Western Governors RN-to-BSN: My First 6 Month Term (Almost)

TheCommuter, BSN, RN

Western Governors University (WGU) is an immensely popular online virtual university because it offers an array of aspects that attract adult learners, such as reasonably priced tuition, nonprofit status, a respectable assortment of majors and concentrations, regional and national accreditations, and an innovational competency-based format that promotes expedient degree completion.

I am an ASN degree holder and my first six-month term at WGU officially started on May 1, 2014. Even though my first term technically does not conclude until October 31, I have decided to take a two-week break until my last term begins on November 1. In a nutshell, WGU's transcript evaluator allowed me to transfer 86 previously-earned credits, which left me needing to earn 34 credits in order to receive the BSN degree.

Since May, I have earned 27 of those 34 much-needed credits. Therefore, I need to earn 7 more credits before I will be able to sign my name TheCommuter, BSN, RN. I quite possibly could have earned all 34 credit hours in the span of one six-month term but I work full-time 12-hour night shifts, and to be completely candid, my motivation waxes and wanes like the four seasons. Without further delay, here is a breakdown of my first term in WGU's online RN-to-BSN completion program.

Care of the Older Adult

This course was fairly straightforward. I worked in long term care for six years, so I already had some real world experience with the course material. This class covered topics such as the different types of aging, theories on aging, Medicare, Medicaid, gerontological nursing assessments, determining level of function, and the Healthy People campaigns. A third party genetics course was required.

Biochemistry

Biochemistry consisted of five different PowerPoint presentations that were graded by TaskStream, which is a third party grading company. Two of my presentations passed on the first attempt, two passed on the second attempt, and one finally passed on the third attempt. Essentially, I crafted models of hemoglobin using yarn and created two models of fatty acids using toothpicks connected to peach ring candy. Topics covered included lipids, hemoglobin, myoglobin, metabolism, enzymes, fatty acid synthesis, cell death, and other interesting themes.

Organizational Systems

The organizational systems course consisted of two papers and a third party course offered through the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. One of the required paper assignments required the student to formulate a root cause analysis and other required that I furnish a detailed resolution to a multifaceted ethical situation involving an elderly patient.

Health Assessment

The health assessment course was comprised of an objective final exam and an applied assignment that required me to record myself as I performed a full head-to-toe assessment on someone. I assessed my best friend from head to toe as my laptop's webcam recorded the 36-minute affair. I became spooked and dragged out my studies for the final exam, but the testing was straightforward.

Nutrition for Contemporary Society

Since my knowledge base in nutritional issues is relatively strong, I easily passed the final exam for this course. Topics included lipids, carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, minerals, water balance, nutritional diseases, deficiency symptoms, obesity issues, and exercise physiology.

Professional Roles and Values

Essentially, this course covered topics such as the role of boards of nursing, professional organizations, nursing theories and theorists, the history of nursing, historical nursing figures, interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary teams, leadership, management, and differing levels of educational attainment in the nursing profession.

Information Management and the Application of Technology

In essence, this course was a survey of introductory nursing informatics. It discussed the history of nursing informatics, information systems, networks, interfaces, operating systems, hardware, software, electronic health records (EHRs), clinical decision supports, and the various levels of informatics nursing professionals.

Community Health and Population-Focused Nursing

Students must pass an ATI final exam with a satisfactory score in order to pass this course. Topics included the differences between community-based nursing and community health nursing. Moreover, the different types of community-based nursing were extensively discussed, including public health nursing, parish nursing, hospice nursing, home health nursing, school nursing, disaster response nursing, and ambulatory care/clinic nursing. Principles of epidemiology were also introduced.

Introduction to Probability and Statistics

This very straightforward course consisted of seven modules that were formulated by a third party company called Acrobatiq, which is a subsidiary of Carnegie Mellon University. StatCrunch, a software program for data analysis and calculations, was an optional component of the course. Topics included exploratory data analysis, descriptive statistics, analytical statistics, theoretical probability and empirical probability.

In summary, my time spent in the Western Governors University RN-to-BSN completion program has been enjoyable. My self-efficacy has blossomed with each competency test that I have passed. In addition, I am pleased that this degree will cost me less than $7,000. Feel free to ask any questions. ?