Nursing Clinicals

The number of nursing clinical hours you take depends on state requirements, the type of degree, and the school’s curriculum. More advanced degrees, for example, might require more clinical training. As a leader of nursing education in Utah, Joyce University offers accelerated, accredited programs that can help students reach their career goals in as little as 20 months.

No, students do not get paid for clinicals in nursing school; they are an extension of your comprehensive nursing education. While clinicals require students to work in real clinical settings, clinicals are an experiential learning opportunity that provides students with hands-on skill development.

The schedule for your clinicals depends entirely on your degree program. Clinical sessions are completed at various healthcare facilities across the state up to within 100 miles of the campus.

Clinical nursing student shifts usually last from eight to 12 hours, much like what a nurse working full-time in a medical facility would experience.

During your clinical rotation, you’ll take the information you learned in the classroom and apply it in a real-world setting. Clinical rotations present situations and experiences that give students a more well-rounded education than just learning from case studies in the classroom. Typical nursing clinical rotations include:

• Medical-surgical
• Labor and delivery
• Pediatrics
• Geriatrics
• Perioperative
• Critical care
• Emergency
• Psychiatric
• Community health

Nursing is a career where a lot of your first experiences will come from the clinical portion of the curriculum. Clinical is the time to ask questions, learn, practice skills as much as possible, gain confidence in your abilities, and believe that you can face and overcome the challenges of being a nurse. Ask questions and be an active learner.

Nursing school is typically divided into three components: didactic, simulation lab, and clinicals. The didactic segment, including in-person and online lectures, provide a fundamental layer of knowledge for students to apply in the actual hospital setting. The simulation lab allows future nurses to practice the various skills and tasks they need, in a safe, non-risk environment before touching real patients. Clinicals are the hands-on, on-site portion of nursing school.

Volunteering abroad in an international clinical setting can vary from intensive work in an urban hospital to basic education in a rural clinic. These environments offer nursing students diverse tasks to take on, depending on their skillsets and the needs of the host community. Students work alongside clinic staff where they gain hands-on experience aiding patients with a variety of health needs. Learn more about our international and service clinical experiences.

Our humanitarian clinical program gives students the unique opportunity to dedicate their clinical hours to aiding in humanitarian efforts. In addition to traditional clinical environments, Joyce is expanding clinical experiences globally to not only help students apply their learnings in diverse settings, but also help communities in need. Our enhanced clinical approach to nursing education gives students valuable experience to serve alongside local community organizations supporting under-resourced populations.

For nursing students wanting to take their clinicals abroad, they must be in good standing with the university, be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, and participate as a 4th semester or capstone student. Students then submit a resume and cover letter within the appropriate timeline, awarding the top candidates an interview.

Students give aid to local community organizations by providing education, mental health, logistical, and quality medical support to the community. These clinical opportunities focus on creating educational opportunities for both the people they serve and the healthcare providers.

International clinical programs typically last about two weeks, with shifts lasting around 12 hours. Students participate in pediatric and adult triage, laboratory and pharmacy services, and community outreach, while balancing their studies.

Joyce is currently partnered with the non-profit organizations I Am Hope Guatemala and Clinica Esperanza of Roatan, Honduras, to provide opportunities for students to complete their clinical education while offering medical support to diverse, resource-limited communities in need. By partnering with these organizations, Joyce students can get first-hand experience practicing nursing skills where it is really needed.

Traditional clinicals are an important experiential learning opportunity for nursing students to get hands-on training in real clinicals settings. Clinical rotations give students the ability to practice in an inpatient, ambulatory care or community setting, where the student provides care to patients under the guidance and direction of an instructor or preceptor.

Gaining quality clinical experience is essential to a successful future as a nurse. Good performances in clinicals don’t just lead to esteem and respect, clinical experiences can often turn into solid networking opportunities for potential careers.

The actual curriculum and schedule for your clinicals depends on your nursing school and degree. During clinicals, you will likely be assigned to nurse in a local hospital, school, or other organization with a nursing staff position. The nurse will allow you to work alongside them, practice effective communication in nursing, and help you learn various nursing skills. Oftentimes, students may be rotated or switched around to different clinical settings each semester.

From rotations in traditional hospital and healthcare facilities throughout Utah to volunteering through local service and international humanitarian organizations, Joyce is expanding clinical experiences globally to not only help students apply their learnings in diverse settings, but also help communities in need.

Nursing students at Joyce spend their first semester in the classroom, but once the second semester starts, they spend at least one day a week in an actual nursing environment. Students in their first clinical rotations are eased into the experience under the direct guidance of an instructor or registered nurse, but by the final semester, you will be completing more tasks autonomously.

This varies by the degree program. Nursing clinicals begin the second semester and end with a semester of students working mostly independently. This part of clinicals is referred to as the capstone, which is a transition to a more independent role that enables nursing students to take on more of the workload of the staff nurse.