All About Nursing Externships: Benefits, Credits, Duration…

Like internships, nursing externships are designed for students to get hands-on experience. The difference is that externships are typically (but not always) shorter than internships, and they’re not usually paid positions, though they may be. Externships more often involve shadowing a mentor than actual responsibility, and they rarely earn course credits at your college or university.

But nursing externships are excellent opportunities for students to observe and engage with patients, nurses, technicians, and doctors. Externships are especially beneficial if you want to get practical knowledge in a specific area of nursing and experience nursing “in real life.”

We’re here to help you learn more about the benefits of nursing externships, where you can find nursing externship opportunities and the duration of nursing externships.

But first, career planning is an important step for nursing graduates. During your studies, you need to evaluate your strengths, weaknesses, aspirations, and specific interests to match with the most satisfying nursing positions. This self-analyzation is imperative and just as important as your courses, and nursing externships can help.

Benefits of Nursing Externships

1. Real-world experience

Learning in the classroom and reading books are two ways of learning nursing processes and practices. But actual experience is different. You need to develop your knowledge and understanding of people from all walks of life. And while you might think that only refers to patients, it also refers to all the people you’ll work with, from janitors, volunteers, and receptionists to technicians, fellow nurses, and physicians.

During nursing externships, you might observe the correct processes of collecting blood or urine samples. You’ll help with injections and IV lines—though you won’t do them yourself without a license—with actual patients. And you might have a chance to observe patients from admittance through recovery and discharge. These are only a few significant learning experiences for a nursing student.

2. Exposure to multiple work areas

In the classroom, you learn different methods and practices for patient care. In reality, however, healthcare facilities have multiple specialties, and each must follow a specific process to treat patients. Drawing blood from a premature infant, for example, may be very different from the process used for older children and adults.

During a nursing externship, you may get a chance to learn about various specialties within a hospital. Plus, as an extern, a nursing student can work at other healthcare facilities such as nursing homes and laboratories. All these opportunities provide multiple experiences, which will help you choose the area of medicine that suits you the best.

3. Improve professional behavior

Pursuing a nursing degree means you’ll spend a lot of your work time with patients as well as staff. And that means you absolutely must develop professional skills. Other jobs also need professional skills, but when it comes to nursing, it’s essential. For starters, how we behave with patients is sometimes more important than how we treat.

And nursing means teamwork, especially in a hospital. While most of your colleagues will likely be friendly and easy to get along with, not everyone will be, and anyone can have a bad day. This is where your professionalism takes the stage and allows you to perform your duties no matter what the situation might be or what you’re feeling. This applies to the occasional difficult patient, too.

Nursing externships help you learn more about clinical skills, but “soft” skills like communicating with patients, balancing responsibilities, professional behavior, and much more can only be learned on the job. And mastering these skills can increase your job opportunities and improve your career progression.

4. Expertise and advice from mentors

A good professor can teach medical procedures. However, an expertise mentor will help you learn practical skills in a professional situation. During the nursing externship, you’ll get the chance to work under supervision with instructions, plus you’ll have opportunities to ask questions and get answers from experienced nurses—the industry experts.

You might also gain professional tips that will help you while studying. And after the scheduled shift or work assignment, you might be lucky enough to spend time with your mentor and learn more about your new profession and even get advice about the best way to find a job.

An externship also helps build a professional network, and sometimes the externship turns into a full-time employment opportunity. Finally, ask your mentor for a written performance review if it’s not offered, and ask him or her for specific areas for improvement.

How long is a nursing externship?

Externships are typically much shorter than internships, which can last for a summer, six months, or even an entire year. Nursing externships, however, can be as short as a single day or week, or they could last six or eight weeks. These externship opportunities are often offered over the spring or winter break, but some healthcare centers provide opportunities throughout the year. Externships are often like volunteering, but the opportunities are given only to students, new graduates, or others interested in exploring a specific career.

Where do I find nursing externship opportunities?

Nursing externship opportunities are of two types: paid student externships and non-paid externships. GradSiren is the job portal that provides a vast list of nursing externship opportunities for students. Some externships are not found in general job portals; for those, you should visit the official GradSiren internship portal regularly.

To start your entry-level nursing career, click here. You can find great entry-level job opportunities in nursing as well as internships here at GradSiren. And check out the high-paying entry-level healthcare jobs that don’t require a degree.