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My prospective nursing school does not have the following courses:

-pharmacology

-pathophysiology

-med/surg

Do you feel these courses are integral to being a successful nurse? Especially one with hopes of going on to advanced nursing practices? The school does have the highest NCLEX pass rate in the state though, so thats good. I just don't know what to do.

My prospective nursing school does not have the following courses:

-pharmacology

-pathophysiology

-med/surg

Do you feel these courses are integral to being a successful nurse? Especially one with hopes of going on to advanced nursing practices? The school does have the highest NCLEX pass rate in the state though, so thats good. I just don't know what to do.

In my program we started in the summer of 07. We were required to take pathyphys (if we hadn't already) and have it completed & passing by the end of winter term. If you failed it, you're out of the program. Fortunately for me I took patho during the summer, so I finished during the early part of the program!!

Pharm & Med-surg were integrated into our nursing classes. They weren't separate entities. I have no idea if that makes it easier or harder, but it has been working for me. I'm finishing up my first year of NS on Monday by taking a final. Oh, how I feel good!!

Is it and ADN or BSN program? My program, which is an ADN, does not have pharamacology either. However, it is required for the RN-BSN program. I , of course, have no idea if it makes a better nurse or not! :)

Also, I never really thought about looking at pass rates for nursing programs. My take on that, it that different schools accept different people for different reasons. Some people pass NCLEX on the first try- some dont..

You'll be a good nurse..don't sweat it.:nurse:

You'll be a good nurse..don't sweat it.:nurse:

Haha, thanks, Im going to hold you to that!

Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

Traditionally, these subjects were incorporated into nursing curriculums. If you are in a BSN program that does this I strongly recommend that you buy a printed copy of the official college catalog to save with your transcripts because it will have a description of the content of each class you will have taken. When you are applying for an advanced nursing practice program they should consider these descriptions when they are evaluating your transcripts for admission to their graduate program. If you already have a specific program and school in mind for the advanced practice nursing, look at what their requirements for admission are. If these specific classes are required, you could be finding schools to take these courses in during your summer breaks to fulfill those pre-requisites to be on the safe side--or you could contact the school and tell them what your situation is and see if they ever accept students without those classes.

How are your semesters organized? If your school has a high NCLEX pass rate, the material is integrated into your classes somehow. Med surg material is supposed to make up the majority of the NCLEX, so you're going to learn it. Most ADN programs where I've lived don't have patho or pharm as separate courses (although I'm sure there are some that do), but they do take med surg. You'll get the material, but Daytonite gives good advice about keeping copies of the course descriptions if you're interested in pursuing an advanced degree. I've gone to a few different universities already, and it's always a pain getting everything to transfer. You can always call the nursing department when you need them later, they should be able to fax a copy of any needed course descriptions to whatever grad school you might apply to.

How are your semesters organized? If your school has a high NCLEX pass rate, the material is integrated into your classes somehow. Med surg material is supposed to make up the majority of the NCLEX, so you're going to learn it. Most ADN programs where I've lived don't have patho or pharm as separate courses (although I'm sure there are some that do), but they do take med surg. You'll get the material, but Daytonite gives good advice about keeping copies of the course descriptions if you're interested in pursuing an advanced degree. I've gone to a few different universities already, and it's always a pain getting everything to transfer. You can always call the nursing department when you need them later, they should be able to fax a copy of any needed course descriptions to whatever grad school you might apply to.

Great advice, thank you.

Here is how the program is laid out:

http://www.southwest.tn.edu/programs_study/nursing2.htm

Also, here is an article about their NCLEX pass rate. 1st in the state for ADN programs, fifth overall:

http://www.southwest.tn.edu/events/press-02-28-08.htm

Looking at your program. you do have Adult Health Nursing I and II. Those classes are Med-Surg I and II. I am in a BSN program and we have Pharmacology as a separate class, but patho is integrated with another class. With your program's high ranking in passing rate, I would not worry about it much. Good luch

excellent.

i am actually going to take patho at another university in the area. as far as pharm, i dont know, maybe something online.

Specializes in Acute Mental Health.

I agree with Daytonite that many of these classes are incorporated into the curriculum. I would assume that you need to cover many of these subjects because they are present on the NCLEX. Maybe you should ask how these are covered. I would also want to know ther % of passing scores on the NCLEX for your school. If your college nursing program is accredited by a reputable place, these subjects should be covered. It may be time to check into this. Hope this helps.

At my school adult health nursing I and II are the med-surg classes....and pharm and patho are integrated into each class. They are integrated so instead of having 1 semester or quarter of it you learn it gradually over the course of the program and you learn it more in depth this way.

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