Senior Biology Student Transferring To Nursing School

[HeatSeeker]

So as stated in the title I am a senior bio student who is looking to transfer to a nursing program potentially.

A little about me. I have been in veterinary medicine most of my life and I am currently a medic in the U.S Army . I have 5 years experience in this field working under numerous doctors and PAs learning as much as I can. I have a good.understanding of medicine and its always come pretty naturally to me. I have 120 college credits and have fulfilled all of my gen ed courses. When/If I decide to transfer to nursing school what can I expect as far as the courses I will take to start the nursing program, how long will it take? And more importantly what is the difficulty like? I am going for my BSN to become an RN and hopefully on to a practitioner after that. I understand the program is difficult but does it come a lot easier to people with an experienced medical background? Thanks for any information you can provide me!

[pmabraham, BSN, RN]

Good day, HeatSeeker:

First off, thank you so much for your service to our country!

If you've done all the prerequisites (which vary by school) which generally include anatomy and physiology I, II (must be at the same school; and in the past 5 years), and Microbiology (these two science courses tend to be common among variances of prerequisites), then you would apply to nursing school programs and start off fresh. I do recommend the BSN route.

If you've not done the prerequisites for a nursing program, I would recommend taking them at a community college to save money; some nursing programs offer them as well.

I'm just finishing up my prerequisites, so I cannot speak from experience about nursing school difficulty; but, given your experience, as long as you stay focused, you should do very well.

Thank you.

[ctersi01]

As the previous poster said, thank you for your service. It is much appreciated!

To answer your question, I believe your experience can help or hurt you (I've seen it both ways). It can help you if you draw on your experience to gain an understanding of the topic at hand. However, it can hurt you if you act like a know-it-all and don't bother to pay attention or study. I'm sure you wouldn't do that, but I have taught many students with a medical background who think they know everything and then can't understand why they are failing (I am RN/MSN and currently working at a university).

I also agree with the previous poster, if you need pre-reqs, and can take them at a cc, then by all means do that. There's no reason to overpay for your nursing education.

[RunBabyRN]

You'll still need to take the same prereqs as everyone else, and how long that takes varies widely. I took two classes at a time while on active duty, slowly chipping away at what I needed. My BSN program is 2 years (most are 3), and ADN programs are usually about 2 years as well.

Your hands-on experience will be helpful for sure, though you may find your have expertise in one area and be just as green as everyone else in others. I have clinical experience as a corpsman, and we have an Army medic that is also in my program who's great with trauma, but other areas are not his strong suit yet. ICU is definitely a weakness for me! We all have them.

The year before us, there was an Army medic in the program, but he failed out because he refused to learn to think in a new way. Becoming a nurse requires humility and a new approach to patient care, and unless you're open-minded and humble, you will fail. It took a lot of work for me to learn to "think as a nurse", which varies so much from thinking as a corpsman and using a more medical approach, but I'm able to draw on my experiences and make my nursing practice my own because of it. My military experience has given me the strength to deal with patients that terrify some nurses!

Expect some ambivalence from instructors until you show them you have the humility to know what you DON'T know, and be available to help others and teach and share what you DO know. Our program really encourages us to share our strengths, and I love the opportunities to teach my cohorts things I learned. I've even shown my instructors tricks they didn't know or think to teach! But I also know when to say, this is unfamiliar, where can I find the answer to blah blah blah, etc. Humility will take you far!

Good luck!