2 Questions: Medical Spanish Concerns & Online Lab Courses

[Hope.A, BSN, RN]

Is anybody else out there concerned about their abilities in spanish (or another language common in your area)? Spanish is not a pre-requisite, or even a requirement of any nursing program that I've heard of, but once I start working (in Texas), I know it's going to be something I wish I had. I took one spanish course in college, but I had 5 years of French, so it was really hard for me to make the switch to spanish pronunciations, etc. Some of the vocab is easy to remember though, because the root words are often similar. So I guess my question is, should I squeeze in another spanish course, or maybe get some study materials to start teaching myself?

Second, somewhat unrelated question (still having to do with prerequisites). I am excited about the possibility of taking some of my prerequisites online, but I am a little confused as to why some of the Lab courses are offered online. Isn't the purpose of a lab to have a hands-on portion of the class? Has anyone out there done a lab course online? If so, what does it entail and is it as useful as taking the class in person? I am mostly looking into these becuase of time constraints (as I'm working full time while taking my prereqs), but I do not want to sacrifice quality just for a better schedule.

Thanks!

Hope

[Kyla.ann]

You will probably be more marketable (especially in Texas) if you spoke Spanish. You will definitely benefit from taking another class or trying to teach yourself, if you think you can do it. I say go for it!

I have been thinking about this as well and wondering if it is something I should do. I don't have any experience learning another language but I know that if I knew Spanish it would more than likely increase my chances of employment here in Houston. It might be something I need to look into a little more.

I don't have any experience with online labs but am looking forward to hearing feedback from others that do!

[god-is-love]

hi hope.a,

i think u should definitely take spanish, don't be affraid u have a great advantage in texas bc u can use ur skills everyday. i have a b.a. in spanish & i also studied abroad in spain. when u speak it everyday u grow much more in the language. give it a try u won't regret it & it makes a world of difference to spanish speaking patients they will respect u so much more. it is a beautiful language & culture now as for the online courses, i took micro, patho, & anatomy i & ii online. my anatomy ii was 100% online. in my total undergrad degree i have taken roughly 15-20 online courses ( not from an online college) & i would never recommend any1 2 take a 100% online anatomy course (just my opinion). many people believe it is less work, but i am gonna tell u it's double the amount of work that students on campus r required to do. i ended up with a b in this class (barely) but everything was online including the labs we completed online simulations they are an exact replica of the ones in class. it was actually really cool the labs r the easiest, the lecture exams @ my school were impossible to pass & i took two anatomy classes b4 that one (anatomy i & an accelerated anatomy) with a+'s in both & could not pass an online lecture exam for the life of me. if u could take it on campus i would recommend it/ even an online class that meets on campus once a month. anatomy seems to be a strong foundation in nursing and a lot of programs will focus just on this class, anatomy is usually the deciding factor in whether/ not a student gets in2 a program so be very careful with the online anatomy courses. good luck! :redpinkhe

[manngnth]

learn nurses course

[scrapworking]

I have taken the majority of my pre-reqs on-line, including the A&P I course I'm finishing up this summer. I wasn't sure what to expect from an on-line lab as well, but it's really cool. There was a CD with our lab book that has simulations on it, that we perform as if in a lab. No mess, no smell, no clean-up, no long waiting times for something to happen, etc. And I'm not sure you could even do some of this in real life. For example, testing a muscle when applying different weights, stimuli. Timing muscle twitch, observing graded muscle response and wave summation. I thought it was all very cool!

Good luck...

Sharon