Do Nurses Need Chemistry Education?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

  1. Should a 4-year Nursing degree require Chemistry?

    • 5
      Understanding Chemistry isn't improtant for Nursing
    • 25
      A limited amount of chemistry is needed for Nursing
    • 34
      Understanding chemisty is important for Nursing
    • 24
      Understaning chemistry is crucial to Nursing

88 members have participated

I am the chair of the department of Math & Natural Sciences that currently teaches our college's nursing students chemistry (BSN). The chemistry course is a total of 6 credit hours (1.5 general chemistry, 1.5 organic chemistry, 2 biochemistry, 1 combination laboratory). This chemistry requirement is significantly less than our students that pursue a physician's assistant degree, or even some education majors that want to teach at the elementary level. While reading the suggested courses for taking nursing boards, these three chemistry disciplines are listed. It is also my understanding that achieving a Bachelors degree could lead to the pursuit of becoming a nurse practitioner. It concerns me that our college may decide to remove chemistry from their curriculum; it concerns me more that one of their arguments is that other local four-year colleges are also dropping the requirement. I would love to hear any comments you may have....

Dr. O,

I have about had it with my prereq's. It is pointless. I do believe chem is VERY important. It is the way it is being taught that I take issue with. Here is a question from my test today:

An elodea plant, commonly found in tropical fish aquaria was found to produce 5.00 X 10 to the 22nd molecules of Oxygen per hour. What volume of oxygen would be produced in an 8 hour period? I have no idea as we have never talked about this in class. I got A's all the way through until todays final. I must not be cut out for nursing.

Another question that I had no clue--give a systematic name for the compound MnSO4 X H20. Never talked about it. Got A's on nomenclature. I am just about to give up. This is utter insanity. If you are going to test on it, please make sure to discuss it at least. If not discuss it, then how to find it. It will cost me 2,000.00 to retake this course!!!! Not happy!!!!!

Hi,

I am a chemistry teacher AND a student nurse part time. Of course chemistry is very important for nurses, but I think the colleges need to offer a special chem/organic chem class JUST for nurses, so that direct examples can be drawn to nursing (like acidosis/alkalosis and osmolality). This way all the unnecessary stuff can be cut out, and more valuable stuff can be put in that is specifically needed for nursing. That way when the student goes to A&P or Micro they get it! For example, nurses do not need to know molecular geometry, and will certainly never do an electron configuration ever again, so what's the point studying and learning it just for a pointless test?:uhoh3:

Other important skills learned in chemistry that are critical to nursing are measurement in the metric system, units conversion (dimensional analysis/factor label method is SO important), and critical thinking lab skills, like observing data and drawing conclusions. I am stunned at how many of my nursing classmates can not interpret a graph, and virtually no one really understands pH and buffer systems. My A&P instructor didn't understand buffer systems either, so she just skipped it! (Yikes) Just my :twocents:

I got a biology degree before I went to nursing school... and got almost 2 years of organic and inorganic chemistry. I use it often.

We are chemical creatures, and if our chemistry gets out of whack, we are toast. It's important to understand at least the basics of what's going on inside our blood, when we take meds, etc.! Like I said, while it's not vital, often my organic chemistry background makes me able to go Ohhh yeah... that's how it works.

Specializes in Education, Acute, Med/Surg, Tele, etc.

I find it very important and I think every time I think about an underlying causation, or even...heck checking to see if the ordered IV solution is a good idea...it comes into play!

I think I use my chemistry more than I think I do...since I have basically incorporated it into the physiology catagory of my mind, and sometimes that is almost an automatic pilot deal when I think of situations. However, when I get into a situation where I am unsure of some part of a treatment or condition...I can go back to chemistry and physiology and figure it out...almost as quickly as I can piece apart huge medical words I don't know by breaking it down to their basic components!

I also have an ADN, and Chem was required as a prereq...and I am glad it was! Made me understand things more and now with some experience, I can use that to practical use :)!

I'm sweating through two four-credit lab Chem courses this summer, which the nursing dept. at my school recently decided to make a prerequisite for application to the BSN program. A lack of ability to do Chemistry weeds people out of a program that has more applicants than it can accomodate.

I graduated with my BNSc(now BSN) program 14 years ago and we were required to take General Chemistry ,Organic and Biochemistry, and Physics,etc.......

Specializes in EC, IMU, LTAC.

I think that a person could be a nurse without much chemistry background

BUT CHEMISTRY CLASSES TEACH YOU HOW IT ALL WORKS. I mean, we could memorize drug facts and simply know what the drug does and know a bit on how it works, but my knowledge of chemistry makes it all fall into place. I know the dynamics behind it, not just the cold facts.

