Nursing School Journey

[ryusan8989]

Hello all. I am currently working towards becoming a nurse. I am starting my first semester at the end of the month. I finished 2 courses in my nursing classes that we had to take in the summer. They were intro to nursing and Pharmacology. I really enjoyed pharmacology because I enjoy learning about mechanisms and how things function. I received an A in the class which really helped boost my confidence in my abilities.

Pharmacology really helped establish the thought in my head that hard work really does pay off. The way I learned in Pharmacology was to understand the mechanisms behind each drug class. This really helped me understand why certain drugs are given with each other.

An example is this: If a patient is taking an ACE inhibitor, benazepril, to treat his hypertension, the doctor may prescribe hydrochlorothiazide because hyperkalemia can occur if taking benazepril.

Connecting the dots really helped me understand medications. Others found it easier to memorize the adverse effects and contraindications of certain drugs because our professor tested us on them. But for me to truly understand why a drug has an adverse effect, it really helped me to understand their mechanisms of action.

So now that summer classes have ended I am going to begin fundamentals of nursing which I truly am excited about. I feel rather nervous about clinicals because we're working with live patients but I know that my confidence will build upon itself. This is all for now! I will try to keep everyone updated, this is my first time blogging so please forgive me if this is very unprofessional!

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

Thank you so very much for sharing. :)

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

Congratulations. It is a tough journey.. but you have good critical thinking skills already.

"Connecting the dots " is far more beneficial than rote memorization.

Best of luck... let us know how it's going.

[Sophya]

Hi. When you have time, could you please write about what day-to-day life is like as an LATTC nursing student? I understand that it will be intense and require many study hours, but what are the actual hours in class and days/hours in clinicals? Are clinicals once a week or more per week? How long are shifts? Do you have to plan for an open availability, or is there a schedule? Thank you for your time!!!!!!