A Couple General Nursing School Questions

gardnerg729 · Dec 22, 2010

In my nursing program the courses are predetermined and have predetermined times. If you decide to enroll in nursing school, you are basically giving your life over to them! The only thing I have gotten to choose is the time I wanted my clinical to be (example: I could choose Tuesday and Wednesday from 7a-1p or Saturday from 7a-7p). Clinicals are a portion (20%) of the class they pertain to. To answer your questions about how nursing schools test...yes, you do have to read the books (at least skim) because everything in those books are vital to your success as a future rn. BUT, you will probably not be tested directly from the text book information. For the most part, definitions and such are not asked on exams, but you do have to know those things to understand and work through the test questions. The test questions are designed to see if you can critically think through the material you have read and apply it to "real" nursing situations. I try to read/skim through the book/powerpoints before lecture so that I am not clueless when the instructor is teaching. After lecture I read my notes and try to make connections between the book information and the way a nurse applies it to their practice. Example: You will learn about disease processes (book information), but as a nurse you have to know how that disease will affect your patient and how you will provide care (nursing interventions). One more thing, expect to be frustrated when reading the test questions because you will feel like at least 2 out of the 4 multiple choices are correct. They put multiple correct answers on the test because a nurse is supposed to be able to prioritize! Good luck :)

CaptScrubs13 · Dec 22, 2010

Pre-reqs were the only time I got to have any control over my schedule. Once we started actual nursing classes and clinicals, you pretty much don't get to decide how your week is going to look at all. For example, next semester my classes are Community Nursing, Mental Health, Nursing Research and a Gen Ed required History. Community and Mental health are once-per-week classes, offered either M, W, or F mornings from 8:30-11:20. That's it. So you pick what day you want off (M W or F) and the other two you have class. Nursing Research is only offered Thursday evenings or Weds and Fri afternoons. If you can't fit it in either of those times, you'll be taking it as a summer course. Clinicals we have no choice in either... Community rotation runs for 6 weeks, Tuesdays from 8a-5p. Mental Health clinicals are the other 6 weeks and run T/Th from either 8a-2p or 2p-8p. We don't get to choose which rotation we do first, either.

We have a fairly large program, so lectures and labs have several sections to accomodate the number of students. Depending on when you register for classes, you may be able to choose which professor you get, but there's usually just one or 2 that teach any given course.

I'm in a "traditional" 4-year liberal arts school (where the majority of undergrads are 18-23) so we have a ton of other requirements besides Pre-reqs and nursing courses, and because our Nursing schedules are so fixed, we're forced to fit those other courses in wherever we can. Besides A+PI/II, Chem & Micro, we have Gen Psych, Human Development, Sociology, Communication, History, Philiosophy/Religion, 2 English composition classes, 1 English Literature class, a Fine Arts, Applied Computing, Statistics, and 12-credits of Non-Nursing electives at an "advanced" level (not introductory classes).

As far as testing, it all depends on the teacher. Some barely use the book at all, and create their own power points with relevent information and test based on whatever they taught in lecture. Others will use the powerpoints provided by the publisher and use their test bank as well, and hardly put any of their own input/information into lectures.

lifelearningrn, BSN, RN · Dec 22, 2010

Thanks you guys for the information. Cortney- you can take nursing classes along with all the liberal arts classes? I've already taken them all (with the exception of my 3 remaining prenursing science classes) so I'm hoping that it'll help me not having to worry about all those classes during nursing classes. (We don't have a choice on BSN programs here, all of those HAVE to be completed before you're admitted)

turnforthenurse, MSN, NP · Dec 22, 2010

i'm sure this varies from program to program- but in general, how is nursing school structured? i mean, currently, in prereqs, you pick classes (like ap-m/w 8:30-11:20-micro t/th 8:30-11:20, chem f 10-3, or whatever) and instructors and times.

