1st semester...what is it like?

nursein08 · Dec 18, 2006

In my first semester, we covered the fundamentals. We got checked off on skills like temp, pulse, resp; bp; foley cath; assessment; specimen collection; sterile dressing change; etc. In lecture, we covered the psychosocial aspect and body systems. It was a fairly easy semester as far as information, but it was pretty jam packed, so time management was a big issue. Good luck to you!

kaks · Dec 18, 2006

in my first yr,1st sem,its not that hard since we don't have nursing subjects yet.our major was just chemistry.it was on my 2nd year,1st sem i had my fundamentals in nursing lyk the basic nursing procedures and evry time our clinical intructors(C.I.) finish demonstrating, we have to demonstrate it in return..that was one of my worst sem. having a terror CI!

NaomieRN · Dec 18, 2006

In my first semester, I learned mostly fundamentals: standard precautions, drug calculations, catheter, injections, wound care; fluid and electrolyte balance, oxygeneration, skin integrity, nutrition, sensory disorders, immobility, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and so many more that I cannot think of right now. The information was easy to understand, but was just so much at once. If you stay on time of your game, you wont have any problem.

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Dec 18, 2006

older threads on this that you might want to check out:

https://allnurses.com/forums/f50/fund-nursing-157590.html - fund. of nursing

https://allnurses.com/forums/f50/starting-nursing-fall-158337.html - starting nursing in the fall

https://allnurses.com/forums/1643291-post4.html - fundamentals of nursing post

https://allnurses.com/forums/f50/what-do-before-classes-start-165765.html - what to do before classes start?

https://allnurses.com/forums/f205/starting-aug-06-a-166290.html - starting in aug. 06

https://allnurses.com/forums/f205/med-surg-help-119956.html - med/surg help

https://allnurses.com/forums/f205/advice-med-surge-1-a-133555.html - advice on med-surgi

barbnyc · Dec 26, 2006

CPR Training

Nursing Theory (our program follows Orem)

Nursing Assessment / Diagnosis / Care Plans

Infection Control

Bowel / Urinary Elimination

Wound Care

Mathematical Dosing

Therapeutic Intervention

Medication Administration

Vital Signs (all things respiratory and cardiovascular)

Some Nutrition

Safety / Transfers

Immobility

Electrolytes & Fluid Imbalances (my least favorite)

Pain/Comfort

Sensory Deficits

Clinical Skills: Vitals, Transfers, Infection Control, Foley, Enema, NG Tube Feedings, Suctioning, Wound Care, Range of Motion Exercises, Medications via every route including I.V., injections, etc., Bathing, Peri-Care, Oxygen administration, etc.

I would recommend reviewing any websites that are affiliated with your textbooks.

If you want to get a head start, you're safe reading the textbook covering Nursing Theory and Infection Control.

Good luck in your studies.

SoulShine75 · Dec 27, 2006

1st semester we learned the fundamentals: nursing process, nsg diagnosis, legal issues, ethics, nsg care, nsg history, care planning, nsg theory, fluid and electrolytes, elimination, wound care, pain, etc, etc, etc.

the skills we learned were: donning sterile gloves, gowns, etc..., injections, catheter, sterile dressing change, physical assessment, passing oral meds, teaching, and some other stuff that i can't really remember off the top of my head, but this was the majority of it.

1st semester isn't extremely difficult but it's really hectic so you rarely have free time. time management is key. good luck to you!

S.T.A.C.E.Y, LPN · Dec 27, 2006

My first semester was incredibly disappointing. I found the expectations the profs had for the NS were pretty low. I felt like alot of the classwork was "busy work". And the lab portion was a joke. An entire lab class focused on handwashing and bedmaking, two classes on taking vitals, etc. I don't know, I guess I just expected more....for us to hit the ground running.

What will you learn: nursing care plans, anatomy & phys, basic assessments, how to provide AM care, transfers, range of motion, vitals, maybe a professionalism/ethics class, lots of emotional/caring stuff, bowel/urinary stuff,

The summer before I started my program I took an incredible EMT course that made me have some pretty high expectations for nursing school. I had such high expectations, and was incredibly disappointed. It did get better over the following semesters, and (Thank God) I'm almost done.

Scrubz · Dec 27, 2006

Every school is different in terms of how they conduct fundamentals, and all of the afore mentioned descriptions are pretty much what you're going to be dealing with in one form or another.

Nursing fundamentals usually focuses on just that - the fundamentals of nursing. In class you're dealing with nursing fundamental theory and as you can see from the above post every class is a little different. The one thing I can pretty much garuntee for you is the nursing process and learning how to do care plans. I just finished my first semester and looking back on fundamentals I can say it was a fairly easy class. Wasn't what I expected in terms of difficulty, but in terms of what I expected to learn I'm pretty satisfied.

In lab you'll focus mainly on learning skills. You usually start off easy with stuff like handwashing, bed making, doning sterile gloves, ect.. Eventually you'll learn more complicated skills like insering FCs, changing a sterile wound dressing, physical examinations, inserting an NG, passing meds, ect.. I'm sure every school does their labs different too, but they usually focus on the same ideas - learning fundamental nursing skills.

Hope that helped!