How Do Accelerated Nursing Students Complete Clinical Training?

Key Infor­ma­tion:

• Accel­er­at­ed nurs­ing pro­grams cov­er the same course­work, labs, and clin­i­cal train­ing as tra­di­tion­al pro­grams but in a short­er time frame.
• Clin­i­cal train­ing begins ear­ly in the pro­gram, involv­ing var­i­ous rota­tions such as acute care and pedi­atrics, where stu­dents per­form essen­tial nurs­ing tasks.
• Time man­age­ment, phys­i­cal and men­tal health main­te­nance, and effec­tive com­mu­ni­ca­tion are cru­cial for suc­cess in these inten­sive programs.
• Tech­nol­o­gy and sup­ple­men­tal resources like VR tools and online forums can enhance the learn­ing expe­ri­ence dur­ing clinicals.

Accel­er­at­ed nurs­ing pro­grams are just as they sound — you get the same nurs­ing edu­ca­tion as a tra­di­tion­al pro­gram in as lit­tle as 11 months, allow­ing you to change careers more quick­ly. Nat­u­ral­ly, the pace of learn­ing is great­ly increased, as is your work­load. This applies to course­work, lab expe­ri­ences, and clin­i­cal train­ing, too.

Though all aspects of nurs­ing edu­ca­tion are impor­tant, clin­i­cal train­ing for nurs­es is at the top of the list. Clin­i­cals allow you to apply what you’ve learned in class and labs in a real-world set­ting — invalu­able expe­ri­ence to gain while you’re still in school.

If you’re con­fused about how to com­plete nurs­ing clin­i­cal hours in an accel­er­at­ed pro­gram, read on! This guide shows you how to com­plete your train­ing successfully.

Relat­ed:

• Pre­req­ui­sites and Require­ments for Accel­er­at­ed Nurs­ing Degrees
• Most Afford­able Bachelor’s in Nursing
• Best Bachelor’s in Nursing
• Top Schol­ar­ships for Nurs­ing Students

Understanding Clinical Training Requirements

Com­plet­ing clin­i­cal rota­tions is part of every nurs­ing pro­gram. Usu­al­ly, clin­i­cals start ear­ly — the first or sec­ond semes­ter of nurs­ing school. Accel­er­at­ed pro­grams are the same way. You’ll begin clin­i­cal rota­tions straight away as part of your core nurs­ing classes.

You’ll com­plete clin­i­cal hours in var­i­ous rota­tions, includ­ing acute care, pedi­atrics, and long-term care, to name a few. An RN clin­i­cal instruc­tor pro­vides guid­ance and feed­back based on your per­for­mance in each rota­tion. Dur­ing your clin­i­cal rota­tions, you’ll be respon­si­ble for a host of tasks, including:

• Tak­ing vital signs
• Mak­ing beds
• Assist­ing patients with feeding
• Per­form­ing phys­i­cal assessments
• Admin­is­ter­ing medications

Accord­ing to the Amer­i­can Nurs­es Asso­ci­a­tion, the num­ber of clin­i­cal hours you have to accrue depends on your state’s require­ments. Like­wise, the required hours vary by degree lev­el. By and large, bachelor’s pro­grams in nurs­ing require at least 400 hours of clin­i­cals. Master’s‑level pro­grams usu­al­ly require any­where from 600–1,300 hours. You obtain these hours in mul­ti­ple week­ly shifts, each of which is eight to twelve hours long.

Not all your clin­i­cal train­ing has to take place in a health­care set­ting, though. Some states allow you to use in-per­son instruc­tion in a lab set­ting and nurs­ing sim­u­la­tion labs online to earn clin­i­cal hours.

Preparation for Clinical Training

Time man­age­ment in nurs­ing school is incred­i­bly impor­tant. How­ev­er, a fast-track nurs­ing pro­gram enhances the need to man­age your time wise­ly. The tips below will help you stay orga­nized and on top of all the respon­si­bil­i­ties of being a nurs­ing student:

• Rely on to-do lists to help you remem­ber assign­ment due dates, lab ses­sions, and oth­er respon­si­bil­i­ties for class and clinicals.
• Learn to pri­or­i­tize so you can attend to the most crit­i­cal tasks first and then com­plete the less impor­tant tasks.
• If pos­si­ble, opt for clin­i­cal sites near where you live to reduce com­mute times. If sites aren’t avail­able near­by, use your com­mute time to learn (e.g., lis­ten to a nurs­ing-relat­ed pod­cast while dri­ving to your clin­i­cal site or watch record­ed class lec­tures while rid­ing the bus or train).
• Be proac­tive and com­plete low-pri­or­i­ty tasks dur­ing down­time at your clin­i­cal site. This will improve patient care and reduce your work­load lat­er in your shift.
• Clus­ter patient care (e.g., assist a patient with eat­ing, feed­ing, and using the restroom in one round) so you can save time.