i feel like nursing school was sometimes disorganized, but that's part of nursing - things may change unexpectedly and you have to be prepared for it. i've had things changed from tests to presentations (we had to present on a day and then our instructor cancelled class; then she found someone to cover for her so she didn't cancel class), i've also had last-minute schedule changes (section gets cancelled because an instructor is no longer teaching or the day/time gets switched around, etc).

are all the subjects separate classes or do the blend into one another? do you have a choice in what classes, times and instructors or is that decided for you? are the labs and clinical separate classes or part of another class. (currently, my classes w/labs are the same teacher and included in the grade for the entire class, not separately)

subjects are separate - for example, i had a class on adult med-surg clients, elderly med-surg clients (geriatric rotation), mental health nursing, ob/gyn nursing, peds, critical care, public health...but the information builds on top of each other and blends together if that makes sense. when i scheduled for classes, i had a choice on classes, instructors & times but the way my school does scheduling is that all honors students get to schedule their classes first and then they go by credit hours. the more credit hours you have completed, the earlier you get to schedule - so basically it's first come, first serve, but you have a designated scheduling day. luckily i have never had a problem getting a particular instructor that i wanted. our clinical classes are split up into 8 weeks, so you will take 2 per semester. our junior year consists of mental health, ob/gyn, adult med-surg and gero med-surg. you would take 2 one semester and the other 2 the next semester and the order of taking the classes did not matter. sometimes a class will close out early due to the way my school did scheduling as i mentioned above. the classes with labs had a lecture, clinical and a lab component. most of the time they were the same teacher - in lab they would often have other instructors or grad students help teach because oftentimes they would break us into groups and we would rotate between "stations." performance and attendance in lab was always included in the grade for the entire class.

also- do the teachers tend to test on their lectures, or the assigned books?

depends on the instructor. i have had classes where test material came straight from the notes and other classes where test material came from both the notes and the book. one of my instructors always told me that when you study, don't just study for your test. sure, the instructors will highlight information that they want you to focus on for their testing purposes but in the real world, you really need to know a lot. focus on what you need to for the test but i would go back and read and also pay attention to things they told you not to focus on to build your knowledge base.

CaptScrubs13 · Dec 22, 2010

Yes, mjmoon, our school just requires that we complete both A&Ps, Chem, Microbio, Psych & Human Development before starting the "real" nursing classes. Then the only other requirements are Stats before Nursing research, but all other requirements can be taken in any order, so long as they are all completed by graduation. Obviously the goal is to get as many out of the way as you can before clinicals start, because many of the requirements follow a MWF or TTh schedule, and clinicals are usually conflicting days/times. I will be starting my 6th semester (2nd semester of jr year) this spring, and in that I have my History; beyond that, I only have Philosophy/Religion to complete.

The other awful thing about my school is that I live on-campus, and there is a minimum credit number to live here, so in my senior year, I will have only my nursing classes, but those won't get me to 13 credits, so I will be taking classes for the sole purpose of adding credits I don't need just to live here. It's one aspect of my program/school that I HATE. I'd love to just take my nursing classes and nothing else and be able to focus ALL of my attention on Med Surg II and practicum and all that

nurse simmy · Dec 22, 2010

There are 24 students in my nursing class. We all have the same classes at the same time. A master calendar was given to us at the beginning of the semester, because sometimes the class times will be different from what the official school schedule states. For example, if Monday is a holiday, and the campus is closed, people not in the nursing program will have that day off and not make up the class. We will have the Monday class (Mental Health) after our Tuesday Adult Health II class.

The only time we are split up is for clinicals. We get divided into groups of 6, and each group goes to a different floor at the hospital with it's own clinical instructor. We all have clinical on Wed and Thurs from 0600-1300 though.

As for testing, the instructors use NCLEX style questions they get from test banks (usually from the book's publisher). So while they will usually pick questions from material they lectured over, anything in the book is fair game. We also have a quiz everyday we don't have a test. If I study for the quizzes as if they were tests I do fine, since they use the same test banks for those questions as well.

