Diseases nurses/ nursing students should know

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Hey everyone so I am about to embark on my nursing school journey. I am super stoked. I was just wondering about what diseases nursing student and nursing students should know. I took paths and learned a lot but I'm curious as to what diseases nurses see most of the time. It's a weird question

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

I would focus on the top 10 killers here in the US:

1. Heart disease (CHD, CAD, CHF, HTN, cardiomyopathy, sick sinus syndrome, etc)

2. Cancer

3. Cerebrovascular accident, a.k.a. stroke

4. Alzheimer's disease and the various dementias

5. Diabetes mellitus

6. Pneumonia

7. Influenza

8. Nephrotic syndrome

9. End stage renal disease

10. Obesity

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Specializes in Neurosurgery, Neurology.

There will be many diseases and disorders that you will study in your nursing school courses. This will also depend on what specialty of nursing you go into after school. However, at least for adults, you'll often see the chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, COPD, asthma, etc. You'll find that many/most of your adult patients will have at least one of these as a comorbidity.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.

Asthma, Diabetes, High blood Pressure, Cardiac Arrhythmias, Stroke, Congestive Heart Failure, Pneumonia, Sickle Cell Anemia, just to name a few...

I work in Peds and see mainly Asthma, Sickle cell, special needs cases such as ARDS that results in tracheostomy and ventilator use, cardiac issues such as hyper plastic left heart syndrome, patent ductus arteriosis, Cardiac Arrhythmias, autoimmune disorders, hemophilia.

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Having a basic idea of the diseases others have listed above is a good idea, but you will cover all of them in quite a lot of detail as you study nursing management of all of those diseases (and then some). If you really want to study before starting your program, I recommend that you focus on really, really knowing your physiology well. It will make studying all of those diseases much easier.

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Great advice so far. As a nurse, you will become very familiar with the disease processes and surgeries that are specific to your unit. It would also benefit you well to go home and study/review the diseases and surgeries that you see on a daily basis. You will become more familiar with what to expect, what to do when things go wrong, and it will enable you to better educate your patients.

Good luck!

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I think if anything I'd know diabetes inside and out, you'll have diabetics in any clinical settings, and I think it's easier than some other conditions to self teach.

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Specializes in Emergency.

Let's be real....ALL...why limit your knowledge??? Never know what you will encounter when dealing with sick humans! Knowledge is power!

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Specializes in critical care.

Everything that is vaccine-preventable, and the impact of each vaccine to individuals and society.

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Some of the things I've commonly encountered in clinicals are COPD, GERD, HTN, renal or liver dysfunction, CAD, and asthma. There's many more, but these are the ones I've seen the most. Also, know the S&S of fluid and electrolyte imbalances (such as hypercalcemia, hypokalemia, etc.).

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

Uh - "diseases" coincide with the Medical model. Nursing model is focused on alteration of various body systems, as reflected by our diagnostic nomenclature (AKA Nursing Diagnosis). Example: Medical diagnosis = Acute MI Nursing DX would depend upon which alterations are occurring... could be hemodynamic, air exchange, comfort, anxiety, etc.

You're off to a good start if you have a solid understanding of the underlying patho for each "disease" as well as the potential alterations that would occur. If you want to engage in prep work, it would be a much better use of your time to become familiar with the defining characteristics & interventions associated with each of the more common Nursing DX ;) This will give you a real advantage when it comes to the mysterious world of care plans - LOL.

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Everything. It seems that we need to know a little or a lot about almost everything. The previous comments, however, note some of the big ones. My advice before starting the nursing classes: master your patho, solidify your anat/phys. Also get in the habit of practicing stress-management techniques and maintaining your personal health, because you will be pushing yourself through a tough couple of years.

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