Cleveland Clinic's Nurse Associate Externship summer program in which nursing students entering their senior year get practical, hands-on experience working with patients. This is a paid position, where students work one-on-one with a nurse mentor, and collaborate with fellow externs in workshops.    

Elaina I., a nursing student at The Christ College in Cincinnati, recently completed the NAE at Cleveland Clinic Main Campus. She was following a path toward an RN degree that started when she was very young. "I've always been fascinated by science and the pathophysiology of the human body," she says. "I'm also passionate about caring for patients as they heal through medical challenges."  

 Her compassion toward others led her to a vigorous volunteer schedule, as well, including in the infants nursery at her church and in a local hospital's Mom & Baby unit as a postpartum recovery unit aide. This carried over into a professional capacity, as Elaina worked as a Cardiac Surgery Stepdown Patient Care Nursing Assistant (PCNA) and as an Emergency Department Technician while in nursing school. "Those combined experiences confirmed for me that being a nurse would be the best job, since it includes compassion in a way that comes naturally to me," she says. "What better way to work than to do something you enjoy!" 

Learning about the Cleveland Clinic NAE
When she was in high school, Elaina began to explore different healthcare systems as potential employers, and Cleveland Clinic was at the top of her list. When she heard about the Cleveland Clinic NAE program, she knew it would help strengthen the areas in which she thrived and give her the best nurse education training.   

Once Elaina was accepted into the program, her primary nurse-precepted externship assignment was in support of the Emergency Department/Clinical Decision Rapid Observation Unit. "I also had rotations and experiences in Medical ICU, procedural surgery, the Labor & Delivery Birth Center, inpatient high-risk obstetrics Antepartum, and the Emergency Department," she says.  

In keeping with her motivation to pursue a nursing career, Elaina facilitated some of these rotations herself during her off days, since they weren't available as designated experience days options. "Cleveland Clinic nurse managers were very warm, kind, and so supportive to schedule me," she notes. "Cleveland Clinic values a student nurse extern wanting to find their own learning opportunities." 

Helping the transition from nursing student to RN
In citing the benefits of the Cleveland Clinic NAE program, Elaina notes that the experience improved her clinical judgment measurably. "While my professional EMT training and four years as a PCNA gave me a strong foundation in what to do for a patient, it was the 1-on-1 nurse-precepted Cleveland Clinic NAE program where I really learned how to think like a nurse with clinical judgment," she says.   

"The externship truly strengthened my ability to prioritize acuity, and gave me better recognition of hemodynamic trends. My ability to identify both rapid and subtle signs of patient deterioration improved so much, too. I began to be able to 'anticipate' patients' evolving nursing care needs and connect their clinical indications to the best and safest interventions." 

Elaina especially appreciates the ways the NAE program allows exposure to different specialties, which she believes sparked interests she hadn't considered. She also feels the NAE experience helped her with effective time management, self-care, and organization.  

The road ahead
Once she obtains her degree, Elaina is "focused but flexible with nurse residency paths." Her main areas of interest include Women's Health, Critical Care, Pediatrics, and Cardiovascular Surgery, all of which were strengthened by her experience in the NAE program.  

Her advice to any nursing students who may be considering applying to the  

Cleveland Clinic NAE program? Go for it! "Anyone who wants to be in the Cleveland Clinic NAE program shouldn't worry one bit about not being able to experience all the units that they want to experience," she says. "There's so much supportive learning."  

Applications for the Cleveland Clinic NAE program are now being accepted. 

Summer 2027 NAE Opportunities