Nursing Students Shafted

[Thendar]

After reading several messages here I've come to the conclusion that we nursing students have to work twice as hard as someone who is getting their degree in another field like accounting, computers, business, basket weaving...etc.

Take for instance the school I attend. Before I was even able to apply for the nursing program I had to take the following classes:

Intro to Health Careers

English I

Biology I

A&P I

Social Science I

Intro to Psychology

Chemistry I

And these classes don't even count towards your degree. Besides the actual nursing classes the only classes to go towards you degree are:

English II

Social Science II

A&P II

Micro Biology

American History

Computer Information Systems For Health Careers

Electives (6 CR)

Then it gets worse right now I'm taking "Nursing 101" which is 8.5 credit hours but yet I'm at school or clinical rotations for a total of 17 hours per week.

So if you add up all the time spent at school you would have enough credit hours for a 4 year degree.

Well enough ranting.... I just wanted to point out how special we are buy having to work twice as hard to acheive our goals.

[emily_mom]

Originally posted by MK2002

Computers? Are you joking?!

Discrete Mathematics

Advanced Discrete Mathematics

What the hell is that?:roll

Add 2 + 2 but don't tell anyone....be discreet....

[MK2002]

I wanted this discussion to end, but since it keeps going....

To address your question, those math classes are complex courses beyond Calculus. Theorems and proofs are the norm. These are not the simple Geometry proofs encountered in high school. They are way more difficult, requiring a lot of creative thinking. There are very few examples from which to learn. With Calculus as a prerequisite, you get some idea of how challenging these other courses will be. In fact, a post graduate level textbook was used in my Advanced Discrete Mathematics class. "Discrete", NOT "Discreet". For the record, the actual course titles were "Discrete Structures" and "Advanced Discrete Structures". The title choice varies with the university. I listed the more familiar form. Send an e-mail if you really want to know more.

Sorry, but I disagree with all of you on those other points, such as Physics. The posts I keep reading refer to easier courses or degrees such as College Physics or Computer Technology. If you think a CS degree is easy, then I suggest that you complete it. You will have plenty of stress when you run the risk of being one of the students who drop out during the first month of any course. At that time when you look around half the class is gone--and so will be your financial aid if you are one of them.

We will never agree on these issues, so can we drop this discussion now? It is getting a bit tiring. I am not going to respond to further posts. I suppose someone will be dying to sneak in a last word. If it makes you feel superior, then go right ahead.

[det01]

Compared to what I went through with CS, getting a BSN will be a breeze. Work twice as hard? Sorry, but you have no idea what real work is. [/b]

Well, I think what you have to say totally depends on the person. My husband graduated from Vanderbuilt with a CS degree (Magna Cum Laude) and went on to get his masters in CS from UTK. Whereas he did have to study a great deal, he looks at what I do now and says itis hard and it seems to him sometimes excessive (especially Pathophysiology - I have a teacher who wants us to "MASTER" the subject, even Doctors have to look up the answers to the stuff she is asking - I know I will appreciate it later, but right now...anyways that is another subject). It also depends on the school. SOme CS programs may be easier than others and some nursing programs are easier than others as well. I don't think it is fair to compare two completly different programs at different schools.

Also I don't think anyone is comparing CS 101 to all of a CS program. That would be silly.

I also am not trying to be superior. I don't feel superior over anyone. I am just saying both programs can be extremly difficult and that people should not be fighting over which is harder. My husband and I never even considered it to be an issue. We just do what each of us is good at and respect the other for being able to do what they do.

[beaRNwhenIgroUP]

originally posted by mk2002

computers? are you joking?!

discrete mathematics

advanced discrete mathematics

what the hell is that?:roll

add 2 + 2 but don't tell anyone....be discreet....

lol!!!!!!!!!!!:roll :roll

that's funny stuff!

