Self Study BSN ??

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How do you feel about your program?

I am in a small class...less then 50 now...and we all agree that our program seems to have taken on a "self study" method.

A general example...

The class receives a weekly lab assignment...study drugs, study lab tests, med math work book exercises and read chapters 22 - 26 on Fluids and Lytes...a typical assigment for this particular 4 hour per week lab.

OK...so next week we come into lab and its "OK class, lets talk about titrating medications, flow rates and drip rates"... Let the firestorm begin...

The encursion begins with the professor firing of questions at random and asking for very precise and correct answers...the room scrambles for calculators and scratch paper.

I may not be clear...basically we are reading volumes and then tested each week on what we read... Med calc was taught to us by assigning an entire workbook to be completed over the course of 8 weeks...each day of class we were DRILLED on what we were learning in the workbook.

My point here...I could have purchased a math workbook and taught myself how to calculate medications on my own...AND without someone firing random questions at me to test my knowledge. I have taught myself how to calculate medications...on my own.

I don't expect to be "spoon fed" but I thought 3rd year would have been a little...uh...different??

Am I missing something?

Physical assessment went the same way...read and perform - read and perform while the instructors watch. I learned physical assessment from watching DVDs...I could have purchased the set for $400 from amazon and saved thousands on tuition...Ok...someone stop me! :cry:

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Specializes in Burn, Ortho, Trauma.

My program is the same way with the skill portion, very self-taught. They are all about the classroom theory. We don't even get a math review. We just get photocopies and then an exam. No- I don't like it.

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My program is the same way with the skill portion, very self-taught. They are all about the classroom theory. We don't even get a math review. We just get photocopies and then an exam. No- I don't like it.

OK...so this is the way things are then? Ugh!

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Specializes in Burn, Ortho, Trauma.

yup. we watch Dvd's too. we're told that there are videos available. and that's it. go figure it out.

do you want me to suction your trache if all i've done is watched a video and had some hands on time with a plastic mannequin? I wouldnt!

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

This is an interesting take on your program, and definitely something that I am going to pay attention to as the semester progresses at my school.

Although I am only in my 2nd year, I wonder sometimes how we are expected to know things, when as you mentioned... we have only just read about the skills etc.

Thanks for the thread, definitely something I am going to pay closer attention to!

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Yep, my BSN program over 10 years ago felt very much "self study." Lectures were a regurgitation of a small percent of assigned reading. Like the dry textbooks, mostly just a simple description of the pathophys & medical treatments followed by a list of risk factors, symptoms, nursing interventions and complications. There was rarely ever time for questions. On test reviews, we'd barely have time to see what we got right and wrong; not much time to ask questions, most of which would be answered with "it's clear that this is the 'best' answer if you use your critical thinking skills."

Of course, test questions were written NCLEX style, which means light on factual content and heavy on "critical thinking" (knowing how to interpret and answer NCLEX style questions). But even while we weren't explicitly tested on details and the bulk of lecture and text were lists of symptoms and nursing interventions, some instructors would seem horrified if you couldn't reel off a detailed explanation of some electrolyte imbalance or pharmacokinetics. "If it was in your readings, you should know it!"... "Uh, that WASN'T in our reading..." "Well, your learning isn't limited to your textbook, you know!" Sigh!

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Specializes in Emergency Nursing.

Our nursing program prides themselves on being "self study". They say it is better this way because it helps you prepare better, and you know where and how to get answers later. A nursing instructor told me last week when students write on their evals that they had to teach themselves... she is very pleased and this is what she wants to hear. I see their point, but I would like something that I can't get out of my textbook to entice me to actually go to class.

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Today I got the results of a recent examination -- 72% which equals a big fat "D" as in Dummy.

Yeah...I am lost! So much for my 3.9 GPA

I have always been able to take killer lecture notes...I would augment with what I read in the text and then prepare for exams with my very excellent note collection...NOT ANY MORE!

The lectures are dry as burnt toast and as mentioned contain only small percentage of the material. So what gives?

So can someone write a care plan for me...I used to be a strong science student and now I am at risk for impaired cognitive function related to inability to assimilate to nursing school...help!

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Our nursing program prides themselves on being "self study". They say it is better this way because it helps you prepare better, and you know where and how to get answers later. A nursing instructor told me last week when students write on their evals that they had to teach themselves... she is very pleased and this is what she wants to hear. I see their point, but I would like something that I can't get out of my textbook to entice me to actually go to class.

I can't relate to this...She is pleased?

In Microbology the professor taught us "these are bugs, these are the name of said bugs and in this class you will learn what diseases these bugs cause".

Guess what...our exams asked questions about bugs, their names and the diseases they caused. I passed with an "A"

Nursing theory...OK --> here are your 12 textbooks and we want you to read all of them. "Become a reader" they say...then when you are done with the reading we will test you...on what? Everything?

I'm sorry but there is a limit to what the mind can absorb within a specific amount of time. I don't see how one can critically think on subject matter when foundational material is being crammed.

Honestly...can anyone here WITHOUT LOOKING IT UP tell me who Dunn is? How about Leavell and Clark? How about who proposed a continuum to describe the state of health of an individual...and how does this continuum relate to present day nuring? Tastes like dry toast to me.

So where does knowing where and how to find answers come into play here? If I was allowed to use a laptop for examinations I'd never miss an NCLEX hospital question.

To me it seems this is more about understanding how to be successful at the NCLEX examination. I can't tell you how many graduate nurses I have met that "I don't know how to do that" is there introduction. Is this going to be me? "I passed the NCLEX...now I have to learn how to be a nurse"

Critical Thinking...:banghead:

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Specializes in Burn, Ortho, Trauma.

The continuum is important because you have to understand how a person defines their state of health if you are going to work with them to optimize their well-being. What you define as healthy will not be their definition. As far as who came up with it? Beats me! I haven't thought about that since my first nursing class and then promptly forgot it.

Nursing theory is important as far as where nursing has come from and where it is going. Tradition to evidence based practice. It was like a bizarre history class for me. Tell me you at least talked about Nightengale a little!

Have you tried looking for online powerpoints from the publisher of any of your textbooks? We used Nursing Now by Joseph T Catalano. I found the powerpoints from the publisher very helpful because the lectures were always about whatever was on the Prof's mind that day.

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My BSN program is almost all self-study. I'm doing the distance program at Indiana State. We have our syllabus and textbooks like on campus students, we read ourselves and we have power points with audio for lecture. Then we do clinicals locally with a preceptor. I love it! My LPN school was in a classroom setting and I like this soooooooooooo much better! I think now the handholding of any classroom would drive me nuts. Self-study is awesome. I'd much rather be independent. If the lectures aren't helping you is attendance optional? I really don't see the benefit of reading the textbook and then the instructor just telling you the exact same thing in a lecture. What's the point?? Seems like drilling you on what you were assigned to learn would help drive the info in?

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wow, i heard about this but i didn't think too much of it to really ask around about it. I heard that the BSN programs was really about teaching how to be an administrator or on a director's level and the ADN programs are a bit more practical. so maybe that's why the BSN programs are so self study and guiding to find the answers on our own. i don't think i will like that when i start in Jan 09. like you said, i don't want to graduate with a bsn and pass the NCLEX and then have to learn how to be a nurse, lol. :rolleyes:

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