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, but I am wondering how much flexibility there is with which areas you focus on and which clinical placements you do.

I have a near phobia of emergency rooms and couldnt work with trauma patients. I am OK with needles, blood, etc, so anything else would be OK- it's just accidents and severe injuries that terrify me. How likely is it that I could do a Nursing Degree while avoiding this? 2 years isnt very long so I am guessing you cant do a placement for everything, it's just a matter of whether it's random assignment or you are able to choose.

You will have very little, if any flexibility at all. The schools have a planned curriculum that must meet all the state board of nursing educational requirements, including so many hours spent in a clinical setting. Clinical facilities are often limited, and you end up going wherever they place you. The courses themselves are often sequenced so that you don't even have a choice on what semester you take which class.

It is typical in many associates programs to have a few clinicals in a long-term care facility (nursing home) in the first semester to get your feet wet and function at the level of a nursing assistant. The second semester you will probably go to a hospital working with patients who have chronic illnesses, such as cancer, diabetes, heart conditions, etc. The last year in your program you will probably have rotations in pediatrics and maternal / newborn, which will hopefully include an observation of L&D for at least one shift, and then you will have more rotations in adult health with more acutely ill patients such as post surgical, psychiatric, etc. And as another answer mentioned, some programs have a preceptorship where you may or may not have some degree of choice in where you end up. Depends on the school. My program asked you your top 5 areas, but not too many people got their #1 choice.

I have never heard of any nursing students who had to spend any significant time in an emergency unit. And they would never put a student in on a trauma case if you said you didn't think you could do it.

As a student, you will do a lot of observing, and if you are ever uncomfortable or feel sick or anything, tell your instructor immediately - they will go easy on you, I promise. Many student nurses find themselves having to step out of a room at some point. A few have fainted. It's not a big deal. ;)

Good luck!

That is something you oughta be researching yourself.

You have just as much flexibility in an associates program as you do with the bachelor's program. Don't worry too much. During nursing school, you will rotate to different specialties and departments, but once you get your liscense, you can apply and persue any department more or less.

i'm the opposite of you. i've been considering the same, only ER is the only department I'm willing to work in... LOL

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.