Patho Question Please Help

[maryzz]

Hi, I just got accepted to nursing school in the fall and wanted to know if you all advise taking Basic Patho in a 2 month online Summer course? I wanted to lighten my course-load because I have to take Indiviual Health assessment,Basic Concepts of Nursing,and Basic Concepts of Nurs Pract.

I wanted to know if you all think I should take it in the Summer or fall with the rest of those courses. The only issue I have is that its been a while since I've taken my A&P classes and I know thats an important background to have so that information isn't as fresh in my mind. Please let me know what you advise to do I'm kind of stuck and dont want a heavy course load when I start

[TheDudeWithTheBigDog, ADN, RN]

Before you get any opinions, check with the school to see if they'll even accept a class you took online. A lot of nursing schools actually have a concrete structure to your nursing classes.

Then if you can, remember, for ANY Summer class, you have to be able to handle learning very rapidly. You're taking a 16 week class in only 8-10 weeks. It's not going to be easy.

[Mergirlc, MSN, RN, APRN, NP]

You're in a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation.

I found pathophysiology to be one of my more challenging subjects. It could've been just me, but I felt it required absolute concentration and dedication to the subject. I can also understand you wanting to get this class out-of-the-way by itself because it is more challenging and also due to lessening your course load come fall.

If you're single, don't have to work or work part-time, I think you could do this class in Summer time. Again - no time to fool around because this class is going to be your full-time job. Just realize that it is a lot of understanding a concept and not just memorizing the concept. And to top it off, you have half the time to do it in than a regular class.

On the other side of the coin if you take it in the fall, you're going to have other classes to do and patho is definitely a challenging class. As I already mentioned, a lot of focus has to be placed on this class. You might get overwhelmed.

I think a lot of this depends on how you are as a student And only you know how you are.

Personally, if it were me, I would get it out-of-the-way in the Summer just to not have a large load of classes to take in the fall.

Good luck!

[BONBON, BSN, RN]

This is really program dependent. Our program had a great patho instructor (challenged you in the best way) but I still found it doable during my 1st fall semester of nursing school. The first semester nursing classes are generally very basic and don't require A LOT of study time compared to second semester (imo.)

Check in with other previous nursing students from your program and get advice from them! They'll have a better insight. For example, we have an official nursing fb page and I see comments all the time from new students asking previous nursing students about X professor or X course. You'll get a better gauge on YOUR programs patho course! Best of luck