What Coursework Can I Expect When Preparing to Become a Registered Nurse?

You must complete specific coursework to become a registered nurse. If you have always been passionate about helping people and you would like to work in healthcare, nursing may be the perfect position to pursue. To become a registered nurse, you must complete a formal degree program to earn your bachelor’s degree or in some cases a nursing degree. While there are many different paths that you can take to become registered, much of the coursework that you complete is similar no matter what path you take. Read on, and learn about some of the core courses that you must complete to eventually test to be an RN.

Introduction to Nursing

Before a student will take any in depth courses, they will take a Nursing 101 course that will teach students how to perform assessments. These introductory courses may also cover anatomy and provide you an overview with patient care techniques that are used in acute care settings.

Courses in Mental Health

Registered nurses must know how to care for patients who suffer from mental disorders. While in school, you will take a course in Mental Health Nursing so that you can learn about diagnosis methods, how to develop psychotherapeutic treatment plans and how to care for these patients in a variety of different settings. The course will describe the role of the RN in each setting depending on where you work.

Courses on Promoting Wellness

As a nursing professional who works in a clinical setting, you will do more than just treat patients for their medical conditions. It is also your job to promote wellness by educating your patients and teaching them how to prevent illness with better habits and a more nutritional diet. The course will teach you about health promotion in several different age groups and populations.

Pharmacology Coursework

You may not be a pharmacist, but you must become familiar with different medications and how these medications work to treat or prevent illness. You will specifically learn about the classification of a drug through the Food and Drug Administration, how the drug can be used to treat conditions, and various methods of administering the drug based on the patient’s condition.

Medical Surgical Nursing

Some conditions and injuries must be treated with surgery. In this course, you will learn when surgery is the appropriate treatment for conditions that affect the function of major systems. You will learn about the treatment of the condition and then how to care for patients while they are in surgery and while they are in a post-operative state.

The list of courses that you are required to take before you can sit for the nursing exam in your state is long. Some of the common courses that you must take include: adult health, family health, human development, physiology, community health, leadership in nursing, nursing research and ethics in nursing. It is very important to take your coursework at an institution with a programmatic accreditation through the American Association of Colleges of Nursing so that the coursework is recognized and accepted. Once you find an accredited program, discuss the route that you would like to take with a counselor so that you can complete the coursework to become a registered nurse in the shortest time frame. Then, you may consider furthering your education by pursing an RN to BSN nursing degree program.