[beaRNwhenIgroUP]

i don't want to continue the argument here... i just want to put my thinking on the table...

before i came back to school, i was working in construction accounting (specifically accts. payable) and it was very hard and very stressful...one day i was sitting at home worrying about work, developing ulcers and i thought to myself...self: you are killing yourself for a job that doesn't matter!! we are worried about getting materials and meeting deadlines and schmoozing our big clients....

there are no lives on the line here...we are not going to alter the direction of a person and their families lifepath... we are not given the opportunity to create real change

so, as hard as nursing school is (and i find it really hard) i always remind myself that in the end - the stress will have more depth, the lows will be very low, the highs will be very high and i'll always know i'm making a real difference

and then i say to myself...self: should i go back to construction??? kidding

most university degrees are going to be challenging - some more than others - most def...

we wanna be nurses...and for many of us nursing school is torture but the good news is that i've had several nurses tell me school is more brutal than the real thing...

blah blah blah - i think i'm rambling now...

[Roland]

I once took a Calculus class and spent at least three hours per day (more on the weekends) plus lecture time. I'm weak in math so it was absolute torture for me to understand and apply those concepts at an "A" level. Damm near drove me to give up school.

However, a friend took the same class with me and found it to be incredably easy. Of course he's a Physics professors now....

[Peeps Mcarthur]

Originnaly posted by Thendar:

While your list of accomplishments is most impressive, I was comparing 2 year degrees. I agree with you that at a university level computer science is quite rigorous, but at the community college level I could get a degree in computers in my sleep

Funny you should mention that paticular sleep disturbance.

I think the NANDA referrence would be:

Sleep disturbance; osmotic acquired degree :roll

R/T unemployed, desparate, instructor candidates who teach courses for which there are virtualy no employment opportunities.

Actions:

Assess the pt for close proximity to a community college where on-line courses are offered.

assess for certain risk factors:

Take home assignments, extra credit reports,exam questions match the study guide.

ALERT:

exam questions are answered by following rules of operation(math) or other linear thought and are therefore driven into the pt with great osmotic pressure while sleeping.

{END SMARTASS COMMENTS}

Just had to comment. I started out getting a CS degree, but changed my mind when I discovered that it was an endless journey of getting certified in this and that and that new "must have" certifications at obscene course fees are continualy pumped out by the industry.

[inocentangl22]

I agree, I have been in school for almost two years and the only thing I have done is general ed. The classes that they aare using for entrance into the Nursing Program have nothing or VERY little to do with my major!

[beaRNwhenIgroUP]

Originnaly posted by Thendar:

I think the NANDA referrence would be:

Sleep disturbance; osmotic acquired degree :roll

R/T unemployed, desparate, instructor candidates who teach courses for which there are virtualy no employment opportunities for.

Actions:

Assess the pt for close proximity to a community college where on-line courses are offered.

assess for certain risk factors:

Take home assignments, extra credit reports,exam questions match the study guide.

ALERT:

exam questions are answered by following rules of operation(math) or other linear thought and are therefore driven into the pt with great osmotic pressure while sleeping.

now that is FUNNY stuff!!! :roll

[MidwifeWannaB]

I'm about to start a 2-year nursing program, and after I graduate I plan to go back and get my BSN after I have kids. The problem is that the word "STATISTICS" scares the H*** out of me. I know this class is hard and I'm at least 4 years from having to take it, but I'm still curious as to what is involved in this class, and since y'all are all talking about smart classes like underwater basket weaving :) I figured y'all could help me out. Thanks!

[kimmicoobug]

Here is my response to this thread and it is totally based on my own personal experience. I think nursing school is extremely difficult, but not in the matter of concepts. When I first started school, I did have difficulty grasping the nursing process and nursing diagnoses, but as I have become familiar with them, they are cake. BUT, that is just me. The material we cover is not that hard to me. We are required to write papers, and I can do that fairly easy. What makes this hard is managing my time when I have a case study due on Thursday (5 or 6 pages) clinicals on Tuesday and Wednesday, compentencies due on Friday, plus two kids and a husband. But put me in a field that requires math more difficult than algebra and I am a fish out of water. This does not lead me to say that nursing is easy. It isn't. I still sometimes have trouble figuring out why a particular lab value is the way it is, or why a patient could be on a particular med. But, in the end each and every person is different and their perceptions are different. For example, my husband can't do the nurse thing. His niche in the world is computers. For him, it is super easy. For me, that is a different story.