Made it Through My First Semester in NS

[lifelearningrn]

I'm still in a little shock. 1 semester down, with 3 to go. And MAN was it a crazy semester. Assessment class about killed me. Pharmacology was fun, and Pathophysiology was pretty easy, an Fundamentals were a blast. But Wow- hardest thing I've ever embarked on, ever!

Any tips for making the second semester the best it can be?

[athomas2340]

YES! Foundations is actually not that difficult. It has a lot of pretty easy, common sense concepts. You learn it all hands on, and a lot of it is reinforced through writing care-plans and doing clinical. Assessment it the real beast. This is where you're learning body systems, how to do exams on each body system, what is normal, what is abnormal. How to tell if something is normal or abnormal. How to do it all properly and how to document it all properly. Sounds simple? It's NOT! lol I'm sure every school is different, but we didn't get to use any kind of standardized form- we had to do all documentation on a blank sheet of paper. You have to use proper terminology, there are different rating scales for certain conditions, some of the exams have a learning curve. It's just a really BIG course. If you're going to pre-study- make it that one!

Wow I had no idea. I'm going to try and buy that textbook this week. Now I'm nervous because I'm taking that in the summer II session and it's only 5 weeks. Yikes! Thanks so much for the heads up.

[nic30]

Wow. This is very encouraging. I just wanted to know if anyone has taken Patho, Fundamentals and Health Assessment together in an 8 week semester? I have this coming up next semester and I am terrified since everyone is saying Patho takes all your study time. Has anyone successfully taken these courses and if so, do you have any pointers?