Am I Crazy? Revaming the RN/NP school curriculum...

[greygooseuria]

This summer, I am taking Bio I and II together along with calculus, both for personal enrichment and because I plan to get a science PhD after my MSN or go on to med school once I have my loans paid off/finish the prerequisites. Anyhow, I am finding molecular/cellular biology to be INCREDIBLY useful to my current nursing practice and to my practice in NP school (I have one year left to go) and I'm only in the second week of classes! I am finding the material to be applicable to many things, and feel I almost missed out on something by not having this included in nursing school/NP school. I've also been reading some chemistry textbooks and physics textbooks and these also are giving me a much deeper understanding of pharmacology and how what I prescribe for patients or interventions that I perform as an RN "work" and I appreciate my practice that much more.

Am I crazy for thinking nursing and NP school, much like med school/physical therapy school, should include these as courses required in the curriculum? A year of physics, biology, chemistry and organic chemistry I feel would not only give greater knowledge to our graduates and a deeper understanding of the physical world, but also give greater creedence to our profession, ie: we have the science AND the heart! I am finding what I am learning to be SO much more applicable to my learning than theory, research, communication, and policy ever were, and that's comparing classes I've had for a whole semester versus ones I've been in for only 2 weeks so far. I can only imagine how useful biophysics will be when I get to it.

I subscribe to the "don't be a douchebag to your patients and listen to what they're saying" philosophy and did so LONG before nursing school so maybe that's why I find most of the current curriculum useless. lol

[BCgradnurse, MSN, RN, NP]

I agree with others who think nursing and NP programs need to be improved. However, I am not convinced that adding more hard science courses is the way to do it. My undergrad degree is in Biology and Medical Technology. I took physics, Ochem, Pchem, a couple of semesters of calculus, and several upper level Bio courses. Although they may have broadened my understanding of the human organism and life processes in general, most of these classes are not relevant to my NP practice. Education and knowledge are wonderful things, but most of us really don't want the length of our programs extended by adding more classes that may not impact our practices.

[RNGriffin]

At the end of the day, adding more sciences will do nothing if you do not recruit the appropriate individuals for the job. Nursing curriculum is not watered down from a deficiency in course curriculum, rather the individuals entering into the field have no passion on bettering the medical industry.

You can include histology, physics, Organic Chemistry, Zoology..etc. You will still find students aren't prepared for the position if there is no passion.

It's like the young teenage girl working at Mcdonalds to pay for a prom dress. She isn't worried about the quality of service, rather earning the hours to afford the dress!

[cruisin_woodward]

Hmm I had to take Bio, A & P, chem, biochem, micro and stats for my nursing undergrad pre reqs... I assumed that was a requirement throughout... I chose to take advance chem I and II after just for fun. I don't remember a thing though.

[Dixiecup]

Thank goodness they are not required! I would have never been an NP today! Somehow I made it from LPN to RN to BSN to NP without ever taking a chemistry course. I would have never passed it. My dausghter had to tutor me nightly to pass statistics! I consider myself a great NP and don't see where chemistry would have helped me in the least. But if you like that sort of thing, take all the classes you want! It's like reading hebew to me!

[myelin]

...

yikes

[CCRNDiva, BSN, RN]

Greygooseuria, your proposal looks an awful lot like the program I completed for nursing school (this was an ADN program). I got credit for the AP Chemistry completed in high school and had to complete A & P, Organic/Inorganic biochemistry, microbiology, nutrition, statistics and pharmacology. I didn't have to complete physics though. I think course content depends upon the program attended.

[myelin]

Did you have to take a year of organic chemistry (the series for majors) or did you take a health sciences version that was one quarter long?

[CCRNDiva, BSN, RN]

It was a 7 credit hour semester long course taught by a chemist with a PhD. The course was brutal and was known as the "weed out" course in our program. In fact, all of my science courses were taught by non-nurses with PhDs except for my undergrad pharmacology course.