No one ever said that becoming a nurse would be easy. Whether you are taking up your BSN or ADN, you will run into many challenging requirements. This includes clinical rotations, laboratory trials and a number of difficult classes. To help you prepare for the challenges ahead, we will go over the hardest prerequisite courses and tips on how to tackle them.
What is a prerequisite course?
Put simply, prerequisite courses provide you with the base for more advanced lessons, later on. Even if they are “foundational,” a number of these classes can be a struggle for the unprepared. All students are required to take at least two of the classes listed below.
The study of medication, which includes memorizing classifications, purpose, potential side effects, differentiating between commercial and generic names and more. With critical thinking and knowledge, nurses are trained to determine when to use medication, and how the patient would physically react to it.
Organic chem goes over the natural chemical processes that take place in organic beings (specifically human beings). In particular, students can expect to learn about the effect of certain nutrients and medications on the human body. Commonly includes lab work.
This class goes over anatomical systems, their functions and how certain ailments can hinder their functions. Students will also learn how these illnesses respond to their medication, and how that reaction can be influenced by pre-existing conditions.
Classes train students to analyze and interpret changes in interdisciplinary healthcare research, with the goal of setting best practices. With the healthcare world rapidly evolving, nurses must be trained to analyze these shifts and how they can translate to effective treatments. Between the numerous reading and writing requirements, this class is seen by some as especially demanding.
Covers anatomy and physiology on an advanced level. Examines the various systems of the human body, such as muscular, cardiovascular, nervous and more. Commonly includes lab work, such as dissection.
Med Surg 1 revolves around common adult health problems and disorders. Lessons are commonly a synthesis and application of concepts from other classes, such as anatomy and physiology. This makes this class uniquely challenging.
Study strategies
Taking on these courses may seem daunting, at first glance. With the right approach and some hard work, however, you are more than capable of managing the workload. To help you get started, here are some study tips that will surely make life easier for you.
Read ahead
Professors will give you a syllabus, complete with all the required material ahead of time. If you want to ace your classes, you have to take advantage of this. Go through chapters before you ahead of time and take notes while you are at it. Any clarifications or questions can be raised once you get to that topic in class.
Flashcards, flashcards, flashcards
Going through so much terminology can be exhausting, as a nursing student. Writing down words and their meanings in flashcards is an effective way to memorize medicines, bodily functions, diseases and more. It even makes studying in groups more fun, since you can use and share your flashcards with your classmates.
Since many of these words are rooted in Latin, words with similar meanings tend to have shared prefixes and suffixes. This makes grouping these flashcards significantly easier.
Go deeper than memorization
Only memorizing terms will only get you so far. When you take in a new term, be it a disease or an anatomical process, you want to understand their meaning and applications in certain contexts. For example, certain medications are not compatible with some pre-existing conditions, and you want to understand how and why this is the case.
Time management is key
This point is probably the most important. To become a nurse, you have to devote much of yourself to your studies. Trying to take it all in at once is a lost cause, however. Human minds are not made to take in that amount of knowledge in a short period of time. Instead, you want to break down your syllabus into manageable segments you can go through daily, for 2-3 hours a day. Give the information time to sink in, before you move on to the next chunk of lessons.
Be sure to set aside some time for yourself, too. It is important to work hard, but burning the candle on both ends will only lead to a premature flameout.
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