Man, some of you required organic? I feel dumb. The mere thought of organic triggers my IBS. In Texas, we were only required one semester of chem, and it didn't have to be the science major chem. No physics were required, and the only other sciences required were psych, nutrition, micro, and A&P. I took the science major chem I and II.

I had to take inorganic (6 credits w/lab) and organic/biochemistry (6 credits w/lab) and thought that most of it was over kill. Most of the stuff like atomic subshells, lewis structures, balancing chemical equations, and determining molecular shape based on bonds was completely irrelevant to nursing. I think chemistry is important for nursing but I wish they had a chem program desigined for nursing majors. That way they could focus the classes on things that are relavant to nursing and that will be useful to students in the future. I think students would come out knowing much more and would know how to apply what they have learned to nursing.

For me it was all one big mathey atomic bluuurrrrrr and I kept thinking the whole time this has nothing to do with my career goal! I was miserable. I would have enjoyed it so much more if I was able to see a connection between what I was being taught and how I would be able to use that information as a nurse. Just my thoughts though.

I graduated with my BNSc(now BSN) program 14 years ago and we were required to take General Chemistry ,Organic and Biochemistry, and Physics,etc.......

ditto.

and i don't regret a minute of it!

Dr. O,

I have about had it with my prereq's. It is pointless. I do believe chem is VERY important. It is the way it is being taught that I take issue with. Here is a question from my test today:

An elodea plant, commonly found in tropical fish aquaria was found to produce 5.00 X 10 to the 22nd molecules of Oxygen per hour. What volume of oxygen would be produced in an 8 hour period? I have no idea as we have never talked about this in class. I got A's all the way through until todays final. I must not be cut out for nursing.

Another question that I had no clue--give a systematic name for the compound MnSO4 X H20. Never talked about it. Got A's on nomenclature. I am just about to give up. This is utter insanity. If you are going to test on it, please make sure to discuss it at least. If not discuss it, then how to find it. It will cost me 2,000.00 to retake this course!!!! Not happy!!!!!

At STP (Standard Temperature & Pressure), 1 mole of gas contains 6.022 X 10 to the 23rd molecules and has a volume of 22.4 Liters. Therefore:

(5.00 X 10 to the 22nd / 6.022 X 10 to the 23rd) X 8 hours X 22.4 Liters = 14.879 Liters of Oxygen.

MnSO4 X H2O is Manganese Sulfate Monohydrate (1 attached water). If it had zero attached waters, it would be Anhydrous Manganese Sulfate.

Specializes in Long Term Care.

At WestVirginia University, to even get into the BSN program, two four credit hour chemistries are required. Chem 111 and Chem 112. The first is a shortened combination of Chem 115 and 116 (regular chemistry), the second a shortened combination of Chem 215 and 216 (organic chemistry).

I started taking 115 and 116 because 111 and 112 were canceled because there weren't enough students in the class during the summer. The professor was Dr Badenhoop. Great guy, very passionate about Chemistry. Also very passionate about Math.

I hated 115. So much so that I dropped WVU and went to a local community college that offered an ADN that did not require the other four hours of chemistry. Someday after I retire, I might go back and finish all that chemistry.

I was able some how to take Biology, Anatomy, Physiology and Microbiology without the chemistry back ground that others seem to deem so important, and still make A's.

Chemistry is important. Exposure is important. I understand how it works and I understand why it works, but why in the world would I waste my time working the calculations when I can look it up? Why would I take a class where my grade depends more on my ability to answer a math question correctly more than my ability to decribe the interaction between two elements? Or how that interactions affects the human body?

Take the math out of the chemistry and I would be fine. I spent a lot of time pouring over my equations that could have been better spent learning what happens while those numbers are changing.

Specializes in Acute Pulmonary, Intermediate Care.

The ADN program at the communtity college in California I attend, the school created a Biology 102 class called Cells and Molecules (which is actually a combined intro Biology and intro Chem class). It serves as a prerequisite to the actual RN program's prerequisites of Micro, Anatomy and Physio.

If you desire to transfer into the BSN program at the State University (which i am probably doing) you do need to take an additional Biochemistry class as part that programs prerequisites.

I do believe that a basic knowledge of Chemistry is important, and serves as a foundation of information that is useful in nursing education... although personally it is NOT my favorite discipline of science. :uhoh3:

I am not an RN yet, so I'm not sure if that answers the actual question... It's just my two cents as a student.

BTW-- I appreciate all the commentary, suggestions and input at this site.

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