How can I find a paid internship while in nursing school?

Question

and about how much do they usually pay?

Answer 1

I don't know about other areas, but where I live in the midwest (large city) the hospitals only offered summer internships for nursing students who were entering their last year of nursing school (either senior year for BSN students or the second year of a 2-year ADN program). The hospitals advertise Nursing Intern positions on their websites very early, around December or January, start interviewing around January / February, then choose the interns by April. Internships last from June to August.

The hospital where I interned at paid the nurse interns at the same starting wage as the nursing assistants, which was $12 per hour. They guaranteed all the interns positions of employment after graduation - although they could not guarantee what specialty area; they would try to work with you to put you where you wanted, but that wasn't always possible.

You'll just have to start calling hospitals in your area - the bigger hospitals will accept more students and you'll have better luck getting in. It's probably more competative to get an internship than it is to get into nursing school in some areas. My hospital had 450 applicants, interviewed 150, and only hired 60 interns.

Good luck!