First Semester Down, Review Before Second?

ExpBrittany · Dec 20, 2014

I'm also in a bsn program & next semester is loaded for me. I was lucky to get all the syllabus from this semester that just ended for my classes next semester. I plan to read the readings & take notes on what I've read. My books will be here monday.

I know some people will tell you to rest, enjoy, take a break from it all. I totally agree. I plan on enjoying this time off too. My plan of attack is to stay ahead & get through as much readings as possible. With a bsn comes the theory classes. The research, papers, projects, presentations, etc is a task itself. Depending upon the instructors, this can be good or bad for you.

Think back on how your first semester was. How did you do? What advice would you give yourself now looking back? If all went well, maybe you don't need to review. If you had some issues, it's time to address them now. I would rather review now at my leisure. Once school starts, you won't have the luxury of reviewing when you want to.

Only you know your strengths & weakness. Let that be your guide.

dorkypanda · Dec 20, 2014

The BSN program sounds like a lot of hard work! I got accepted into an associates program. I may do RN to BSN in the future. What's the workload difference between the two programs? Is there more work to do in BSN?

203bravo, MSN, APRN · Dec 21, 2014

I would suggest a good review of A&P.. a solid foundation will be necessary in both Patho and Medsurg....

Best of luck

MurseJJ · Dec 21, 2014

Thanks for the advice!

My first semester went well. Haven't gotten official grades yet, but I know I got an A in health assessment, and I'm on the B+/A- border for pharmacology and fundamentals.

I have a review book for anatomy and physiology (one of the pearson reviews and rationales books), so I'll go through that since it's pretty short/thin. Thanks!

MurseJJ · Dec 21, 2014

The BSN program sounds like a lot of hard work! I got accepted into an associates program. I may do RN to BSN in the future. What's the workload difference between the two programs? Is there more work to do in BSN?

This depends on the school, but I think I can generalize:

The associates programs focus only on the core clinical nursing courses. You'll be doing the fundamentals, med/surg, peds, maternity, and psych courses, possibly also a pharmacology course and community nursing. In the BSN program, you'll be doing those courses, in addition to pharmacology, pathophysiology, health assessment, and a bunch of theory/research classes. In addition to the courses mentioned, we also have to do courses in cultural nursing, politics of health care, research, and psychosocial nursing. These are the types of courses you'd be doing in the RN-BSN program. So, the difference in workload is that in the BSN program you'll be doing things like health assessment, pharmacology and/or pathophysiology at the same time as the fundamentals course, while in the ADN, you'll be doing just the fundamentals course, possibly also pharm or a separate dosage calc course. Note that some BSN programs can also be completed part time.

momof4boys1girl · Dec 22, 2014

This depends on the school, but I think I can generalize:
The associates programs focus only on the core clinical nursing courses. You'll be doing the fundamentals, med/surg, peds, maternity, and psych courses, possibly also a pharmacology course and community nursing. In the BSN program, you'll be doing those courses, in addition to pharmacology, pathophysiology, health assessment, and a bunch of theory/research classes. In addition to the courses mentioned, we also have to do courses in cultural nursing, politics of health care, research, and psychosocial nursing. These are the types of courses you'd be doing in the RN-BSN program. So, the difference in workload is that in the BSN program you'll be doing things like health assessment, pharmacology and/or pathophysiology at the same time as the fundamentals course, while in the ADN, you'll be doing just the fundamentals course, possibly also pharm or a separate dosage calc course. Note that some BSN programs can also be completed part time.

I'm in an ADN program and just completed my first semester. Pharm and dosage calculations are incorporated into our program and I passed meds during clinicals in my first semester. Evidence Based Practice was covered first semester in fundamentals and for lab final I had to perform a complete head to toe assessment.

My husband is more than half way through an RN-BSN bridge program and so far has done a whole lot of paper writing. He does have to take statistics because when he graduated it wasn't required. I have already taken stats since for a while my program required it (I believe it isn't required for new applicants now).

Here are the basic bridge program courses. Plus what your individual program may have lacked.

Nursing Course Titles

Professional Nursing Practice (4 cr.)

Gerontologic Nursing Care (3 cr.)

Health Assessment and Promotion (4 cr.)

Diversity (3 cr.)

Family Nursing (3 cr.)

Leadership in Nursing (3 cr.)

Community Health Nursing (4 cr.)

Nursing Excellence (3 cr.)

Evidence Based Nursing (4 cr.)