Pathophysiology in 8wks or 16wks?

[aloevesta]

Hi everyone!

This is my first post! I am new to allnurses.com but not new to reading through the forums as I find this is a great place to get helpful information.

I am working towards finishing my prereqs for nursing school. One of the schools I applied for is asking for pathophysiology, if I get excepted into this school (interviewed already and seems very promising) I will need to complete it this summer or spring semester. I am already registered for micro, college algebra, and ethics (philosophy) for the spring but I could possibly swap out ethics for patho...or I could take patho in the summer? Did anyone find patho hard? Is it doable for 8wks in the summer? Or better to do it for 16 weeks even though I'm taking a micro class? I should add that I'm married with two kids and I work as a CNA part time (2x12hour shifts/week). The patho class I am suppose to take does not have a lab.

All advise is welcome! Thank you so much for your help!

[MrPhasma]

If it were me I would take patho in the spring for 16 weeks. The reason is because patho is such an important class for nursing and you want to have as much time to study for it as possible. You would probably be fine taking patho over the summer but you might not get as much out of it, which could hurt you in nursing school. And even though you're taking micro as well, you should be able to handle it. If you can't get through micro and patho in the same semester, how will you get through nursing school? Just a thought! Hope this helps and good luck to you (:

[Lipoma, BSN, RN]

In my nursing program, we have pathophys for 9 weeks (1 class per week from 9a-4p). It's not terribly awful. Never took it during my 1st undergrad so I went in with no knowledge and I'm excelling.

Question for you, if pathophys a pre-req, is it not part of your nursing program curriculum?

[Bumex, DNP, NP]

Some programs have pathophysiology as a prereq, some have it as both a prereq and build on it during the program, some just have it in their curriculum.

[aloevesta]

My understand is it's both. All students are required to take the general pathophysiology class as a pre req. Then in nursing school they build onto it and incorporate nursing theory.

[aloevesta]

In the Spring semester I will be taking Micro, college algebra, and ethics. Therefore adding patho would bring me to 15 credit hours, which really is doable however I have enjoyed taking one science class per semester giving me an opportunity to get out of the class as much info as possible. I genuinely enjoy science, and taking one class/semester has allowed me to fully "lavish" in what I'm learning (for lack of a better word). I think you make a good point that nursing school will be much like taking more than one science class per semester. Lots to think about!

[OsceanSN2018]

Take patho in the summer because you are already taking micro in the spring. I took patho with 3 other nursing classes and clinical and it is a lot to learn and needs its own focus.