I want to be a nurse but im not good at math

Nurses General Nursing

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hello, so im just wondering, do i need to be good at math to be a nurse? im 15 years old and next year id be in senior high and i want to take the strand STEM which basically stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Im not really good at math but i want to be a nurse so i dont have a choice. also, i told my mom and my grandma that i want to be a nurse and when i become a nurse i would still study to be doctor so it wouldnt be too expensive and so i could support myself, my mom was okay about it but my grandma's response is discouraging. she said its too expensive and even as a nurse i wouldnt be able to afford it, she said kind of the same thing when i said i wanted to be a vet, she sait itd be too hard for me. please reply asap im really confuse and i want to do an advance studying. i really want to be a nurse because i promised my dad that if i become a nurse he dont have to go to the hospital every week and he could just stay home and ill take care of him. i still want to fulfill that promised even if he already passed away, i want to help other people too because i know how much it hurts losing someone. if my dad is still here, im sure hed support me for everything i want :)

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Specializes in Pediatrics Retired.

I'm not good at math - never have and never will and I never will like math. But here I am...RN - you can too.

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Your reasons for wanting to become a nurse are noble. I can tell you really care about your family and want the best for them.

To become a nurse, you really only need a good understanding of algebra. That's as far as was required in my program. To be a doctor, you will need more advanced math.

Just to warn you, it's not really realistic to work while going to med school. The courseload and study time is just too much. Med school students usually take out a bunch of loans.

My advice is to study hard now, regardless of the path you take later. And talk with your school advisors regularly. Good luck.

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1). Many nurses, including me, are not good at math.

2). You are 15 years old. Be the best 15 year old student you can be right now in ALL your classes from PE to history to English, etc.

3). I was a terrible 15 year old student....I didn't get my RN degree until I was 32. Which was the average age of my classmates.

3). There should be guidance counselors at your high school. Tell them you are interested in nursing OR medicine. Ask for tutoring help in math. A doctor and a nurse take VERY DIFFERENT types of classes after high school. They are Not the same.

4). I was listening to Doctor Radio with real live doctor's who are currently working in acute care hospitals. Some of them were saying they hated chemistry and math!

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Good news is you're only 15 and have a lot of time to figure this out. I found the math, especially statistics to be challenging, but doable. Study groups and tutors can be a great resource if there is an area of study you find particularly challenging. Good luck with your future career goals!

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Specializes in IMCU, Oncology.

You do not need to be great at math but it really helps to have a good understanding of basic math. It just makes life easier in the long run including as a nurse but especially as a student! I do have to do some basic calculations here and there for medication dosing as a nurse.

As a teen, I can say I was deplorable at math and also early in college. I feel it held me back to some degree, because I started out as nursing major and then changed my major because I didn't understand some basic math concepts that you need for chemistry and other sciences.

So once I matured a bit, I decided to do something about it and work from the bottom up on my own. You could spend an hour everyday on breaks or over the summer and do something about it. I used this book, Davis's Basic Math Review for Nurses: with Step-by-Step Solutions 1st Edition. Math was the easiest thing about nursing school, because I worked on it during the summer before I started nursing school. It was one of the most concrete concepts during nursing school to grasp.

Finally, becoming a physician is difficult no matter the circumstances. However, you probably do not know about nurse practitioners. So I encourage you to look up what a nurse practitioner does as a future possibility. I always wanted to be a provider, and I didn't know about nurse practitioners (NP) until later on in life, and if I had known sooner would have pursued it sooner. I start my masters program this Spring to become and NP while working full time as a nurse.

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Knowing math will help you as a nurse. But the math is also pretty basic math such as figuring out IV rates, dosages, etc. which are pretty much ratio and proportion problems. Once you are in nursing school they will drill nursing math into your head, I know my school did. Now I am confident with math used i=as a nurse. But here is the thing, ever since I started my job as a nurse, math is usually already done for us and is stated in the orders exactly the rate we need to set an IV pump at, and the dosage we need to give. I rarely need to double check any math already done for my meds unless I really suspect something is off. There are so many more challenges in nursing other than the math honestly (not to scare you), but trust me math will probably be the lesser of your worries when on the job.

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

When I was in high school, I stunk at math and did the minimum possible to graduate. I wanted to be a nurse even back then, but didn't think I had the smarts for it until much later in life. In college I started with the most basic math (literally 1 + 1) and went on to master intermediate algebra, which was the required math for nursing school. Now, about the only math I used in nursing was dimensional analysis, so I've long since forgotten most of what I learned, but the take-home lesson is that you don't have to be "good at math" to be a nurse. It helps, of course, but a positive attitude is everything and it will take you farther than you thought possible. Go for it!

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Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.

"I'm not good at math" is an incomplete sentence. It should say "I'm not good at math YET, but I'm going to take the time to get good at it."

If you quit trying to ride a bike the first time you fell off- would you ever get good at bike-riding? Of course not- you just keep doing it until you ARE good at it. Bike-riding -OR- Math, practice makes perfect.

Best wishes!

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"I'm not good at math" is an incomplete sentence. It should say "I'm not good at math YET, but I'm going to take the time to get good at it."

Can't like that post enough. Does your school offer tutoring or other help? I'd bet there is some sort of program in place to help students who need some extra attention. Even if you choose another career path, improving your math skills now will pay off in the long run. I too am bad at math. To get into my RN program I had to take remedial math classes which delayed my entry and cost me $$. I still needed to up my math skills because I flunked out of nursing school the first time through due to blowing a very important math exam. Had to get tutoring and reapply the next term. I did finish, but I do wish I didn't have to do it the hard way.

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Specializes in ED, Pedi Vasc access, Paramedic serving 6 towns.

I am not good at math, I just guess, and hope!

Annie

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Specializes in Med-Tele; ED; ICU.

Not to worry about math...

The math required for nursing is completed by the end of 6th grade.

And nursing is not a STEM major.

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