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If you’re considering nursing school, you’re likely asking yourself a smart question: How well will this program prepare me for the job?
That question matters. Nursing school is a major investment of your time, energy and resources. You want to know that when graduation day has come and gone you will be ready to step into a healthcare setting with confidence.
Clinical experience is one of the biggest ways nursing students build that confidence. At Galen College of Nursing, clinical learning is designed to help you connect classroom knowledge with real patient care.
Through labs, simulation, and supervised clinical rotations, you will gain experience that will help you feel more prepared — and that will show future employers you’re ready for the job.
Think of clinical experience as the hands-on portion of your nursing education. It gives you the opportunity to practice what you’re learning in class. It also offers you the chance to get used to working in real healthcare environments while under supervision from experts who will coach and encourage you.
Clinical learning labs are focused on repetitive practice of highly specific nursing skills. These lab sessions provide the bridge between what you’re learning in your courses and what you’ll do every day as a working licensed nurse.
“Galen prepares students by starting in a safe, in-house clinical learning lab or simulation experience,” says Dr. Brittney Welch, Director of Clinical Optimization. In the lab, you can practice core nursing skills, build familiarity with equipment and strengthen your confidence before transitioning into real patient care.
Simulation labs provide the opportunity to practice clinical skills on lifelike, anatomically correct human models. The manikins simulate blinking, breathing, vocalizing and even reacting to medications. You will practice many foundational nursing skills on the manikins, including:
In clinical courses, like in other classes, you will learn new material and receive direct instruction and coaching. Dr. Welch emphasizes that clinicals will align with your other learning experiences.
“If you’re learning about geriatrics, your clinicals will be facilitated within a geriatric setting. If you’re learning about pediatrics, you will get live experience with pediatric patients,” says Dr. Welch.
Galen is part of the HCA Healthcare family, which means our students can get access to a wide range of clinical training, nursing development, and education opportunities. Depending on your program and stage of learning, your clinical experiences may include:
To be approved for clinical work with real patients in any of these locations, you have to satisfy all the requirements on our student checklist for clinical participation (PDF). This is part of how Galen ensures that both you and your patients remain safe during your clinicals.
Of course, it’s not just experience that matters in nursing. It’s how you approach the work. At Galen, we emphasize our “iCARE Compassionately” values. In every interaction, we strive to collaborate from a place of inclusivity, character, accountability, respect, excellence and compassion.
“Galen’s values help ease the transition period into working in a clinical setting,” Dr. Welch says. “You may not know what to expect a lot of the time, but you will know how to treat patients with respect and compassion, and also that you can count on Galen staff to treat you the same way.”
Practicing these values in the clinical setting gives you a foundation of ethics and professional standards to guide you when you’re navigating new care settings or patient needs.
Related: Read “How Galen Educates Nurses for a Changing Healthcare World.”
Healthcare employers don’t expect new nurses to know everything on day one. But they do value nursing school graduates with real clinical experience who are developing the habits needed to succeed.
New nurses are often expected to understand core patient care concepts such as:
These fundamental skills will help you confidently enter new professional settings as you continue to develop more specialized skills.
“Students often equate clinical experience to patient care skills development,” says Dr. Welch. “That is one part of being a nurse, but it is not the complete sum of what nursing care means.”
Nursing is highly collaborative. Employers value graduates who know how to communicate clearly and professionally with patients, families, doctors and other nurses. To successfully build effective communication with such a wide range of people, Dr. Welch noted that students must learn more than technical tasks.
“By the time you enter the clinical courses of our program,” Dr. Welch said, “you should be prepared to learn how to communicate about your work with both medical experts and the general public.”
Clinical experiences at Galen will help you build vital soft skills, including:
Just like an athlete is often reminded to “practice how you’ll play,” you should approach your clinicals with the intent to practice the same good attitude and habits that will make you successful in your future career.
Related: Read “Careers in Nursing Bring Purpose, Stability, and Opportunity.”
Prospective students sometimes wonder whether academic clinical experiences will feel less realistic than working on an actual nursing floor. Galen’s clinical model is built to lead you step-by-step through a well-crafted process of gaining real-life nursing skills and building on previous lessons.
“You wouldn’t learn how to administer an IV before you learn how to do a physical assessment. Your clinical labs start with shorter days before building to longer days that reflect real nursing schedules,” says Dr. Welch.
That progression can help reduce anxiety and support stronger long-term learning. Confidence is important in nursing, and it is built through repetition and experience. At Galen, we help you build your confidence one day at a time.
Related: Read “Grace, Grit, and a Calling to Serve.”
1. Ask a lot of questions. Dr. Welch emphasizes that “you don’t know what you don’t know” as a new nurse. “Asking questions doesn’t make you less than,” she says. “It makes you more complete and helps you become a better nurse.”
2. Be comfortable not knowing every answer. Nursing school gives students the basis, the foundation to think critically, make judgment calls and collaborate with the care team. We’ll help you build confidence that you are on track, even as you face learning curves during clinicals. “You’re not supposed to know everything right away,” Dr. Welch says. You’re learning how to think like a nurse!”
3. Be patient with yourself. Nursing is a continuous learning process. It takes time to build the clinical knowledge base and critical thinking needed for excellent nursing care.
“A quality nursing education will help you develop the confidence, judgment and hands-on experience employers value,” says Dr. Welch. “At Galen, you’ll learn in an environment purely focused on making great nurses, with support systems designed to help you progress from classroom learning to clinical readiness.”
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