Richmond Experience

I would like to draw the attention of all my sophomore readers to the wonderful opportunity provided by the Richmond Program also known as the Richmond Experience. This program provides Junior Nursing Students at Liberty University with the privilege of completing Pediatric (Peds) and Medical Surgical (Med Surg) clinicals at Bon Secours' St. Mary's Hospital in Richmond, VA. Students who are accepted into the program complete all of their Med Surg and Peds clinicals in five weekends during either the fall or spring semester. These weekends start on Thursday when students collect their patient information. Clinicals occur on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Each weekend students work one 8-hour and two 12-hour shifts. This makes for a long weekend, but students only have clinicals half of the weekends and are off the other half.

At this point you might be wondering, why would I want to drive two hours to go to Richmond for clinicals? The benefit of participating in the Richmond Program is that you are able to gain more inpatient pediatric experience. St. Mary's pediatrics department provides care to a greater number of  high acuity Peds patients. This means there are more opportunities for hands-on learning experiences. Participating in the Richmond Experience also gives students the opportunity to work in another medical facility and work with another charting system. These are just some of the benefits of the Richmond Program. Stay tuned for future posts about what I love about St. Mary's Hospital as I will begin my clinicals there soon.

If you are a sophomore and are interested in the Richmond Experience, here's what you need to know. Applications for the Richmond Program are due no later than March 15, 2013. To apply to the Richmond Experience you need to follow the instructions provided on the Liberty University webpage.  Make sure to give your instructors the evaluation form as soon as possible since they may take some time before they are able to complete the form for you. Keep in mind this is a highly competitive program; it is to your advantage to apply early.