Chemistry is a head ache or is it??

[Dr. Gregory Simpson]

I've been teaching pre-nursing students chemistry for a few years now and realize the difficulty many students have trying to wrap there minds around the subject.

Like my wife who is an ER nurse, the complaints I usually get fall generally into 3 main categories. Namely,

1. The relevance of the information to the practice of nursing.

2. The obvious abstract nature of the topics involved AND

3. Just pure unadulterated fear!!!

The truth is that the discipline is fundamental to the medical profession in general. The core principles are applied to and used in anatomy, physiology, pharmacology, etc. both from a theoretical and practical /clinical perspective.

For BSN nursing students or those planning to enter the degree program soon, the key to getting through chemistry is to realize that all the abstraction is really just giving you the tools to analyze and process information much more efficiently.

Think about it, by the time you are finished nursing school you would have been trained as supervisors and middle managers for the health care system and you need to be able to make good decisions, in many cases under conditions of extreme pressure. It's that simple!

In the classes I teach, I try to impart the critical thinking needed to learn the subject and to remind students constantly that it is all about mastering the language, understanding the words and phrases and applying these to solving problems.

Chemistry is not a headache at all, but it really starts with your mind set coming in. That's the key!!

This week is test week for my students, and I expect them to do very well. I'll let you know how it went later this week.

Best

[polka-dot, RN]

Well here is one student who LOVED chemistry! Ok, I loved general chem...o-chem gave me a run for my money but bio-chem seems to be MUCH more relevant (and familiar since a lot of the concepts have been touched upon in other classes). I lucked out with an amazing general chem teacher and even entertained the idea of taking MORE chemistry classes! I just thought it was incredibly eye-opening to learn about the building blocks of well...everything!