Nursing clinicals are, without a doubt, among the most valuable and engaging aspects of your accelerated path to nursing. Building on your online coursework and hands-on labs, nursing clinicals allow you to gain real-world experience in diverse areas of patient care.
As a student in our Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (ABSN) program, nursing clinicals are paramount to your success because they grant you with the resources and tools needed to have a rewarding and lasting career as a registered nurse. To ensure that you start off on the right foot, here are five things you can expect from your nursing clinicals at Madonna University.
1. You’ll start sooner, rather than later.
When it comes to traditional nursing programs, most schools don’t have students start nursing clinicals until the second year of their education. However, our Accelerated BSN program lets you start interacting with patients at the end of your first semester. Many prospective ABSN students look at this as a huge advantage. Why? Because starting nursing clinicals sooner helps you build confidence earlier and lets you know what’s expected of you not only as a nursing student, but as a registered nurse.
Following suit with your online coursework and hands-on skills and simulation labs, your nursing clinicals are sequenced to follow a natural learning progression. Your first nursing clinical, holistic mental health nursing care, will focus on the basics of nursing, such as:
- Patient charting
- Medication Administration
- Wound dressing changes
- Taking vitals
In addition to covering the fundamentals of nursing, your first clinical will teach you how to properly communicate and care for experiencing all types of ailments. As your curriculum advances, you’ll find your clinicals to become more involved.
2. You’ll become part of a valuable clinical partnership.
While earning a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) is certainly beneficial to your future in healthcare, Madonna University takes your nursing school education one step further by partnering with Ascension Michigan, a member of Ascension Health. Within this exclusive partnership, you’ll gain real-world experiences while collaborating, communicating and working alongside notable doctors, nurses and fellow staff members.
While employment is never guaranteed, you should treat every nursing clinical like it is a job interview. Sure, you may be nervous at first, but it’s in your best interest to put yourself out there and learn from everyone you can. After all, you never know who may be a future reference of the employer.
3. You’ll learn to embrace the variety.
You will have clinical rotations that range from a clinic setting to the intensive care unit (ICU) to working in pediatrics. Your ability to practice nursing skills within different settings will give you a better understanding of what area of nursing best suits your personality and future career goals.
Beyond the nursing specialties you may think you would like to pursue; it’s crucial that you go into each clinical experience with an open mind to receive the best experience. For example, you may begin clinicals wanting to pursue pediatrics and then completely change your mind after caring for patients in an acute care setting.
4. You’ll master the art of multi-tasking.
Nursing involves a massive amount of multitasking. If you haven’t already encountered this from your online coursework and hands-on labs, you can expect to handle several things at once soon after you begin your first clinical. From hanging an IV while communicating with your patient’s family members to listening to your patient’s heart sounds while reciting their chart to a physician, anything can and will happen during your nursing clinical. With the steadfast guidance of our clinical faculty, you’ll learn how to:
- Multitask efficiently
- Adapt to intense situations
- Think critically
Your clinical rotations can range anywhere from six to eight to 12 hours per day, which means you’ll have to adapt to a rigorous schedule and learn how to maximize your time to keep up with online coursework and hands-on labs. However, learning how to overcome these challenges is what prepares you to become a successful and confident registered nurse. Not to mention, the staff and faculty members at Madonna will support you each step of the way.
5. You’ll have support along the way.
As you progress through your clinical rotations, you’ll start to develop a routine that supports patient safety and quality care. At the same time, you’ll have support from experienced faculty each step of the way. Taking the initiative to convey your questions, thoughts, and opinions, regarding patient care, with your clinical faculty member will help you achieve greatness; therefore, it is crucial that you rely on these individuals whenever you can.
Furthermore, it’s essential that you get to know the other students in your cohort. After all, you’ll be spending a lot of time with them throughout your ABSN journey. You’ll study together, role play in the simulation lab and endure clinical rotations with some, but not all cohort members. Reaching out to them for support is helpful because nine times out of 10 they know precisely how you are feeling.
Ready to make the most of your nursing clinicals?
As you can see, nursing clinicals are the foundation of your accelerated nursing education because they allow you to gain real-world experience in a variety of practice settings – from rehabilitation centers to hospitals to mental health facilities and more. By the time you graduate from the 16-month, Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing program at Madonna University, your extensive clinical practice will leave you feeling prepared and confident to take the National Council Licensure Exam (NCLEX-RN).
To learn more about what nursing clinicals are like at Madonna University, contact our admissions team today.