Seeking Advice From Nursing Educators

[CarolM]

I am a 39 year old mother of two planning to return to college in Fall 2001 to earn a BSN. Since it's been so long since I've had any science courses, I'm planning to do some self-study in Chemistry and A&P to prepare for meeting the science prerequisites. I have an Associate of General Studies degree but do not have the necessary science prereq's for Nursing.

Does anyone have any suggestions for areas I could study on my own or reading that would help me prepare for Nursing School? Any advice will be greatly appreciated!

Carol

[Sian]

There are some really good A&P books around aimed at nurses. I think you should get one out from the library (or buy the one on your booklist ahead of time) and have a glance through it. Most textbooks these days are well set out with great ilustrations, introductions and summaries to each topic and clinical highlights that are easy to browse through. It is good to start with a look at the internal anatomy of the cell, because that usually gives you a good introduction to biochemistry as well. As for chemistry, try and familarise yourself with the chemical symbols for common body ions, like H+, Na+, Cl-, and so on, it is simple to do and will actually help a lot (a copy of the periodic table can help too). Whatever you do, don't pick up your books and think 'wow, I can't do this', just read something that interests you, and take it from there. Don't try to memorise long screeds of information either, you will stress yourself out, you can pick up a surprising amount of info from just reading for interest. Good luck with your studies!