Tests are 80% of our grade, and we have to have an 82% to pass.

~Simmy

CrazierThanYou · Dec 27, 2010

There are 24 students in my nursing class. We all have the same classes at the same time. A master calendar was given to us at the beginning of the semester, because sometimes the class times will be different from what the official school schedule states. For example, if Monday is a holiday, and the campus is closed, people not in the nursing program will have that day off and not make up the class. We will have the Monday class (Mental Health) after our Tuesday Adult Health II class.
The only time we are split up is for clinicals. We get divided into groups of 6, and each group goes to a different floor at the hospital with it's own clinical instructor. We all have clinical on Wed and Thurs from 0600-1300 though.
As for testing, the instructors use NCLEX style questions they get from test banks (usually from the book's publisher). So while they will usually pick questions from material they lectured over, anything in the book is fair game. We also have a quiz everyday we don't have a test. If I study for the quizzes as if they were tests I do fine, since they use the same test banks for those questions as well.
Tests are 80% of our grade, and we have to have an 82% to pass.
~Simmy

This sounds pretty similar to ours. The classes are scheduled and YOU have to fit THEIR schedule. There is NO flexibility. ALl of us take the classes together.

The classes themselves are very disorganized. We just blow in the wind. Sometimes half the day passes before we even see our instructors. We are expected to use that time in a constructive way though its hard when most of the class is flapping their lips at full volume but what can ya do? At first, I was super frustrated with all the disorganization and I actually considered dropping but I decided to stay with it for the semester. Now, though, I've gotten used to it and I just roll with whatever.

We are split into 3 groups for clinical, though. We can choose from Wednesday am or pm or Thursday am. Next semester that will be different though. We don't get a grade in clinical, it's pass/fail. So if you fail clinical, you fail the course. We have to have a 78% to pass and our instructors do NOT round up. We don't get grades for any papers or projects or whatever. Our grade comes strictly from our exams.

In reality, though, your program will be different from everyone else's. Good luck.

Despareux · Dec 27, 2010

40 students, 5 groups, and we have zero choice on which group, class time, or clinical times. We never know our future schedule until after everyone has a final grade, and then we have to scramble for daycare schedules and expenses. It's a good time!

ImThatGuy, BSN, RN · Dec 27, 2010

Our program entails being assigned to a cohort, and currently since it's a new BSN program mine is the only cohort. Class times are all dictated from the beginning. They don't offer pathophysiology, for example, more than one time per semester (or year for that matter), and I get to look at the same bright, shiny faces everyday for another year and a half. Nothing about nursing is elective or fun, lol.

Tests....eh, some do a combination of book / lecture, others just lecture, and yet another we don't have a clue where the questions come from, lol. I like that though since it makes it interesting. I get dirty looks though during the test when I start laughing at questions.

mrzgirl · Dec 28, 2010

In my program, there is no flexibility whatsoever. As a matter of fact, at the end of every quarter the nursing office makes us sign a release form so they can enroll us in the next required classes - including prereqs if they aren't finished. A lot of the instructors from other departments get so ticked at administration in my program because they constantly have to revise their lecture and lab schedules so the nursing students don't fail because the nursing program causes them to miss so many classes and labs for nursing related projects. Quite ridiculous.

As far as testing goes, I think it depends on the professor. Many like to pull questions out of the "boxes" in the chapters instead of from the content as a whole. There is no grades with clinicals, papers, projects, etc; they are pass/fail, but fail them and fail the course! We have to have an 80% average from tests/quizzes (which are sometimes unannounced) to pass.

Oh, and if you like to record your lectures, make sure they will allow it. It's grounds for automatic dismissal in my program (they are afraid their lectures will end up on youtube...)

Some of the larger schools may have more flexibility, but on the whole, if you're a nursing student it's like being in the military: they own you and they know it because if you don't do what they want you to when they want you to, you won't pass, so you are the one that has to be flexible at all times...