How is Pathophysiology as an Online Course?

[Ioreth, ADN, RN]

The nursing school I'm hoping to attend has classes structured so that Pathophysiology is taken as an online course during the first or second semester. They recommend taking it before nursing school starts, but it doesn't look like I'm going to be able to do that unless I was to wait another two semesters to start nursing school. Taking in a summer semester would also be online only since they don't offer any in-person classes for Patho in the summer. This looks to be a fairly typical arrangement for this school. I think I will probably do well even online, but I am a little intimidated since this is a class that is so important to nursing and I'll be in my first semester of nursing school when I take it. I have done extremely well in my other prerequisites, and Anatomy and Physiology just seems to come naturally to me. I'm also pretty good with online courses. I am disciplined and I tend to work far ahead of the class if the class is structured to let me do so.

Even though I don't really have any other option than to take it online, I'd love to hear how others fared. If you took Patho as an online course, how did it go? Would you have benefited more from an in-person course? Are there any study techniques or supplemental materials that you found useful specifically for Patho?

(There is a post on this subject in AllNurses, but it is very old and I expect some things may have changed since then.)

[KO.SRNA, MSN, RN]

I took pathophysiology online as it was a prerequisite to an Accelerated BSN program that I was applying for. I definitely felt that I could have benefited more from an in-person course. I took my course at Yuba Community College in Marysville, CA as an online course. I received an A in this course, however, I found myself referring to the textbook way too often. When I took this course, I was taking a total of 22 units during that summer, and this class was being offered as a 5-week course.

It was extremely rigorous, and I found that I could not read several 30-page chapters in one week. Being that it is an online course, all exams were open book. We were required to complete weekly postings based on a prompt about the patho of a certain disease as well as a robust research paper by the end of the course. I remember most of the material that I especially researched, but with the accelerated mode of instruction, I don't think I retained enough information for the ABSN program that I applied for since I was accepted. I have been told by current students in that program not to worry and that there is time for me to review patho material if needed throughout the program. I may opt for a different program that would force me to take patho as part of their nursing curriculum since I would already have familiarity, and I may benefit more from an in-person class.

It's all about what you put into it though. If it's the only class you'll be taking in the summer, I think you'll have a much better chance at retaining all of that information. Bottomline, depending on how the class is structured, if it is all standardized testing which allows you to refer to the text, I am confident you will do well in the class academically, but subject material retention is totally based on how much effort and studying you put into the class. Hope this helps, good luck!