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Nursing internship before studying medicine. Every prospective medical student must complete the 3-month nursing internship. This must be completed by the 1st state examination, the Physikum, at the latest. Is it possible to do the nursing internship before studying medicine? And will it help me to improve my chances of getting a place at university?
General information on the nursing internship
The Nursing internship lasts a total of 3 months. It doesn't matter whether you do this in one go or whether you complete 30-60 days at different hospitals. Important is only that it is at least 30 days in a row, otherwise it will not be credited to you!
You can also do your nursing internship before studying medicine. If you do your nursing internship before studying medicine, you should pay particular attention to one thing: There must be no more than two years between completing your nursing internship and starting your degree programme. If there is more time in between, the certificate will expire and you will have to repeat it every three months.
What is recognised as a nursing internship?
You should definitely pay attention to where you complete your internship. Not all internships are recognised as "nursing internships". These include the following:
- in the emergency room
- Nursing home for the elderly
- in a medical or group practice
- Rehabilitation facilities
The reason? The main aim is for you to familiarise yourself with and understand the daily routine of nursing care. Furthermore, the whole thing must take place under medical supervision.
Find out exactly which ward you want to do your nursing internship at.
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Nursing internship before studying medicine: 3 advantages
Here are 5 advantages of doing your nursing internship before studying medicine:
1. you gain initial experience
Everyday life in hospital, your first ward rounds and dealing with nursing staff. These are all things that you will encounter frequently in your future career. Not everyone is so good at it, and that's okay.
The important thing is that you realise this in good time! The path to studying medicine is not easy and realising late on that it's not for you after all would be pretty annoying. So it's definitely worthwhile to get a first insight into studying medicine. It doesn't necessarily have to be every 3 months.
2. a lot of stress is saved
It is quite difficult to complete your nursing internship during the lecture period. So it usually falls during the semester break. Especially in the first two years, when the learning workload is quite high, the semester break can be really necessary!
Perhaps you weren't able to go travelling before your studies. If you have already completed your nursing internship, this is not a problem. Just go during the semester break.
3. good time bridging
After your A-levels, you have one thing above all: a lot of time. After a while, you will certainly realise that it is only nice to do nothing for a while. The Nursing internship is therefore a great way to use your free time effectively. You can also just start for a month and then you can always decide whether you want to continue or stop.
If you want to combine travelling and a nursing internship, there is a great alternative. There are a number of offers for a Nursing internship abroad. But make sure that these are also taken into account.
Will the nursing internship help me with my application to study medicine?
Does it help you if the nursing internship is on your CV when you apply to study medicine?
So when improving your Numerus Clausus the nursing internship does not help! So the reason why you are doing the nursing internship should not necessarily be to improve your chances of getting a place at a state university.
At private universities or universities abroad, things look a little different. It may well be that the nursing internship offers a small advantage in a selection interview. But you can't really rely on that.
Conclusion
The nursing internship before studying medicine has several advantages and can be worthwhile for many prospective medical students! For everyone NC but it is not necessarily suitable. If you want to know how to improve your NC and whether a nursing internship is worthwhile for you, take a look here:
You can also do your nursing internship in Switzerland. You can read about the advantages of this here.
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