Finding a Clinical Rotation

1.         You MUST be reactivating a license in a state where the Nurse Practice Act specifically states that you are to do a clinical rotation as part of a refresher course.  Otherwise, you are not eligible to be placed. 

If you have not been at the bedside in 10 or more years, you will have a more difficult time locating a clinical rotation in a hospital setting.  Most hospitals and other acute care facilities will NOT take you if you have not been at the bedside in less than 10 yrs, especially if you are not willing to accept a job with them.   If your state allows non-hospital based clinical, we suggest you use those.  If you must do hospital based clinical in your state, and have not been at the bedside in 10+ years, we strongly recommend that you find a clinical site prior to enrollment in this course. 

2.         You must talk to the Nurse Educator at the facility and ask if they are willing to work with you.   

***Most facilities require that you work for them for a period of time after the clinical rotation OR they charge you a fee to provide that service.   That fee is in addition to our clinical fee.  We can only negotiate the contract for the clinical affiliation.  You need to negotiate your own employment terms.  Please remember that the facility has no altruistic goal of bringing you back into the workforce.  If you are not willing to work for them on the shift/unit they need, it is likely they will decline your request. 

3.         Once the Nurse Educator agrees to work with you, please have her email us at info@learningsvc.com to start the affiliation contract.  You MUST also provide us with the name and contact information of the facility.   Your clinical cannot be arranged if we do not speak to the clinical facility.  This affiliation agreement process takes 3-4 months.  Please plan ahead.  You WILL run out of time if you wait until after theory to start this process.  ALL affiliation agreements have a clause which allows the facility to back out of accepting students at any time and for any reason.   If you are going to take the entire six months to do theory, it is wise to have a back up clinical site. 

5.         How you present yourself:          Attitude is everything.  Dress and speak like a professional.  As a refresher you are going to follow the preceptor's schedule, she is not going to follow yours.  Arrange your personal life so that you have a clear schedule for the four weeks of clinical.  If you cannot do that, you may not get a rotation.    If a rotation is offered to you, TAKE IT.  If you decline a rotation because you don't like the floor or shift, you will not be offered another one from the facility. 

6.         Do NOT rely on phone and email.  Make an appointment and physically meet with the contact person.  It is easier to sell yourself in person and it allows the coordinator to associate a face with a name.  You should expect to interview for the clinical rotation and present a resume so the Nurse Educator can try to better match you for a rotation. 

7.         Limited inpatient availability:  Most healthcare is provided outpatient.  The number of inpatient units is smaller than a decade ago and competition is tough to place students of all disciplines on those floors.  It is usually easier to arrange outpatient rotations.  If your BON allows outpatient clinicals, we strongly suggest you look in that direction. 

8.         Outpatient and non-acute care clinicals:   There are a limited number of RN’s in these settings so there can usually only be one refresher at a time rotate through the setting and can be a long waiting list.  We have experienced refreshers simply running out of time on a temp license or the year has expired before getting a spot in an outpatient setting.  Make sure you communicate with us so we can prevent needless fees for temp license renewal or running out of time. 

9.         Non-patient care clinicals:  Arizona is the only state that allows a non-patient care clinical to be used for a nurse refresher program.   It is very important that we have contact with the facility before we begin contract negotiations to ensure that this area can provide the type of experience you need to meet the goals of the course.  Many of the nurses in these types of jobs are not doing 'nursing' work the entire 40 hour work week.  Therefore, some of what they do is NOT going to meet the goals of your clinical.   It usually takes longer to reach the 160 hours required by Arizona in these types of settings. 

10.       Nurse practitioners who are actively seeing patients and working in an advanced practice role cannot precept nurse refreshers.  There are numerous scope of practice violations that could occur in such a situation.   

11.       Jobs are tough to find in all sectors.  Do not get discouraged.  It will likely take you more than one or two interviews to find a clinical setting and/or job.  You should expect to start at ‘the bottom’ and may need to take a rotation or employment in an area that is not your first choice. 

12.      MAKE SURE YOU STAY IN COMMUNICATION WITH US THROUGH THE PROCESS.   FAILING TO COMMUNICATE WITH US AND HAVE THE APPROPRIATE ITEMS IN ORDER FOR CLINICAL IS A FAILURE OF THE CLINICAL PORTION OF THE COURSE.