Will I be able to cut it in nursing school?

GilaRRT · Jul 17, 2008

A good question for a NP.

I see it like this: I had around 1000 hours of practicum in nursing school. I feel it was a pretty good program with very high standards. I was barely able to keep my head above water the first year or so of my nursing career. Now, add the additional responsibility of ordering diagnostics, diagnosing conditions, and making advanced independent decisions on patient care, and I would tend to say such a program could set you up to fail. APN's are RN's first, and I suspect a good NP is a good RN. I am not sure that 500 hourse is enough to make you both a good RN and NP without prior nursing education.

Laura77598 · Jul 17, 2008

Hi,

and WELCOME to ALLNURSES!!!!

I know how you feel about the math anxiety, and believe me DON'T LET THAT STOP YOU! The math is really VERY learnable, and it's really basic math mor like solving for X kind of math. Not even comlicated algebra, and you CAN learn it. BELIEVE ME, if I (The math IDIOT of my home) can learn and MAKE AN A in Dosage Calculations, HONEY,ANYBODY CAN CO IT! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

My goodness what did you say you had a degree in , and wasn't it a MASTERS???? Oh no!! If you can do the math required for the GRE you can DO this!!!! There are HUNDREDS of websites on Dosage Calculations here on this site!!! AND there are PEEPS here (Peope who will help you with your math problems. ALlnurses has given me MUCH help with my math, and (Like I said earlier) I am NOT a math person!!!!!!!!!! But If I(the math IDIOT) can get an A in Dosage Calculations with the much appreciated help of the wonderful people here at ALLNURSES, BELIEVE ME ANYONE CAN DO IT !!!!!

(Thank you all of the wonderful Nurses who helped me)

Please Give us a Chance!!!!!!! with your credentials, You won't be sorry!! The wonderful folks here at Allnurses will steer you to the right sights, give you the right help, and show how to set up an equation!!!!! You CAN DO THIS!

BIG HUGS:yeah:

Welcome and

See ya around

Laura:coollook: :nurse:

ilstu99 · Jul 17, 2008

I am 40 years old with three young kids (2, 6, 7). I have been a medical writer for the past decade or so, and worked in other writing jobs before that. I have worked with NPs in the past, and I have always dreamed of being one. I was interested in health behaviors, too, so when I left the workforce to have kids I got an MPH.
Four years later, I am interested in becoming a nurse. I never let myself think about it before because I was always bad in math. And, I haven't had a science class since 1984. I am going to apply to the MGH BSN program or direct entry MSN program. My question is twofold:
1. Can someone who is lousy at math (although I did make it through biostatistics with a B in public health school) make it in nursing school? How much is really math-related?
2. Can someone with no nursing experience at all be a good NP? (I noticed that the MGH direct to MSN program has 500 hour of clinical practicum.)
Thanks so much!!
Christine

Nursing is also my second career. In my former life, I specialized in medical neglect child abuse. I worked with a lot of nurses, and LOVED that aspect of care. So a hundred (or so) years later....here I am.

This is what I discovered: Nursing is a COMPLETELY different world. The terminology, the WAY you think about things, the way you approach situations, the way you process the information, and how you plan to address all of those things...and so on.

I think it would be very difficult to become an NP without the background, and the restructuring of the way your brain handles information. I hope that made sense! I certainly think it's possible, but I think it would be very hard for everything to make sense.

As for the math...

I thought I was horrible at it, too....but it turns out that I was expecting it to be very hard, and it's really not. The math stuff you have to learn is pretty cut and dry.