looking back, are there courses that you thought were not necessary?

Nurses General Nursing

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At my nursing program, we have to take two semesters of Fundamental of Nursing. Now, i'm not saying this course is unnecessary, but two whole semesters of learning what "therapeutic communication" is , just sames like waste of time to me. And to cap it off, we had to have Intro to Nursing too, which was basically the same as fundamental. Oh and i can have two semesters of organic chemistry but not pharmacology? of these two, which one i'm i going to use most of?!!!!

I mean there are other courses i wouldn't mind spending two semesters learning.

Take for instance pathophysiology, i wouldn't mind two semester of this, in fact i would totally welcome it! i think it is particularly important for nurses to know disease processes and how they affect our patients. Another course i would love to have two semester of is Health Assessment. This is one of the core process of nursing and yet our school sort of breeze through it.

Instead of nursing school bombarding us with unnecessary stuff, why not focus on things that are actually useful for when we graduate and enter the workforce.

so what about you? any courses you wish had been cut off or ones you wish you had spent more time with?

We were required to take a course called 'Computers in Nursing". First day of class we learned how to turn the computer on. The average age of my classmates was 20 something. We actually knew more about computers than our instructor!

Did they at least teach you about information systems? Because I think that would be pretty helpful for some who are interested in nursing informatics. I wish my school at least introduced it to us.

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

Just before logging in to allnurses ... I was sitting here at my desk ruminating on a few issues here at my hospital. Suddenly, my thoughts flashed on a concept from a political science course I took in my undergraduate days 34 years ago. It fits perfectly with our current situation and I started thinking about how I can use that concept to help resolve things here at my hospital today.

I am sure that most of you would think that my course in British Government taken back in 1976 was "unnecessary fluff," -- but I am grateful for my well-rounded, liberal arts education. It helps me to think critically, better understand the world around me, and resolve complex problems for which I can't simply "look up the standard procedure."

Some people view nursing as a basic job -- and want their nursing education to be just "job training" to prepare someone to be a safe practitioner who can follow established policies. I am glad that I have received more than that in my education -- and that I now have more to offer the profession (and the world) because of that deep and rich liberal arts education.

If you care about such topics, you should do more research before choosing a nursing program and/or career path. If you don't appreciate a liberal arts foundation and don't want the opportunities that such a foundation provides, then don't choose to go to such a program. Choose a technical program and stay in a technical niche where you will be happy. If you only appreciate the physical sciences, choose a program where that is strongly emphasized. Schools publish their curricula: they are not a secret. Do your homework and then make a choice that will suit you. Don't blame the school unless they fail to provide what they advertise.

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I think the reason why nursing schools nowadays are more "book learning" is because nursing bodies have been pushing advance nursing practice positions that require nurses to get a Masters, PhD or DP.

I understand what seasoned nurses are saying but at the same time I can't help but think a lot of these "useless" courses have some value to them. I do believe I need more practical time but at the same time, I do not want to let go of my "book learning." This is just a guess but maybe the reason why schools cut practicum times in nursing school is because there's been a huge influx of people wanting to get into nursing. The schools are then competing for placements and so they solve it by cutting practicum time? I don't know.

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I'm not saying we should let go of "book learning". I understand that getting a Bachelor's degree mean getting a "well rounded" education. but seriously, some of these courses i can do without. My beef is also with the fact that some schools (mine in particular) spend two semesters teaching one course that are definitely not important! instead of two semester for chemistry or fundamental(which is basically intro to nursing), give me two semesters of something i can actually use like patho or pharm!

All i'm saying is cut back on some of the "book" stuff and concentrate on clinical. i would much rather have two to three days of clinical than spend four days in class! being in clinical and encountering patients with different problems helps develop my critical thinking skills and puts my nursing process to worl.

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Specializes in Nursing Education, CVICU, Float Pool.

I agree with some of the previous posters that some gen ed classes are good to have regardless. Like me myslef. I am a pre-nursing student, while I feel that classessuch as sociology are repettive and unecessary, I do feel others are useful. I for, for example, will complete my minimal req prereqs this spring where I will only have to take 1 class, but I am taking extra course like the Business Course on mamnagement, the Humanities class on Critical thinking and an extra psychology on those with mental illnesses.

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Specializes in Nursing Education, CVICU, Float Pool.

I'm also taking extra second language courses since I'm already an intermediate spanish student.

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ENGLISH II - LITERATURE AND POETRY

Perhaps - perhaps - for a BSN I could understand it, but this is my ADN! And yet, I just turned in a paper discussing symbolism in Frost's "Dust of Snow" poem.

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Specializes in OR, CVOR, Clinical Education, Informatic.

After being a Diploma nurse for more that 20 years I went back to school through an RN to BSN program. I had to take Intro to Computers (one of my graded assignments was to set up an e-mail account.....mind you this was an ONLINE PROGRAM to begin with) another mandatory class was Medical Terminology. Really, I had no idea what all those big medical sounding words meant....I've only been charting them for 20 years now.

All in all - I can now say I am a Diploma nurse with a BSN. I spent a ton of money and still didn't learn anything that I did not learn from my diploma program and bedside experience.

At least now I am officially qualified to keep the job I have held for years. Pfffttt.

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.
After being a Diploma nurse for more that 20 years I went back to school through an RN to BSN program. I had to take Intro to Computers (one of my graded assignments was to set up an e-mail account.....mind you this was an ONLINE PROGRAM to begin with) another mandatory class was Medical Terminology. Really, I had no idea what all those big medical sounding words meant....I've only been charting them for 20 years now.

All in all - I can now say I am a Diploma nurse with a BSN. I spent a ton of money and still didn't learn anything that I did not learn from my diploma program and bedside experience.

At least now I am officially qualified to keep the job I have held for years. Pfffttt.

It sounds as if you chose a program that did not meet your educational needs -- and/or a program that may have been of poor quality. I assume that these courses were listed as part of their curriculum when you enrolled in the program. You knew they were part of the requirements when you signed up. If you felt strongly that they were not the type of course you wanted to take, why did you enroll in that particular program? It's not as if there aren't multiple RN-BSN programs. There are plenty to choose from.

I'm sorry that sounds harsh. But I see a lot of people here at allnurses complaining about their schools, their curriculum, etc. But no one is holding a gun to their heads and forcing them to go to those particular programs. People should shop around: be a consumer. Choose programs that best meet their needs and then take responsibilty for the choices they make.

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It gives me a little tear to hear that you think a couple of English classes are unimportant. It's a post-high school education. Higher Education. It should have the well-rounded basics as well as your primary professional classes.

However, the 20 hours of nursing fundamentals, nursing theory, nursing concepts, nursing history, nursing leadership and nursing perspectives that I have taken could have EASILY been condensed into a 2 hour course. For God's sake, give us more hard core sciences and less absolute fluff. Instead of 4 hours of patho, give me 8! I want a separate, 4-6 hour pharmacology course! I want a serious course in self defense, how to de-escalate a volatile situation, and how to safely and effectively take someone down and put them in restraints. No more endless lectures by out of touch professors, waxing on about Florence and Jean Watson, with butterflies and unicorns dancing in the background. I want more upper level science classes, more about personal safety, and LESS FLUFF!

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Specializes in Home Health Care.

Literature by Women.......

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Literature by Women.......

Who's interested in that? :D;)

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