Gain hands-on experience and build your clinical skills through the Swedish Hospital Summer Nursing Internship. This nine-week, full-time program is designed for Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) students who want to learn alongside registered nurses and clinical educators in a real care environment.
As a nurse intern, you work closely with a registered nurse (RN) to help carry out each patient’s care plan. You perform many of the same tasks as a patient care technician (PCT), including:
- Taking vital signs
- Measuring intake and output
- Assisting with ambulation
- Supporting hygiene and oral care
- Performing enemas
- Checking blood glucose levels
- Positioning and toileting
Under direct RN supervision, you may also help with additional clinical tasks, such as:
- Head-to-toe assessments
- Patient teaching and reinforcement of prior education
- Psychosocial support for patients and families
- Pain assessment and reassessment
- Assisting with the five rights of medication administration
- Helping RNs administer oral medications
- Subcutaneous medication administration under direct supervision
- Paging physicians, case managers, social workers or supervisors
- Insertion of nasogastric tubes
- Feeding pump operation
- Oral suctioning
- Tracheostomy and ostomy care
- Foley catheter removal
- Obtaining urine, stool or sputum specimens
- Wound cultures
- Bowel management system insertion and maintenance
- Drain management (Jackson-Pratt, Penrose, T-tube and others)
- Dressing changes, including those for central lines or PICC lines
- Saline lock removal
- Discharge instruction review
The internship runs from June 1 through July 31, 2026, and includes a full-time 32-hour schedule for nine weeks on a medical unit in the role of a nursing assistant under the direction of a staff nurse. Each week, you also participate in one eight-hour shadow day on a specialty unit, which may include:
- Emergency department
- Intensive care unit (ICU)
- Operating room (OR)
- Family birthing center
- Catheterization lab
- Intermediate care nursery
- Interventional radiology
- Wound center
- Behavioral health unit
- Post-anesthesia care unit (PACU)
Eligibility
Applicants must meet the following requirements:
- Currently enrolled in an accredited Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program
- Completion of at least one clinical rotation
- Minimum 3.0 GPA (maintained throughout the academic year)
- Student will authorize the school to provide the hospital official transcripts of their grades
- Student will provide one letter of recommendation from their professor
How to apply
- Application period: Jan. 1–31 each year
- Visit our job opportunities website
- Select SWH Swedish Hospital Chicago as the location
- In the jobs search field, enter “Nurse Intern”
Kim Tranchita
kimberly.tranchita [at] endeavorhealth.org (kimberly[dot]tranchita[at]endeavorhealth[dot]org)
(773) 878-5769
