Internship Program Structure

The internship program is divided into two phases (Attachment No. 1 Internship Program Structure) as prescribed below.

Phase I

Phase I covers 32 weeks period and its requirements are unified for all interns. It is structured to facilitate consolidation of interns’ clinical experience, knowledge and professional conduct in medical, surgical, maternity and pediatric areas.

No.	Unit	Total number of weeks	Area/week
1	Surgical	12 weeks inclusive of necessary orientation	Any general surgical area (male or female) Day care Unit Critical care/specialized areas with surgical orientation such as (but not limited to) surgical ICU, OR, PACU,  Endoscopy/ Angiography and others Any other unit where its service profile is adequate to cover the surgical rotation objectives provided that the newly selected areas are approved by the concerned CON. Interns shall also spend one week of their surgical rotation in an outpatient clinic with surgical orientation service profile.
2	Medical	12 weeks inclusive of necessary orientation	Any general medical area (male or female) Oncology Critical care/specialized areas with medical orientation such as (but not limited to) medical ICU, CCU, dialysis units, emergency, and others Any other unit where its service profile is adequate to cover the medical rotation objectives provided that the newly selected areas are approved by the concerned CON. Interns shall also spend one week of their medical rotation in an outpatient clinic with medical orientation service profile.
3	Maternity	4 weeks	Obstetrics& Gynecology Labor & Delivery
4	Pediatrics	4 weeks	Pediatric (surgical or medical) Critical care/specialized areas with pediatric orientation such as (but not limited to) PICU, Admission nursery, NICU and others.

 Phase II    

No.	Unit	Total number of weeks	Area
5	Based on the intern’s career choice/preferred area of practice	16 weeks inclusive of necessary orientation	The placement unit depends on the intern’s career choice. Potentially, phase II placement could be arranged in any general medical, surgical or pediatric area, any critical or specialized unit, outpatient clinics, home health care services, and any other relevant area provided that it provide direct patient care services and is approved by the concerned college of nursing. In cases when an intern is not considering employment in the same clinical site where her clinical training occurs, she will be placed, as much as possible,  in an area relevant to her recruitment plan with other employer (if valid) or an area that is convenient to her personal preference .

General guidelines for phase I clinical placement:

• CON are responsible for conducting adequate orientation sessions/workshops/activities targeting the staff in the clinical setting who will be involved with the interns.

• Rotation placement plan should ensure that the clinical units, where interns are assigned, are suitable to achieve the rotation specific learning outcomes.

• As much as possible, an intern will work day shifts only during the first two months of her initial placement in the clinical site. This will allow the intern to understand the hospital system, attend required orientations, and complete required generic clinical competencies/skills. Nevertheless, in situations when such arrangement incur hardship on the unit operations, an intern may rotate earlier to weekend/night shifts provided that adequate support of her learning needs is available.

• Clinical units selected for interns’ placements are expected to incorporate and emphasize Professional Core competencies in interns’ learning plan. Professional Core competencies include: professionalism, teamwork, self-direction, leadership, communication, lifelong learning, critical thinking as well as clinical skill competence. 

• The Nurse Manager in the placement unit shall assume responsibility over interns’ entire clinical experiences. She/he shall follow closely the intern’s progress toward achieving the learning outcomes and shall plan and implement any remedial plan to improve the intern’s performance as needed in collaboration with the concerned CON.

• An intern will practice under the supervision of a preceptor. The preceptor shall supervise the interns’ clinical performance, facilitate her bedside learning, and work collaboratively with her to achieve the learning objectives specified for this particular clinical rotation.

• At the completion of the first three months of the program, an intern is expected to meet the nursing care needs of a 50% work load of a registered nurse in area of assignment under supervision of a preceptor.

• At the completion of Phase I of internship program, a Nurse Intern is expected to meet the nursing care needs of a full load of patients during day, night and weekend shifts in area of assignment under supervision of a preceptor.

• An intern will not move forward to Phase II unless; she demonstrates ability to meet the nursing care needs of a full patient load, she achieves all required learning outcomes and competencies specified in phase I of the program, and she commits to the timeline and attendance requirements.

Phase II of Internship Program

Phase II covers a period of 16 weeks and starts after successful completion of phase I.

A major strength in the KSAU-HS nursing internship program is that it is career-linked. Meaning to say that phase II of the program is designed to prepare the interns effectively for their targeted future positions as nurses.  Such approach is believed to improve the interns’ functionality, adaptability and improve their retention on their first employment. 

In preparation for phase II, the division of Nursing Services at the clinical settings in collaboration with the CON will offer structured career counseling activities so that the interns can make an informed decisions about their possible future career path within the clinical settings where they are placed. 

In phase II, interns may choose either a general or specialized career path. Therefore, phase II placement could be arranged in any general medical, surgical or pediatric area, any critical or specialized unit, outpatient clinics, home health care services, and any other relevant area provided that it provides direct patient care services and is approved by the concerned college of nursing. 

Generally emphasizes; progressive socialization to employment real life,  developing a solid knowledge background related to the area of practice, refine the acquired clinical skills and expand on it, consolidate professional behaviors and competencies; and finally progressive mobility toward independent practice. 

Upon completion of phase II, the intern is expected to demonstrate that she has achieved all the intended learning outcomes of the agreed internship pathway and met all the Saudi Nursing Council and Ministry of Education requirements for registration as a Staff Nurse 1.