I wish I had studied this before Nursing 101.......

[twins2005]

I will be starting school in the fall & want to plan ahead, so what do you wish you had studied a little more before you started Nursing 101? I am an older student, out of school for a while & have not taken any math courses since 1992. I am brushing up on some simple algebra & math calculations, fractions & such. I have heard from some nursing students in my pre-req classes that the math was killing them, there were some recent high school grads in the mix, so I am a little nervous.

Can you list here some things you wish you had known before taking your first nursing courses?

Thanks in advance!

[sun.shine]

Now I'm freaked out! I start nursing this fall and I'm NOT good at math! I absolutely hate it! I know that math is a part of nursing...but OMG I don't want to get kicked out because I'm not good with it! What do I do? What sort of math book should I buy in advance that will help? Help please!

go to google and type in "medication calculations for nurses'. pick a site, take their calculation and conversion quizzes and go from there. in my previous post i mentioned that i'm 9 months into my nursing program. for someone who's average in math, i'd say the calculations shouldn't be too difficult. on my pharm exams our instructors allowed us to use calculators which made it easier, just make sure you know how to convert things like milligrams to grams, millilitres to litres, etc. however, math is my worst subject so i struggled. know your weaknesses and build from there. :)

[ellerondeau]

The course prep on math, A&P, Stats , and med terminology are awesome suggestions. I think you should add the on psychic reading too - I love it when I have to figure out what Dr.'s, nurses, profs, patients and everyone else seems to think that all nurses are mind readers and should therefor know exactly what people are thinking!!! LOL - good luck with your studies!

[Destination1]

The thing that threw me for a loop was the medical terminology. Coming from a non-medical back ground this was a tough one. We did not take a med. term. class but had to pass a terminology test in the middle of the first semester (self study). the same was true about dosage calc. but that came easier for me. also as others have mentioned if you go into NS with a solid understanding of anatomy and physiology you will have it much easier.

[cwhagat]

Here is a book given to us in my nursing program. Math for Nurses: A Pocket Guide to Dosage Calculation and Drug Preparation, Edition 6, by Mary Jo Boyer. It's really good and has been very helpful to me. I am finally in my last term, graduate in August and am also a very nontraditional aged student. Hint, my youngest is 26 and getting married the week of finals this summer! Good luck, math is a matter of practice, practice, practice.

[brtholomew]

If you are going for an associates degree in nursing, then you will need to take other courses besides nursing courses (A&P, microbiology, etc.). If you have not taken those yet, I would suggest you complete all of them first before even starting nursing classes. I know that the people in my nursing 101 who are having to take other classes struggle quite a bit with all of the work.

[Rylee2008, ASN, RN]

In my school in Wisconsin we can use a calculator. For our dose calc. tests we have to have 95% or higher so that is only one wrong. They prepare us pretty well. We have a review and sample tests before we take it. You get 3 times to try to pass and then your out. No one in my class has been kicked out of the program because of the test. A lot had to take it twice, mostly because they didn't label the answer right.

[cndls]

I am currently in NSG 101 and we used Nursing Math Simplied-"Math Magic" 4th Edition by Susan Garner Moore, R.N., B.S. Ed. It is under a 100 pages and the answers are in the back of the book so you can check them. I am also older than most of the people in our class and I was never good in math either, but found the math part to be kind of easy. Once you memorize how to set up the problems and the equivalents you will be okay. This book was required for our class, it may not be for you though. If not, it was very helpful for me and may be a good idea to buy one just to have.

Also, it is really important to review test questions because, they are unlike any you have ever had before. We were told that you can know the material front to back and still not do well on the test. You need to have good test taking skills. Because most of the questions, all of the choices could be correct, normally you can narrow it down to two, but there is only one correct answer. Always remember assessment first, client's safety, and know Maslow's Hierarchy scale. Read each question thoroughly before answering. Be aware of key words. Another thing to practice doing is concept maps according to Nursing Dx.

I hope this information helps. I wish I would have done a little more research before my first day of class to prepare me. If you need anymore help just let me know.

[fromtheseaRN, BSN, RN]

I hope this information helps. I wish I would have done a little more research before my first day of class to prepare me. If you need anymore help just let me know.

yes! can you be specific about what you had wished you'd reearched before your first day?

thanks!

[leadesign]

I really appreciated a textbook called 'Basic Drug Calculations" by Meta Brown and Joyce Mulholland

It looks like Amazon has some starting @ $.30

[suehernando, CNA]

I would brush up on Math, medication math, also more complex equations as in algrebra. I would also do a human biology or a pre a and p, mircobiology is really advanced I wouldn't take that until you are through a&p. I would take a computer class just to brush up on some computer skills, could help you later on when researching. Also a human growth or psychology class to further you knowledge in how people work. Hope that it helps you. I am currently in a 50 week program where we have several older(not implying anything) students. I have 4 kids at home and 3 are under age of 3. So, it is really hard at times. So, keep up and don't fall behind. Good Luck!!!

[Cajun Nurse]

I would suggest technical and creative writing. They will help with your papers, but in the future as you progress up the ladder you will be happy you aquired those skills.

[peytonsmom]

I have 4 kids at home and 3 are under age of 3

When do you sleep? :) I have a 3.5 y/o son and a 26 y/o "manbaby" at home an work FT and that's hard enough. Could imagine having all those little ones!