What is the appeal of Associates Degree in Nursing?

Nursing School- Associates degree- how much flexibility is there in what you study and clinical placements?

• I am interested in doing an Associates Degree in Nursing in order to become a maternity/neonatal nurse. I understand that to be an RN you have to go to a general nursing school, ...show more

• Answer:

  In nursing school, there is a set clinical schedule with very little pick and choose options available. The purpose of your clinical rotations is to give you experience in as many different areas of nursing. You'll find that the biggest emphasis will be med-surg, because that is as close to "general" nursing as it gets. You have to know the basics, the "general" stuff before you specialize. My school did have a preceptor program for the last semester of the ADN program. The nursing student could have some say in where those preceptor hours were spent and some of my classmates were able to do those hours under a preceptor in the Labor and Delivery. I chose a small, rural hospital because I got to do everything! Surgery, L&D, ICU, ER, the works. They would actually page overhead to send the nursing student to the ER because we have an intersesting case coming in! (It was like a 20 bed hospital. I learned more in those six weeks than in the rest of nursing school put together!) So, if your school has an ER rotation, you can't opt out of it. You'll get your chance in L&D also.