Will I use my prerequisite courses in nursing school?

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Hello everyone!

I am currently enrolled in pathophysiology and intro to professional nursing, but I start my first full semester of nursing courses this August (can't wait!). I was just wondering if I will be relying heavily on what I have learned in my prerequisite courses such as anatomy, physiology, pathophysiology, microbiology, ect. I learned a lot from all of those courses, but should I be reviewing content before I start the more intense courses in August? Example: in patho the majority of assignments assume that you already know information from anatomy and physiology even if it has been months or even a year or two since you've had those courses. Does nursing school refer to a lot of previous prerequisite information, or does it kind of go down its own new path? Any insite is appreciated! Thank you in advance.

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In a word, yes. All your prereq classes are important to your further nursing education, especially those you listed, as you must understand the anatomy and physiology to understand the pathophysiology, which you must understand to identify the rationales for treatment. For example, understanding how the heart, circulatory, and respiratory systems work is key to understanding the pathophysiology of congestive heart failure, which you in turn must understand to know how to assess a patient with CHF. To take it a step further, understanding this will give you insight into why a particular CHF patient is being treated with certain drugs, and to know when a prescribed drug is inappropriate to use so that you can question the prescribing physician. It's all integrated, and it's all important.

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

Simple answer.....yes.

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Hello everyone!

I am currently enrolled in pathophysiology and intro to professional nursing, but I start my first full semester of nursing courses this August (can't wait!). I was just wondering if I will be relying heavily on what I have learned in my prerequisite courses such as anatomy, physiology, pathophysiology, microbiology, ect. I learned a lot from all of those courses, but should I be reviewing content before I start the more intense courses in August? Example: in patho the majority of assignments assume that you already know information from anatomy and physiology even if it has been months or even a year or two since you've had those courses. Does nursing school refer to a lot of previous prerequisite information, or does it kind of go down its own new path? Any insite is appreciated! Thank you in advance.

Your education up until now, if typical, likely included a lot of courses that once passed were done and gone. Not so in nursing. From now on you will be held responsible for not just having passed your prerequisites in science and coursework other areas but to have a good working knowledge of them, because you will be expected to apply it all as your nursing knowledge expands. And not just for school, either-- you'll be responsible for knowing it as a registered nurse.

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There prerequisites (things that are required as a prior condition for something else to happen or exist). I am reviewing A&P for sure!

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Specializes in NICU.

Unless your nursing school is going to teach you how to take care of aliens (as in E.T.) then yes you will use your HUMAN anatomy and physiology knowledge in nursing school. Nursing school is entirely about the body's systems and their reaction to disease and medicines.

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Most of your previous classes will help you. Micro will help a little bit but not as much as anatomy. You'll use patho a lot. Some of the adult med-surg books have a mini refresher about the human anatomy in the beginning of the chapters. The more you know, the better it will be. However, I don't remember everything there is about the CNS or all the bones.

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A&P, micro, biology, math courses, stats. I have used knowledge from each class during nursing school. I may have thought some of it was waste of time as I was taking the courses, but now I know that it was time well spent! You will be surprised how much you will remember.

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Specializes in Hospice.

I didn't take micro or stats as pre reqs, so that makes me nervous. I better do some A & P review too. Thanks for the posts!

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Specializes in Prior military RN/current ICU RN..

You use everything. You can learn good study habits from a basket weaving class. You can learn discipline from any class. You can learn patience from a dog. You will use the fact that your worked to get your degree and someone didn't just hand it to you.

You want the big time? You work for it. Forget whether you will "use" it. You won't "use" a lot of nursing school crap. It is all about whether you are willing to take the pain. You are given a task. You accomplish the task. Or you do not. Listen to Yoda. Do or do not. I got my BSN in '06 and I remember very little from the classes. What I do know is I worked my rear off to get it and that work ethic is VITAL when you are on a unit.

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Don1984 You mean I won't be working with aliens? Bummer. Obviously I know I will use anatomy, physiology, patho, etc. I was wondering to what extent I will be expected to carry on that knowledge. I understand the major concepts, but I don't know it to the T like I did in previous semesters.

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Thank you for the information everyone. I'll start brushing up a bit.

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