What to study or know before nursing school?

Personally, I think you should learn your dosage calculations before you get to nursing school. It is something you can learn then not worry about it during school. Look at my article under pre-nursing titled Master Your Drug calculations BEFORE you get to nursing school. There is a pdf posted in one of the comments titled Dosage Calculations which has a lot of material and practice problems. It will teach you how to do the calculations without any formulas. This way you can sit in your nursing math class and study something else!

bjwojcik said:

Personally, I think you should learn your dosage calculations before you get to nursing school. It is something you can learn then not worry about it during school. Look at my article under pre-nursing titled Master Your Drug calculations BEFORE you get to nursing school. There is a pdf posted in one of the comments titled Dosage Calculations which has a lot of material and practice problems. It will teach you how to do the calculations without any formulas. This way you can sit in your nursing math class and study something else!

Holy crap I've looked at previous threads asking the same question and it would seem dosaging is huge. Thanks will definitely check out.

I will have a lot of time this summer before I start in the fall, and a few study buddies and I are planning to do a weekly study session to just review everything from A&P one and two. Not that we didn't do well in those classes, but I've heard that they come back around again when it comes to pharmacology.

bjwojcik said:

Personally, I think you should learn your dosage calculations before you get to nursing school. It is something you can learn then not worry about it during school. Look at my article under pre-nursing titled Master Your Drug calculations BEFORE you get to nursing school. There is a pdf posted in one of the comments titled Dosage Calculations which has a lot of material and practice problems. It will teach you how to do the calculations without any formulas. This way you can sit in your nursing math class and study something else!

Can you put a hyperlink up? I cannot find your post. Please and Thank you kindly

Strong knowledge of A&P is a must IMO, especially F/E, acid/base, cardiac, and renal. People that barely got by in A&P struggle in nursing school. I think chemistry is also important personally, although it wasn't required as a pre-requisite at my school. If you aren't already, go work in a hospital as a CNA, its painfully obvious who has experience in an acute setting and who doesn't.

That is the main article. The PDF file is under the comments. I also attached the file here. Let me know if you have any questions.

Dosage Calculations PDF-B.Wojcik.pdf

bjwojcik said:

That is the main article. The PDF file is under the comments. I also attached the file here. Let me know if you have any questions.

Has anyone told you that you're a saint recently?

I love your PDF! It's been really handy for me, especially since I'm not used to imperial measurements, so it's great that you've laid it out in such a simple, and easy to understand format!

Thank you :)!

Pharmacology. Start learning you medications now ! i feel like learning medications is quite challenging.

I agree with the others and say, Pharmacology, Pathophysiology, and Drug Dosage classes will be helpful. Check out online classes from community colleges too. Start looking for tips on what to expect and what you need during school, shoes, books, etc.

I was in your shoes last fall and if I really knew what was waiting for me, I would have just slept more and enjoyed myself. I now regret spending my summer "studying" things that didn't really make sense together and in the end aren't much of a factor now. My advice: work, relax, stash some cash (you will need it); eliminate a lot of life stress; clear your schedule and once the program start, dedicate yourself. Everything will eventually work out. Once in the program read your books a lot and practice your skills in the lab and you should be fine. If anything, you should just learn about critical thinking. Not saying go take a bunch of nursing critical thinking questions but just learn about how to be a good critical thinker. GL.

nursinglove30 said:

I was in your shoes last fall and if I really knew what was waiting for me, I would have just slept more and enjoyed myself. I now regret spending my summer "studying" things that didn't really make sense together and in the end aren't much of a factor now. My advice: work, relax, stash some cash (you will need it); eliminate a lot of life stress; clear your schedule and once the program start, dedicate yourself. Everything will eventually work out. Once in the program read your books a lot and practice your skills in the lab and you should be fine. If anything, you should just learn about critical thinking. Not saying go take a bunch of nursing critical thinking questions but just learn about how to be a good critical thinker. GL.

I am so happy to read this. I start my nursing program in August and have been doing all my pre-reqs as mini-semesters. It's been intense and I'm taking Microbiology and then Pharmacology (independently) in 6-wk summer courses. I haven't been too focused on trying to "jump ahead" so to speak because I've been in go-mode just on my current courses. I scheduled a 10 day trip between classes to the beach town I used to live in where I'll stay with friends, but just enjoy some freedom from school. I know it will be my last bit of relaxation until Christmas Break!

I second (third? fourth?) Brad's comment about drug calculations! I used his fabulous and thorough information along with a bunch of other resources and practiced a dosage problem nearly every day during the year prior to NS. I know that sounds crazy, but my confidence about math is not great! I have friends who ask ME for help now with math and I passed my Level 1 drug calc. test on the first try without any trouble.