Why don't nursing schools offer ICU electives?

caroladybelle, BSN, RN · Jul 23, 2005

In most schools (or at least at mine), there was section devoted to each speciality. And then, at the end we did a practicum in what we wanted to specialize in. So it was built into the program. And most of us listed on our resume' what our practicum was in.

Do they not do that in BSN programs?

VickyRN, MSN, DNP, RN · Jul 23, 2005

In most schools (or at least at mine), there was section devoted to each speciality. And then, at the end we did a practicum in what we wanted to specialize in. So it was built into the program. And most of us listed on our resume' what our practicum was in.
Do they not do that in BSN programs?

Yes they do - Externships are for baccalaureate students and usually take place over a ten-week period between the junior and senior years. The student must meet qualifications for this experience (usually high GPA during nursing school). Securing an externship is very competitive, and not every BSN student qualifies. The student pays tuition to the sponsoring university for the experience and chooses the unit or specialty area (including intensive care units or the emergency room). The student is then assigned a preceptor on the floor who must evaluate the student's experience. The preceptor is carefully screened according to preset criteria and must be working a fulltime schedule. The student works every shift that his or her preceptor works during this period (days, nights, weekends; usually exceeds 400 clinical hours during the 10-week period). The student is also paid by the hospital (usually at NA salary). The student is generally able to do everything the RN can do (per P & P exceptions, such as giving experimental or chemotherapy medications, certain procedures, etc.). Again, this is all under the careful supervision of the preceptor and (ultimately) the student's instructor.

Interships are an abbreviated form of externships. Internships can be utilized for all nursing students (LPN, ADN, and BSN) and are currently much in vogue. These usually take place during the last semester and consist of around 120 clinical hours for RN students and 90 hours for LPN students. The student is paired up with a suitable preceptor and completes the required hours on a hospital unit. The student is then evaluated by the preceptor at the end of the internship experience. The student is not paid by the facility.

Both interships and externships seem, at first glance, to be the resurrection of the "diploma school" model. The big difference, today, with renewed emphasis on work-based learning, is that this is done under the careful scrutiny and direction of university or college-based nurse educators.

CseMgr1, ASN, RN · Jul 23, 2005

A required course I took during my last quarter in a Diploma program was Advanced Med-Surg. We got plenty of experience in ICU, SICU and in the ER, which included riding inside the ambulance of a major charity hospital. I can't imagine schools not offering these courses anymore... :confused:

Nemhain · Jul 23, 2005

If I were a Biology major and wanted to work in virology I could take several elective courses in this area. Furthermore, if I were a Chemistry/Physics major especially interested in nanotechnology I would have many elective opportunities to prepare myself before graduation. However, this doesn't seem to be the case in nursing. Why don't nursing programs offer electives in ER, ICU and other specialty areas? Of course you would still need extensive on the job training after graduation, but at least you would have a significant head start and have a much better idea if it was an area of nursing that you were really interested in after all.

Because it would be logical and actually help a student out...at least that's why they would never do it at my school.

ageless · Jul 23, 2005

I was required to take critical care nursing and pass before graduation. It was in my senior year.

llg, PhD, RN · Jul 23, 2005

Some schools include a advanced clinical practicum or "role transition course" in the final semester. The student chooses an area of interest and has an indepth experience under the guidance of a preceptor plus a weekly class to discuss the transition from student to staff nurse. These experiences are different from typical "externships" or "interships" in that they are actually a part of the school cirriculum and the students and not paid employees of the hospital.

One of the local BSN programs in my area has such a course and we feel that their graduates benefit greatly from that course. It helps them with the "putting it all together" of role integration plus it gives them more indepth knowledge and skills related to the clinical area in which they hope to work after graduation.

So ... such things do exist in nursing. It's a matter of which program you attend.

llg

VickyRN, MSN, DNP, RN · Jul 23, 2005

ICU nursing, for one thing, is not on the NCLEX. The major emphasis on the 2004 NCLEX-RN test plan is Safe Effective Care Environment (13-19%), Pharmacological and Parenteral Therapies (13-19%), Reduction of Risk Potential (13-19%), and Physiological Adaptation (11-17%). Due to the unrelenting pressure of "additive curricula" and the renewed emphasis on the basics of safe, effective nursing care, the major emphasis in nursing schools across the US is the "nurse generalist movement." Nurse educators are encouraged to teach only what a beginning nurse generalist functioning in a variety of clinical settings needs to know. We are actually putting our graduates at a disadvantage if we go beyond this basic knowledge. The purpose of the practicum, externship, or internship is to provide the senior nursing student with a more in-depth exposure to an area of interest than the "generalist nursing curriculum" will allow.

http://www.susla.edu/nursing/index.html

http://www.webster.edu/ugcatalog/nurs.html

Bekahlynn · Jul 23, 2005

At my school, we also had to take a multi-systems failure class our senior year. the clinical time was ICU and ER. They also offer an elective OR class with clinical time and an elective NICU class, without clinical time. If one was going to do capstone in the OR or NICU, these classes were mandatory.

fergus51 · Jul 23, 2005

If you are interested in ICU nursing, why not take the initiative and take distance courses yourself? I did these in addition to my nursing program courses because I knew I wanted to work in a specialty area after graduation (I took maternity theory courses which were great and was able to convince my instructor to let me do my senior practicum in L&D because of it). I don't know about American courses, I took mine from a Canadian university. http://www.bcit.ca is one (look under distance programs) and http://www.mtroyal.ab.ca is another.

OBRNinTN · Jul 23, 2005

Wow...that sounds good. Does anyone know of any of these types of distance programs in the states?

fergus51 · Jul 23, 2005

Wow...that sounds good. Does anyone know of any of these types of distance programs in the states?

I should add, you don't have to be Canadian to take these courses.