Of all the courses, which was most difficult for you?

Nurses New Nurse

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Specializes in Primary Care.

Hello All,

Now that you've all graduated nursing school, would you mind giving me a little insight? Of all the nursing courses you have completed, which one was most difficult for you? Whether it was just a difficult topic to grasp? Or it was just a really intense, deep topic. Or it just had so much material, that you needed assistance to comprehend it all? Whatever the reason, let me know which courses were difficult for you and why.

Also... of all the courses you have taken, which ones would you say were you favorite or best? Why were they your favorite or your best courses taken?

What about clinicals? Which were the most difficult and which were the most easy? Why were they difficult or easy?

I am starting nursing school to work on my BSN this July 2009 and I would like a little insight on what to expect. I'm also picking up books to help me get a little head start on things (I love reading anything and everything medically related).

Thanks so much! :wink2:

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I have not graduated yet. I have 5 weeks to go, and I'm counting down to my graduation on May 15th. (yay) However, I though that I would reply since you haven't had an answer yet. First of all, every nursing school and program are different, and that can have a lot to do with which subjects or classes are the most difficult. If you asked all of the students who started with me in my program which class was the most difficult, I know for a fact that over 90% of them would say Pediatrics. We lost about a quarter of our class that semester. I believe, however, that this is primarily due to the poor pediatric instructors that they have at my school. Of course, that doesn't apply to every instructor, but to the majority of them it does. My clinical instructor for Pedi was very good, but the classroom instructor wasn't. That makes a huge difference in nursing school. Another reason that Pedi was so difficult is because children are so different. Things can change so quickly with them. For me, the assessments seemed very different as well. By the time you get to pedi, you have already been working a few semesters with adults, so when I would walk into the room and look at their vital signs, I would almost feel a sense of panic. For the first few weeks, I had to keep reminding myself that these vitals were normal for kids. I was also terrified of doing something to hurt them. Of course, I don't have kids, so that may have been a factor for me. I thought the semester was emotionally difficult as well. We were at the children's hospital, and most of our clinical time was with children who either had cancer or heart defects. I don't think that every school does that, but mine did, and it was heartbreaking. I admire pedi nurses because I couldn't do that job for the life of me.

As for the easiest class, that is hard to answer. None of them have been easy. As far as content, I guess my first semester (Foundations) was the easiest. OB is the semester that I enjoyed the most, though. I loved it. I also loved mental health. This semester, my last one, has also been great because I can finally see things coming together. I have a phenomenal clinical instructor and great instructors for my classes. The classes have been overwhelming because of the amount of content that we have to cover. They are not difficult because the subject is so hard to understand, but they are difficult because you have no idea how you are going to manage to remember all of that material before the test rolls around. But, you gradually add to what you know and then you get to a point where you can see things coming together and you can remember some labs, drugs, etc. without having to run look at your book, pda, etc.

When it comes to clinicals, it is ALL about your clinical instructor. When you have a good instructor who truly cares whether you learn or not, then your clinical experiences shouldn't be so bad. However, if you have a bad clinical instructor, it can make your entire semester a living hell. Forunately, I have had really good instructors that I have been able to learn a lot from with the exception of my med/surg instructor who was a complete basket case. When you get into school, try not to rub elbows with your instructor. I know it is horrible, but I have really tried to go out of my way to be on the best of terms with every single one of my clinical instructors. I just don't need that added stress in school. I have witnessed several cases where a student has been tormented, belittled, and even harrassed by a clincial instructor, and it was sad. Sometimes there can be really big personality conflicts between students and instructors. Try not to let that happen. Just go to clinical with the expectation of learning the most you can. Don't complain, whine, or question your clinical instructor (unless it is something involving patient safety, of course). Just do whatever they say to do.

Anyway, I hope you have a really great experience in nursing school. I'm sure you will.

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Specializes in Primary Care.

Thank You so much!

I was wondering if anyone was going to reply to my question. You have included a lot of information to give me a heads up on what to expect in nursing school. I am currently a CNA and both the clinical and class instructors absolutely loved me. Not because I was kissing butt, but because I really took the time to understand as much as I could and asked questions to further understand things, all along with studying my butt off and doing my job well. I even had compliments from patients and even a job offer (which of course I couldn't take due to not being Certified at the time). I'm thankful for my hardwork and understanding that I do, but I'm sure nursing school will test that! I'm glad to know from you that classes aren't difficult due to the material, but rather remembering all the material before the test rolls around. Thank you for that. That tells me that I need to make sure I take a few hours a day to study the material before time runs out.

Thank you so much and I am so excited to be starting nursing school in a couple of months! :D

Thank you for taking the time to respond to my request! It was extremely helpful!:yeah:

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Good luck! Working as a CNA will definitely give you a leg up. You will do great!:wink2:

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Specializes in Primary Care.

Thank you very much! I'm proud to be a CNA now! :D

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Specializes in Family Practice, Primary Care.

I found med/surg to be difficult simply because I didn't figure out how to study for the tests until the second half of the semester; other than that, it wasn't necessarily hard per se.

I haven't found courses to be difficult material-wise, but damn, community health is PAINFUL to go to simply because of my instructor. She turns an interesting subject into boring drivel. Ugh!

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Specializes in Coronary Rehab Unit.
Hello All,

Now that you've all graduated nursing school, would you mind giving me a little insight? Of all the nursing courses you have completed, which one was most difficult for you?

Advanced Pharmacology :bugeyes::bugeyes::bugeyes:
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Specializes in SICU/CVICU.

I thought OB was a nightmare.

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Specializes in being a Credible Source.

Easiest: Community health... pretty much common sense.

Hardest: Pharmacology -- not conceptually difficult, just a large volume of material that keeps coming.

Favorite: Pathophysiology and pharmacology -- They're just cool... and they're the most "sciencey" classes.

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Specializes in Psychiatry.

OB- hardest for me, probably r/t my lack of interest in the subject matter.

Advanced Med/Surg- difficult, but my favorite. Like another poster stated, I too like the "sciency" stuff :)

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Specializes in Med/Surg, APU/PACU, Peds, Flight.

Pharm was hard for me in the beginning.

MedSurg also has its moments because it has soo much information.

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med surge-cardiac

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