Any Other Majors that are similar to Nursing?

Nurses General Nursing

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Hi guys again, I have another question, sorry... -

Like the Topic Title said: are there any college courses that you found were similar to nursing? I might not like nursing as a college major, is there some other major that is close to it so I won't have to spend another year in college for the required classes?

THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH AGAIN!! :lol2:

Of course they are all different but other healthcare majors are PT, OT, RT, nutrition, speech, and audiology come to mind.

Specializes in ER.

I not really sure what you are looking for, but nursing classes and actual nursing practice are worlds apart. Nursing classes give you a small, very small glimpse of what nursing is about. Until you get out and try your wings, you will not really know what you have gotten yourself into.

That said, no, I don't think there is anything "similar enough" for you to get a picture of nursing without really being a nurse.

PT, OT, x-ray tech, etc. are all health care fields, but do not have the scope of responsibility that nursing does. They are all very important, but they contribute to a part of the whole, where nurses care for the whole patient, body and spirit.

Bottom line, when no one else wants to do it, it is the nurses responsibility to get it done. If there are no phlebotomists, then the nurse draws the blood. If there are no respiratory therapists, then the nurse does the neb treatment, or incentive spirometry, etc. If dietary can't deliver the meals, the nurse has to get it and deliver and maybe even feed the patient. If there is no chaplain around and someone is dying, who comforts the family?? The nurse of course. If the doc doesn't want to put in an NG, dig out an impaction, clean a wound....you guessed it, it is the nurses responsibility. If housekeeping can't or won't clean a room and it needs to be done....once again, the nurse does it.

I could go on and on, but I hope you get the point. I worked at a hospital once that was going thru a huge downsizing. We were told it would not "affect" nursing. Well, sure enough, no nurses were laid off, but all or most of the transporters, phelebotomists, pharmacy techs, dietary techs, CNA's and housekeepers were. 3 guesses as to who picked up the slack.

So, a resounding NO to the question "Any other majors that are similar to Nursing?"

Specializes in Infection Preventionist/ Occ Health.

Most other health care majors (clinical laboratory science, radiology, cytotechnology, PT, OT, pharmacy, audiology, dietetics, etc.) require more (or more difficult) science courses than nursing. It is probable that you would have to spend an additional year in school if you change majors.

Specializes in Med-Surg, Geriatric, Behavioral Health.
I not really sure what you are looking for, but nursing classes and actual nursing practice are worlds apart. Nursing classes give you a small, very small glimpse of what nursing is about. Until you get out and try your wings, you will not really know what you have gotten yourself into.

That said, no, I don't think there is anything "similar enough" for you to get a picture of nursing without really being a nurse.

PT, OT, x-ray tech, etc. are all health care fields, but do not have the scope of responsibility that nursing does. They are all very important, but they contribute to a part of the whole, where nurses care for the whole patient, body and spirit.

Bottom line, when no one else wants to do it, it is the nurses responsibility to get it done. If there are no phlebotomists, then the nurse draws the blood. If there are no respiratory therapists, then the nurse does the neb treatment, or incentive spirometry, etc. If dietary can't deliver the meals, the nurse has to get it and deliver and maybe even feed the patient. If there is no chaplain around and someone is dying, who comforts the family?? The nurse of course. If the doc doesn't want to put in an NG, dig out an impaction, clean a wound....you guessed it, it is the nurses responsibility. If housekeeping can't or won't clean a room and it needs to be done....once again, the nurse does it.

I could go on and on, but I hope you get the point. I worked at a hospital once that was going thru a huge downsizing. We were told it would not "affect" nursing. Well, sure enough, no nurses were laid off, but all or most of the transporters, phelebotomists, pharmacy techs, dietary techs, CNA's and housekeepers were. 3 guesses as to who picked up the slack.

So, a resounding NO to the question "Any other majors that are similar to Nursing?"

Well said!

:paw::paw:

I'm not sure what you are getting at, but it sounds like you want to take nursing after getting another bachelors. If that's the case, you can really major in anything, making sure to get all your pre-reqs in. I would come up with a plan, whether you want to get an ADN, BSN (accelerated BSN), or direct entry graduate degree and then find out what the typical pre-reqs are for those degrees. Mostly they will be the same, chemistry, physics, anatomy, physiology, psychology, developmental psychology, statistics (maybe), nutrition (maybe), mircobiology. Be aware, however, that some schools have recency requirements for prereqs. You might want to consider what sort of nursing you want to do, in terms of what you would major in. If you want to be a psychiatric nurse, for instance, majoring in psychology would be a good choice and would take care of many of your pre-reqs. If you want to go into nursing administration, a degree in business administration or public administration might be a good choice. Biology is another good choice.

Specializes in Telemetry/Cardiac Floor.

i'm surprised no one mentioned dental hygeine. well, it's not simular but it requires most of the same pre-reqs'.

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