Fundamentals before pharm?

[VeniVidiVici]

I was recently accepted into a 3-year BSN program and was wondering if anyone else took fundamentals before taking pharm? Does it really make a difference on the order its taken? It was done concurrently in the past but they recently switched from an accelerated to the traditional three year. I feel like I may be at a disadvantage without any pharm knowledge.Thanks for any input.

[nurse4forever]

I think you should be fine since most ADN program like mine does not require students to take a separate pharmacology class.

[heavenbound]

I am in a BSN program and we have to take Fundamentals before Pharmacology. Most folks at my school take med-surg with pharmacology.

[Despareux]

We had to pharm before we were even accepted into the nursing program. Kind of sucks for those who didn't make it into the program.

[VeniVidiVici]

I am in a BSN program and we have to take Fundamentals before Pharmacology. Most folks at my school take med-surg with pharmacology.

Yeah, thats how its going to be at my school also. My first quarter is going to be fundamentals theory and clinical, and the next quarter is med-surg theory and clinical, and pharmacology. You would think they would put pharm with the easier classes but who knows!

[3boys_n_a_dog]

I'm in BSN program and Pharm is taken before Fundamentals. In fundamentals we will be giving meds. It seems that you would have to have medication knowledge prior to giving the meds. If they do it concurrently it would make sense to cover a med, then begin giving that med. You could always get a pahrm review and rationale book just to have a heads up. If they have the program set up with pharm after fundamentals, that means that your clinical will most likely only cover what you guys have prior or ongoing knowledge in. BTW i'm at Chicago State in Illinois BSN program.

[anonymousstudent]

I took fund. before pharm, it was fine. I think it makes more sense to have pharm when you're in a "real" clinical. Hopefully your courses are linked up with pharm and you'll be learning material and have the meds matched to it. In a perfect world anyway.

[Music in My Heart]

We took them concurrently but I see almost no connection between the two classes. I wouldn't worry about it at all.

That said, I'd start an independent study of pharm ASAP. I always recommend Lippincott's Illustrated Review of Pharmacology as a great place to start. It's concise and succinct, something not found in most nursing books (in my experience).

[Double-Helix, BSN, RN]

My BSN program structured the curriculum so that pharmacology was taken after fundamentals.

Fundamentals (Or Nursing Interventions, as we called it) was broken into two courses. Pt 1 was in the fall of sophomore year. Pt 2 was in the spring of sophomore year. Pharmacology was in the spring, taken with Pt 2.

I didn't feel like I was at any disadvantage in fundamentals. Fundamentals is more about learning how to correctly perform skills. You learn the technique of how to give medications (oral, IV, injection, eyes, ears, etc.) but you don't really need to know specific information about medications. That comes later, when you start doing clinicals and have to understand what the purpose of each medication is and special precautions associated with them.

[OB-nurse2013, BSN, RN]

Yeah, thats how its going to be at my school also. My first quarter is going to be fundamentals theory and clinical, and the next quarter is med-surg theory and clinical, and pharmacology. You would think they would put pharm with the easier classes but who knows!

Thats how my school is too, I'm also in a BSN program.

[whitgriff22]

Our school did fundamentals before pharm also. In our fundamentals clinicals we mostly just did cna stuff..baths, change bed linens, etc.