up. I liked the antepartum and L&D piece so much that I've half-joking considered doing a post-grad certificate to do CNM in 5-10 years :)
Neuro Guy NP, DNP, PhD, APRN
376 Posts
I'm an acute care NP. I had rotations in cards, neuro, renal, pulm/critical care, and trauma surgery. The first clinical semester was a mix of GYN and internal medicine