Student Nurse Extern Program - Summer 2026

Company Description

At Northwestern Medicine, every patient interaction makes a difference in cultivating a positive workplace. This patient-first approach is what sets us apart as a leader in the healthcare industry. As an integral part of our team, you'll have the opportunity to join our quest for better health care, no matter where you work within the Northwestern Medicine system. We pride ourselves on providing competitive benefits: from tuition reimbursement and loan forgiveness to 401(k) matching and lifecycle benefits, our goal is to take care of our employees. Ready to join our quest for better?

Job Description

For the Student Nurse Externship Program, we are seeking nursing students that have an expected graduation date of August 2027, December 2027 or Spring 2028.

Please note - If you have an expected graduation date in August 2026, December 2026 or Spring 2027, consider applying to our Student Nurse Internship instead.

The Student Nurse Extern reflects the mission, vision, and values of NM, adheres to the organization’s Code of Ethics and Corporate Compliance Program, and complies with all relevant policies, procedures, guidelines and all other regulatory and accreditation standards.

Northwestern Medicine's Nurse Externship Program allows nursing students the opportunity to gain experience in a variety of nursing work environments.

The Student Nurse Extern assists in the delivery of both direct and indirect nursing care as a Patient Care Technician (PCT) under the direction and supervision of a Registered Nurse within the scope of practice of unlicensed, assistive personnel and performs tasks for patients’ activities of daily living to promote comfort and safety, assists RN’s with the collection of patient data, and performs selected procedures.

Program Dates (mandatory minimum of a full-time 8-week commitment):

• Application Due Date: January 16, 2026
• Candidate Screening: January - March 2026
• Program Start Date: May 27, 2026
• Program End Date: July 21, 2026

Hours:

Your hours will be scheduled with your Patient Care Manager, which may include:

• Day or Night Shift
• Full time schedule - 8 or 12 hour shifts
• Some Weekend shifts
• No holidays or overtime

Additional Details:

Locations participating in the 2024 SNE program are as follows:

• Central DuPage Hospital (Winfield, IL)
• Delnor Hospital (Geneva, IL)
• Huntley Hospital (Huntley, IL)
• Kishwaukee Hospital (DeKalb, IL)
• Lake Forest Hospital (Lake Forest, IL)
• Marianjoy Rehabilitation Hospital (Wheaton, IL)
• McHenry Hospital (McHenry, IL)
• Palos Hospital (Palos Heights, IL)
• Valley West Hospital (Sandwich, IL)
• Woodstock Hospital (Woodstock, IL)

Tentative units participating in the 2026 SNI program are as follows; be sure to select your desired units in the application in order of preference. (We cannot guarantee a match, however, this is taken into consideration):

• Behavioral/Mental Health
• Cardiac
• Emergency Department
• Float Pool
• General Surgery
• ICU
• MedSurg
• Neuro
• NICU
• Observation
• Oncology
• Ortho
• Pediatrics (limited locations)           
• Perioperative Services (Operating Room, Pre/Post)
• Rehabilitation
• Telemetry
• Women’s Health (L&D, Mother/Baby, Postpartum)

Qualifications

Required:

• Nursing students from an accredited nursing school that includes minimally the successful completion of Fundamentals of Nursing Clinical with clinical rotation.
  • You must provide written documentation of successful completion OR the successful completion of an accredited Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) program.
• Graduation date of August 2027, December 2027 or Spring 2028.
• Qualified candidates must have a valid American Heart Association Basic Life Support for Healthcare certification.
• Reliable, flexible and punctual with schedules

Required Documentation for Application Submission to be Uploaded:

• Resume

*Please note, to be considered for this role, you must submit all attachments at the time of your application submission.  When you apply, you may log back into your application to attach additional and/or optional attachments such as letters of recommendation, cover letters, etc. You can navigate to the upload section and press the "+" s