The Most Important Nursing Classes

The Most Important Nursing Classes to Take

The exact classroom or online courses that you take will depend on the level of your degree and sometimes on your specialization. Undergraduate programs usually teach students about general science and practices. At the masters level, classes on theory and clinical practice becomes more specialized as these programs prepare you for careers in advanced practice. And at the PhD level, courses focus on research methods and strategies while DNP courses concentrate on translating nursing research into clinical practice on a large scale.At every level of education, the general emphasis of your classes will focus on the knowledge and skills that you will need for a career at that specific level. Here are some examples of classes at each level:

Nursing diploma course: practical nursing

You will probably earn your nursing diploma through on-site classes and clinical training labs instead of top online courses. Your diploma will focus on practical courses that emphasize the ethical, legal and technical responsibilities of RNs in real clinical settings. In classes like this 1, you will learn basic strategies to improve your patient communication skills and clinical practices.

Associates degree course: physical assessment

These common courses introduce students to the body’s major anatomical systems with an emphasis on the changes that they undergo as a person ages. These classes are also available as accredited classes online for students and provide you with basic skills that you will need to assess a patient’s physical and mental health.

Bachelors degree course: clinical practice

These clinical practicums teach you how to use basic theoretical concepts in nursing and medical research when you create care plans for your patients. Through your work in real healthcare centers, you will develop critical evaluation skills and leadership qualities that help you provide competent, quality care. Whether you are an undergraduate in an ADN to BSN online or traditional BSN program, these courses will teach you how to put your theoretical and medical knowledge into practice.

Masters degree course: advanced pathophysiology

These courses will teach you to understand and approach diseases as imbalances in the healthy order of the body. Registered nurses with a bachelors like a traditional BSN or an LPN to BSN online will learn how and why specific symptoms appear for diseases so that they can provide effective care to their patients. Masters programs usually offer these as traditional or online classes for students who are enrolled in hybrid or distance-learning programs.

Nursing certificate course: fundamentals of forensic nursing

The content of graduate certificate courses will be different from one specialty field to the next. For example, this course gives students an overview of forensic nursing as a new specialty and explores situations where practice can overlap with the legal system. You will also learn techniques for collecting and preserving evidence as well as how to make proper written and photographic documentations that can be used in a courtroom.

PhD course: research and statistics

These common PhD courses demonstrate the importance of creating new, relevant research. Students in these courses learn about statistical methods, various research models and how to work with experimental data. As a PhD student, these classes will help you develop the skills you need to investigate public health issues and offer recommendations for the improvement of healthcare practices and strategies.

DNP course: population focused care

This course teaches DNP students strategies for disease prevention and health promotion at the community and population level. In this class, you will use clinical experience and cutting-edge research to evaluate public health programs and create real-life strategies to improve them.

Internships and Practicums

Students at almost every educational level must complete some kind of practical clinical training that cannot be covered on traditional campuses or online classes. However, like nursing courses, the type of practical training that you receive will differ from degree to degree.

Nursing diplomas and associates degrees

Both nursing diploma and associates degree students can apply to a number of externship programs and gain additional clinical experience outside of school. These programs are offered by hospitals and clinics, and they allow students to assist registered nurses and physicians in real clinical environments.Nursing diploma and associates degree programs typically require you to have 400 to 700 hours of clinical practice before you graduate. Since you will most likely complete these training hours in a hospital, your exact practicum requirements may depend on how well the staff and preceptors at your clinical location can balance the supervision of students with treating patients.

Bachelors degree

Bachelors students enrolled in traditional or accredited online classes will be required to fulfill internship and practicum requirements that translate theoretical nursing knowledge into clinical practice. These internships usually require you to spend 15 to 20 hours a week working under the supervision of registered nurses in a hospital or clinic.Clinical practice requirements at the bachelors level can vary between 500 and 700 hours since some colleges structure their undergraduate degrees to meet minimum state licensure requirements while other schools place heavier emphasis on a robust clinical resume.

Masters degree

Clinical practice requirements at the masters level are much more independent and specialized than undergraduate programs. Through these internships and clinical practice hours, you will learn the specific details about ethical, legal and technical requirements in your chosen specialty field. Most masters programs require you to complete between 500 and 700 hours of clinical practice in addition to what you earned for your undergraduate degree.

Nursing certificate

Since nursing certificates are for working RNs and APRNs, they do not usually require you to complete a specific practicum or internship. However, these specialized certificates almost always require you to collect hundreds or even thousands of hours of real clinical work experience before you are eligible to take the exam and earn your certificate.For most nurses, this usually means that they must work several years in their specialization before they can apply for a certificate. The organizations that offer these advanced certificates recognize that not even prestigious university degrees or online classes can prepare nurses for their specialty field as well as a few years of hands-on work experience can.

PhD

PhD practicums and internships are more research-based than DNP or APN programs. As a PhD student, you will have to take practicums that teach you how to draft your own research proposals and develop strategies for building research teams. These programs typically require students to complete 3 to 4 practicum courses during the first 2 or 3 years of their degree. Additionally, PhD students who want to become nurse educators can also apply for positions where they assist professors and shadow them while they teach nursing courses.

DNP

DNP internships and practicums focus on using new research to enhance current nursing practices. As a DNP student, you can enroll in practicums where you develop new treatment plans, train new personnel or analyze the advantages and disadvantages of existing healthcare systems.