Curious..What classes were in everyone's first semester?

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I was just wondering what classes you had first semester? I am done with everything except the core nursing classses, so first semester will be only Nursing Fundamentals and Pharmacology. Next semester is only Med-Surge I and OB, etc. I'm curious because I want to know how overwhelming it's really going to be. I was just curious, with two classes, would you struggle? Was it really that much information? Or was it too much information because your first semester included math, nutrition, patho, etc? Thanks for the info!

How much you'll struggle with two classes totally depends on the school. At the community college I went to, once you completed all the prerequisites (which could also be corequisites but it seems like most people do them as pre- because of the application cycle), you take 1 class a semester for nursing school: NURS 101, NURS 102, etc. But each one of those classes includes all the pharm, clinicals, theory, etc so the one class included several days on and off campus.

At my school, I'm doing an accelerated program and our first quarter classes were Principles, Health Assessment, Genetics, Informatics, Ethics and Health Promotions. It was a total of 21 credits and the main challenge was just balancing so many different classes and keeping track of things.

This quarter, we have Adult I, Women's Health, Mental Health, and Pharmacology, for another 21 credit quarter that I fully expect to be *quite* challenging. Each class has several chapters of reading a week scheduled and I will have a total of 3 full clinical says a week.

What I am most excited about (sarcasm) is the fact that they've decided that every clinical class requires a math quiz so I have 3 medication calculation quizes in the same week. It's kinda like the school is saying "Are you sure you can do the math? How about now? How about NOW?"Plus, if we don't get a 90% on each, we get a second chance to take each test. I understand the importance of the calculation stuff, but why not one test per quarter? Oh well.

The next 11 weeks are going to be quite busy. I just got the course information and there are all sorts of journal and reflection assignments and stuff that I think a lof of people in the program were expecting to be done with. But hey, I'll be done in September!

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1st semester I took nursing 1 (6 credits) and pharm 1 (1 credit). They both have to be taken together. Next semester will be nursing 2 (8 credits), pharm 2, math (yuck). Good luck!!

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My class schedule is Monday - Nursing Fundamentals on Mondays from 8 - 11:30 and Tuesdays 9 - 10:50 and then the lab for Fundamentals runs Mondays and Wednesdays from 1 - 3:50. Then on Tuesday afternoon we have Pharm from 12 - 1:50 (so Tuesdays will be an early day). Then in the middle of March we will start clinicals on the Thursdays and Fridays we have open. I did already do all of the co-reqs (since I haven't started yet) so math, Patho., nutrition, etc. is all out of the way. Pharm is starting to make me a little nervous but the Fundamentals book doesn't look too hard. I do have the dreaded care plan book so I'm sure we'll be getting into that! :)

Can't wait! Less than two weeks until the orientation!

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Specializes in Med/Surg.

I'm in a BSN program. My first semester was Foundations of Therapeutic Interventions (a mix of pathophys, nutrition, and pharmacology) and Professional Nursing 1. Each was worth 3 credits, and I took 2 gen eds with them. It was a piece of cake.

Second semester was Health Assessment and Fundamentals. Lots of work, especially going into the first clinical and trying to balance that with exams, papers, and our first ATI exam.

Third semester was Maternity and Psych (6 credits each). I did find it to be a lot of work, but nothing unbearable. Studying and passing two ATI exams was a challenge, but I did it!

Fourth semester (starts Jan 25th) will be Med Surg 1 and Pediatrics. I will definitely be busy.

Fifth semester is Med Surg 2 and Leadership, and Sixth semester is Community Health and Transitions to Professional Practice (you pick an area of interest and do a clinical in that specialty).

Each semester is about 15 weeks long.

I think you'll be fine with two classes! Good luck :D

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The first semester I had fundamentals and p'cology. I thing the biggest challange for many students was drug calculations. Those that struggle

with calculations normally do not have a math problem, they have a reading

problem. It is important to read and understand the problem, what it is asking for. It is also important to understand things such as the reasoning behind mixing to a disired concentration when needed. For example a concentration that is too weak may require two shots because you will need to push more volume than can be given in one injection, and a concentration that is too strong can cause local irritation.

It kept me busy but I enjoyed the first semester, good luck with the program.

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Specializes in Chiropractic assistant, CNA in LTC, RN.

I had fundamentals, pharm, and nursing assessment in Sem 1. Sem II was med surge I and nutrition. I was never, ever board throughout nursing school.

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Specializes in ICU.

Intro to Nursing (a theory class) - 3 credits

Med Surge (included one day a week in clinical) - 5 credits

Skills - 2 credits

Assessment - 1 credit

Therapeutic Communication - 1 credit

Pharmacology - 3 credits

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My first semester I will have Health Alterations (Med-Surge) and Pharmacology. I'm only going part time, if I were full time I would also have Skills & Concepts and Clinicals. I did Adaptation to the PN Role last semester with my gen ed's.

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wow i feel very fortunate compared to most if not all of you.. i start in january for an ADN program. i already have all of my pre-reqs done and here's a glimpse of what my schedule will look like

1st semester: foundations of nursing.. its a 7 credit class but includes 5hr lecture 5hr clinical and 2 hr lab

this summer semester (it is required to go, not sure how other schools are about that) and ill have pharm and path

fall semester will be maternal-child nursing

spring semester- adult nursing 1 & mental health nursing

fall semester- adult nursing 2 and nclex prep class

does this all seem normal? it seems like a lot less than everyone else

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My first quarter in nursing school was in the summer because I was a transfer student, we had (10 weeks):

Intro to Nursing

Pharmacology

Nursing Skills (1st 5 weeks)

Assessment (2nd 5 weeks)

Skills Lab

and a clinical

it was like 18-19 credits

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Since I already have my Bachelors degree in another field, my first semester nursing school is technically fourth semester of the program. My schedule for the spring is:

-Pathophysiology (lecture)

-Health Assessment (lecture + lab)

-Intro to Nursing/Fundamentals (lecture, skills lab, clinicals)

-Nursing Research (lecture)

I tell people I'm taking 4 classes and they say "oh, that's not bad, youve taken 6 classes in your undergrad and got a 4.0 in 6 classes, this will be a piece of cake". ha! if they only knew--4 classes, with labs and clinicals is more like 7 or 8 classes!

I'm SO NERVOUS! :eek: yet so excited!:lol2:

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Specializes in Emergency Department.

My first semester was Basic nursing skills (CNA review), basic clinical skills ( med admin and catheterization), nutrition, and mental health.

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