One of the chal­lenges in nurs­ing clin­i­cals is the extreme stress on your body. You will be on your feet for most of your shift and often be in high-stress sit­u­a­tions. There are sig­nif­i­cant men­tal strains involved, too (e.g., work­ing with dif­fi­cult patients), so pro­tect­ing your men­tal health is impor­tant as well.

To pre­pare for the rig­ors of clin­i­cals, eat right, drink lots of water, and get as much sleep as pos­si­ble. Take time away from your course­work and clin­i­cals to unwind and have fun. Try yoga to work tense or sore mus­cles if you’re feel­ing phys­i­cal­ly down. If you expe­ri­ence men­tal health issues, seek guid­ance from col­leagues or see a men­tal health professional.

Maximizing the Clinical Experience

Your clin­i­cal expe­ri­ence is what you make of it. On the one hand, you can do the bare min­i­mum or have a poor atti­tude, which makes clin­i­cals even more dif­fi­cult. On the oth­er hand, you can embrace clin­i­cals for what they are — an oppor­tu­ni­ty to learn and grow and do so in a sup­port­ive envi­ron­ment. Do the lat­ter by using the strate­gies out­lined in the table below:

Fur­ther­more, prac­tice effec­tive com­mu­ni­ca­tion strate­gies with every­one you encounter dur­ing clin­i­cals. Speak clear­ly and con­fi­dent­ly, express­ing what you need or want in a pro­fes­sion­al tone. Be an active lis­ten­er, too. Ensure you make eye con­tact when lis­ten­ing to oth­ers, con­firm what you heard, and ask for clar­i­fi­ca­tion if you’re unsure what the oth­er per­son needs. In a med­ical set­ting, effec­tive com­mu­ni­ca­tion can mean the dif­fer­ence between life and death!

Common Challenges and Solutions

All nurs­es at all nurs­ing clin­i­cal sites are met with chal­lenges big and small. Things will go wrong; what’s impor­tant is how you deal with those chal­lenges. Below is a short list of com­mon prob­lems you might encounter, along with prac­ti­cal solu­tions to help you over­come them.

The Amer­i­can Nurs­es Asso­ci­a­tion has numer­ous nurs­ing stu­dent resources on this sub­ject, details about nurse pro­fes­sion­al devel­op­ment, and oth­er impor­tant aspects of becom­ing a nurse. Con­sult their web­site for details.

Leveraging Technology and Resources

Dur­ing clin­i­cals, you’ll gain valu­able expe­ri­ence in real-world med­ical set­tings. But you can use nurs­ing edu­ca­tion tech­nol­o­gy and sup­ple­men­tal resources to max­i­mize your learn­ing that much more. Tools and resources worth con­sid­er­ing include the following:

• Vir­tu­al Real­i­ty (VR) tools allow you to work in sim­u­lat­ed nurs­ing set­tings to hone your knowl­edge and skills. You can sim­u­late hun­dreds of sce­nar­ios, includ­ing sit­u­a­tions that sel­dom occur in the real world.
• Online learn­ing tools such as quizzes, study mate­ri­als, and sim­u­la­tions give you the need­ed prac­tice to mas­ter crit­i­cal nurs­ing skills.
• Tele­health tech­nolo­gies enable you to com­plete clin­i­cal rota­tions vir­tu­al­ly, often with under­served and diverse populations.
• Online nurs­ing forums are good sources of prac­ti­cal infor­ma­tion pro­vid­ed by nurs­es of all expe­ri­ence lev­els and specialties.
• Nurs­ing stu­dent orga­ni­za­tions and pro­fes­sion­al nurs­ing orga­ni­za­tions like the Nation­al Stu­dent Nurs­es’ Asso­ci­a­tion offer edu­ca­tion­al sup­port, lead­er­ship train­ing, and oth­er ben­e­fits for enhanc­ing your clin­i­cal experience.
• Study groups with your peers are effec­tive for brush­ing up on your knowl­edge and skills.

Completing Clinical Requirements and Beyond

To ensure your clin­i­cals go smooth­ly, main­tain prop­er records for the hours you’ve worked and the com­pe­ten­cies you’ve mas­tered. Work with your nurse pre­cep­tor to ensure all required doc­u­men­ta­tion is in order and sub­mit­ted on time.

Once your clin­i­cals are com­plete, the next step in tran­si­tion­ing from nurs­ing stu­dent to nurse is NCLEX prepa­ra­tion. Everyone’s approach to the NCLEX is a lit­tle dif­fer­ent, but some basic tips you can use to get ready for the exam are below:

• Study ear­ly and often using an NCLEX prep book
• Com­plete NCLEX prac­tice exams
• Take part in study groups for the NCLEX
• Be famil­iar with each of the NCLEX client needs categories
• Get plen­ty of rest the night before the exam

Once you pass the exam, you can pur­sue employ­ment as an RN, focus on a spe­cial­ty, or take part in a res­i­den­cy, to name a few options. What­ev­er path you choose, you can move ahead know­ing you have the appro­pri­ate knowl­edge, skills, and expe­ri­ences from your clin­i­cal rota­tions to be a suc­cess­ful nurse.