In-Hospital Clinical Rotations

Clinical rotations play a critical role in your nursing education, giving you direct access to patients and providing valuable hands-on experiences. Clinical simulations start in your first semester, so you will be ready to care for hospitalized patients in second semester clinicals. Overall, Direct Entry MSN students can expect quality clinical experiences with expert clinicians and valued clinical partners across a variety of practice areas, administered at various health care facilities throughout metro-Milwaukee, southern Wisconsin, and northern Illinois, near Chicago. 

Real-world Experience

Building from your nursing simulation lab experiences, clinical rotations provide a deeper understanding of the nursing profession by putting you in direct contact with patients. Under clinical instructor supervision, you’ll help care for patients in adult health, obstetrics, acute care and many more.

With years of experience to pull from, your instructor has a lot of valuable insight to share. They will show you the ropes and teach you how to put your nursing theory and clinical skills to work. Furthermore, because building a rapport with patients often leads to better outcomes, your instructor can coach you on how to:

  • Exhibit genuine caring behavior
  • Engage in effective communication
  • Perform safe therapeutic interventions
  • Employ highly ethical perspectives
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Where Clinical Rotations Can Occur

Marquette University has teamed up with several health care facilities in metro-Milwaukee, southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois, near Chicago. Throughout the curriculum, Direct Entry MSN students rotate between pre-assigned locations for experience in a variety of settings. Clinical rotations could occur in any of the following cities:

  • Barrington, IL 
  • Hinsdale, IL 
  • Lake Forest, IL 
  • Libertyville, IL 
  • Lindenhurst, IL 
  • Woodstock, IL 
  • Zion, IL 
  • Milwaukee, WI 
  • Racine, WI 
  • Franklin, WI
  • Kenosha, WI
  • Oconomowoc, WI
  • Pleasant Prairie, WI

Note: Locations are subject to change without notice.

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See the Future

While the length and location for each of your clinical rotations will vary, you can anticipate working with patients in a variety of areas, from acute care to pediatrics. These diverse experiences not only help prepare you for the future, but they also make it easier to determine which area of nursing best fits your long-term career goals.

Additionally, clinical rotations let you see firsthand what is expected of nurses beyond the bedside, from working within specific hospital protocols to integrating into a complex medical team. Therefore, it’s important to play your part during your rotations and use every experience to your advantage—you never know who might be a potential colleague in the future.

You can also use your clinical experiences to determine if a post-master’s degree certificate in an advanced nursing specialty is right for you. We offer nursing certificates for the following occupations:

  • Nurse Practitioner
  • Nursing Administration
  • Nurse Midwife
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Contact us to learn more about our nursing clinical rotations.