Was RN school easy for you?

[EV1518]

PLEASE DON'T ANSWER IF IT WAS HARD FOR YOU.

I keep hearing about how hard nursing school is. Well, I know that, or everyone would go and pass! I need to hear some positive stories! Have you heard of Hypnobirthing? One suggestion is to block out the negative stories that people always offer up so that that doesn't become YOUR reality. Please share with me what you enjoyed about nursing school and HOW you made it easy for YOU!

Thanks in advance!

[ArmyRntoMD, BSN, RN]

9 minutes ago, Laci_love said:

I know what you mean, I just had my final and I passed, but the pressure. Have to pass a dosage calculation test in the beginning and then you got to make sure your overall test and quiz scores in your theory class is 80 and above it’s a lot

I never understood why people stress over dosage calculation. It’s such basic math.

[Laci_love, ADN]

I am good at math, my classmates a few of them had to retake the the test again. They give you 2 chances. I always passed on my first try

[ArmyRntoMD, BSN, RN]

We had to make an 80% 1st semester, 90% second and a 100% last semester. But it isn’t even algebra level. I miss that stuff ?

[Megarline, CNA]

6 minutes ago, ArmyRntoMD said:

I never understood why people stress over dosage calculation. It’s such basic math.

That is difficult for some. I can do math beyond the college algebra, but I've never been good at mental calculation after two digits.

1 minute ago, ArmyRntoMD said:

We had to make an 80% 1st year, 90% second year and a 100% last year. But it isn’t even algebra level. I miss that stuff ?

I did those but can't mentally calculate after two digits. It prepared me for the dosage calculation. ???

[ArmyRntoMD, BSN, RN]

5 minutes ago, Megarline said:

That is difficult for some. I can do math beyond the college algebra, but I've never been good at mental calculation after two digits. What do you theiq.

I did those but can't mentally calculate after two digits. ???

I dunno why it posted the pics twice but why did y’all have to do it mentally? I had pen and paper for all dosage calc quizzes. It was almost all basic common sense dimensional analysis. Even critical care dosage formulas.

[Megarline, CNA]

8 minutes ago, ArmyRntoMD said:

I dunno why it posted the pics twice but why did y’all have to do it mentally? I had pen and paper for all dosage calc quizzes

It was from a strange colleague who failed the dosage calculation exam. 100% was the passing score. I can infer that she mentally calculated hers because she was done too fast.

[ArmyRntoMD, BSN, RN]

But as far as I know, no school will make you mentally calculate complex dosages in your head, that makes zero sense. I mean anyone with half a brain can do like “morphine comes 2mg in a 1 mL vial. How many mLs do you give if the doctor orders 1 mg”?

However, I SERIOUSLY doubt they will have people calculating gtts and critical care dosages in their head without aid of pen or paper.

[Megarline, CNA]

14 minutes ago, ArmyRntoMD said:

But as far as I know, no school will make you mentally calculate complex dosages in your head, that makes zero sense. I mean anyone with half a brain can do like “morphine comes 2mg in a 1 mL vial. How many mLs do you give if the doctor orders 1 mg”?

However, I SERIOUSLY doubt they will have people calculating gtts and critical care dosages in their head without aid of pen or paper.

The class started with the basic math. I used the calculator, pen, and paper for it. She commented to me that I didn't need calculator for it. I replied, "I can't do mental calculation." She was snarky about it: "How are you going to pass the hardest ones?" I replied, "We'll see." The joke was on her. Failed twice. I passed at one try. I passed all the pretests, too, at 100%. Maybe I exhibit a behavior of a person who is not bright.

[carti, BSN, RN]

Apparently at my school, if you took the test a second time and "failed", the professor wouldn't let you "officially" turn it in and tell you to go back to your seat and do it again until you passed it. I don't think anyone ever "flunked" out of nursing school for not passing a dosage exam, I think it was just to scare us.

[ArmyRntoMD, BSN, RN]

You could at my school. People failed it and had to redo the semester. But it was so easy that there was no excuse to fail it. It wasn’t even algebra. If you can’t do simple math I’m not sure you should take care of patients.

[xokw, BSN, RN]

It was busy, it was sometimes stressful, but it wasn’t hard. I enjoyed it, I soared through getting great marks with half the effort of most of my peers. I also had a baby between my third and fourth year, took a couple semesters off and returned when he was 7 months old.

[TheDudeWithTheBigDog, ADN, RN]

On 12/10/2019 at 9:59 PM, ArmyRntoMD said:

I never understood why people stress over dosage calculation. It’s such basic math.

I never understood why an entire textbook exists for dosage calculation. It seems like all of it can be simplified with a conversion chart, and the different formulas to find the dose, and let you pick the way you like best.

And I get that when it gets into working with IV rates at any modern facility where the order spells it all out for you, being the 3rd person to check it does make it that much safer, but there is way too much stress put onto this, like you're going to be finding dosage errors every day that the doctor, pharmacist, and the nurse on every shift before all you managed to miss.