Anyone in Advanced Patho?

WitnessRN · Apr 6, 2014

Hi Hiking,

Sounds rough! Where are you going to school? I am at USI. I am taking Patho in the Fall. For APN Patho is it completely different than BSN Patho??

futureeastcoastNP · Apr 6, 2014

Hi Hiking,
Sounds rough! Where are you going to school? I am at USI. I am taking Patho in the Fall. For APN Patho is it completely different than BSN Patho??

I certainly hope so. Don't you hope and expect graduate level patho (to be a provider no less) to be harder and more in depth than undergraduate level patho?

HikingEDRN, BSN, RN · Apr 6, 2014

Thanks for your reply Witness. I go to a small, brick and mortar school and am in an acute care nurse practitioner program. I took graduate physiology last semester and am in Advanced Patho and Pharm together this semester (not my choice). The ACNP students take these classes with the CRNA students. These classes (especially Patho) are hard! The instructors expect a lot and pretty much anything in the readings/articles/required student presentations is fair game for the tests. I think there is a lot more depth to this class than there was in my BSN patho class (and I had a good instructor for my BSN patho class). Having said all that gloom and doom :) I'm sure you'll do fine. It's just a class that you must put the time into and maybe it's not so difficult at other schools.

WitnessRN · Apr 7, 2014

Hiking! I can imagine taking those two classes together would be tough. I would expect that patho would be more in depth ~ it is unfortunate that you had to take patho and pharm together. I will not be taking them together! The good news is that you are almost done with the semester! Good luck!

PG2018 · Apr 7, 2014

Fun isn't it! I think my adv pharm class was the most telling class I'd ever had. Then I got to psychopharm and it really got cool.

mtsteelhorse · Apr 7, 2014

Interesting to read this right now as I'm struggling with whether or not to commit to a PMHNP program. I am terrified of the "3 P's" as they're referred to. I am an older, non-traditional student and not sure if I can handle the stress. How do you get through the class and make the info stick? It's been years since I took basic A&P! One minute I feel so excited to embark on the journey then I think about the stress of these classes and self doubt creeps in. :down:

PG2018 · Apr 7, 2014

Interesting to read this right now as I'm struggling with whether or not to commit to a PMHNP program. I am terrified of the "3 P's" as they're referred to. I am an older, non-traditional student and not sure if I can handle the stress. How do you get through the class and make the info stick? It's been years since I took basic A&P! One minute I feel so excited to embark on the journey then I think about the stress of these classes and self doubt creeps in.

You can't and won't remember it all. Like one doctor tells me, "You learn on the job. The rest becomes **** that's just nice to know."

HikingEDRN, BSN, RN · Apr 7, 2014

Interesting to read this right now as I'm struggling with whether or not to commit to a PMHNP program. I am terrified of the "3 P's" as they're referred to. I am an older, non-traditional student and not sure if I can handle the stress. How do you get through the class and make the info stick? It's been years since I took basic A&P! One minute I feel so excited to embark on the journey then I think about the stress of these classes and self doubt creeps in.

Mtsteelhorse, older is definitely a relative term ; however, I will say that I am almost 40 and went into nursing as a second career. I gradated with my BSN in 2008 and started my program last summer. No question, the classes are difficult but if you can organize your time and devote enough of it to studying, you should be successful. I have not taken assessment yet (summer) but in my program, I think advanced patho and pharm are known as more challenging. Without knowing more about your exact situation I say go for it.

mtsteelhorse · Apr 9, 2014

Thank you, HikingEDRN. You're so right, "older" is a relative term. Let's just say I have a few years on you, lol. I know several of us "older" nurses are going back for their MSN. It's a time management issue most likely and if accepted I just need to jump in with both feet. Kinda dreadful to think of spending my summer on adv patho, lol! But, it's important to look at the big picture. Thank you for taking the time to comment. Are you doing an online program?

TashaLPN2006RN2012, ASN, RN · Apr 12, 2014

I'm attending Simmons Online and Advanced Patho is part of 1st term...sigh...it's ALOT of reading and comprehending. I spend the bulk of my time on it, however, I love my live sessions with my classmates and instructor as we use the info learned in the text to complete case studies for class and it's helpful to critically think through the diseases down to the pathological beginnings! I'm totally thankful I'm not currently taking Pharm with Patho though...that would be a double punishment!

HikingEDRN, BSN, RN · Apr 13, 2014

Thank you, HikingEDRN. You're so right, "older" is a relative term. Let's just say I have a few years on you, lol. I know several of us "older" nurses are going back for their MSN. It's a time management issue most likely and if accepted I just need to jump in with both feet. Kinda dreadful to think of spending my summer on adv patho, lol! But, it's important to look at the big picture. Thank you for taking the time to comment. Are you doing an online program?

I attend classes in person although some of my general MSN classes are online or a hybrid where we only meet 2-3 times in a semester.