Nursing is increasingly becoming a popular course among many students with a view of working in the extremely diverse medical field. This can be attributed to among other things the ever rising number of patients who are in need of serious medical care. In addition, many nursing schools are being established every year across the world. These provide state of the art facilities that attract students to the advancing medial world. Basically, nursing is concerned with the provision of patient care in hospitals, clinics and many other health facilities. However, completing the nursing course has a good number of requirements one ought to meet.
The Prerequisites
Like any other courses, there are many prerequisites that you must fulfill before being granted the paperwork for your nursing course. In general, these courses usually last for between two to four years. With the large number of schools available, prerequisites for nursing usually vary from one nursing school to another. However, there are a number of prerequisites that demonstrate resilience across a big percentage of the schools. On average, here are the requirements for you to be considered a nursing candidate:
- 6-8 credits in Physiology and Anatomy
- 4 credits in Chemistry courses
- 4 credits in Microbiology
- 3 credits in Sociology
- 3 credits in Statistics
- 3 credits in Nutrition
The number of credits and range of grade points also vary slightly across nursing schools. A number of these courses could also be substituted for alternative courses depending on the college. For instance, classes like Mathematics, Economics and Psychology can substitute for Statistics. In addition, some schools will allow you to transfer credits from previous courses, especially if they were taken in an accredited school. An associate degree in nursing can exempt nursing students from quite a number of units in more advanced courses such as the Bachelor of Science in Nursing.
Caution
The best way to be absolutely sure of your nursing prerequisites is to seek counsel of the school’s course guidance counselors. Different colleges have different rules so making assumptions can be detrimental to your nursing prospects. From their experience you will be guided through what is required of you and what credits you have can be transferred. This will help you plan better for your courses and steer you in the right direction. You don’t want to reset first year courses in your final year. However, with online nursing classes being offered, you can meet your prerequisites much faster.