What do RN refresher/re-entry courses cover?

[MightyMilly]

Hi everyone,

I've been out of nursing for several years now and considering an RN refresher/re-entry course. For anyone out there who's taken an RN refresher, what do the courses cover? I'd really like to take a refresher covering material we learned in school as well as updates. Any insights?

Thanks

[goldberryRN]

I took a 10 week refresher earlier this year. I'm in the Midwest and they are hard programs to find around here. I gather though, that the content and the structure vary widely from one program to the next. Ours was weighted heavier on clinical experience. We had 120 hours clinical and 80 hours of classroom and skills lab. For clinicals we were assigned to an area based on our past experience, and each had our own preceptor. There were several optional things one could sign up for, like following a respiratory therapist around for a day or hanging out in interventional radiology, things like that. I've heard that some programs are primarily online with little clinical time. And some programs provide the classroom time but you have to procure your own clinical setting and preceptor. Our program was awesome but unfortunately the medical center almost closed it and then decided to cut the available spots in half.....I guess it's not a money maker.

[SAHMnurse]

I took a 10 week refresher earlier this year. I'm in the Midwest and they are hard programs to find around here. I gather though, that the content and the structure vary widely from one program to the next. Ours was weighted heavier on clinical experience. We had 120 hours clinical and 80 hours of classroom and skills lab. For clinicals we were assigned to an area based on our past experience, and each had our own preceptor. There were several optional things one could sign up for, like following a respiratory therapist around for a day or hanging out in interventional radiology, things like that. I've heard that some programs are primarily online with little clinical time. And some programs provide the classroom time but you have to procure your own clinical setting and preceptor. Our program was awesome but unfortunately the medical center almost closed it and then decided to cut the available spots in half.....I guess it's not a money maker.

That sounds like a GREAT program. I'd like to find one like that when I am ready to return to nursing. I am in Southern California. Hmmm....