What Is Nursing School Like, and What Should You Expect?

Are you considering Xavier University’s Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing program? You might want to see what to expect in a nursing program if you’re pursuing an accelerated nursing program.

So, what is the nursing program like? It’s a challenge, but that’s one benefit of choosing Xavier. Our instructors are known for going above and beyond to support the success of our students. You’ll also have access to your Academic Success Coach as often as needed. Before enrolling, check out the following information to learn what to expect in nursing school.

Understanding the Structure of Nursing School

No matter which nursing school you attend, each program will feature a rigorous curriculum that blends instructional coursework with hands-on experiential learning. This is why no nursing program can be completed 100% online. In-person learning is essential for developing the nursing skills needed to provide patient care and make clinical judgments.

Throughout your education, you’ll take classes that teach nursing theory, complete nursing skills and simulation labs and complete clinical rotations at nearby healthcare facilities. Continue reading to learn more about the structure of nursing school.

How Does Nursing School Work?

Parts of nursing school will be much like any other college degree program. You’ll work through the curriculum and be expected to learn many concepts and then apply them . To fully process the material, it’s essential to learn the material in a way that enables you to apply what you’ve learned to a patient case study or another real-life example.

Other parts of nursing school aren’t like other college majors. You must be able to commute to our ABSN Learning Center for scheduled exams, as well as skills and simulation labs, where you should arrive dressed in scrubs with all your nursing tools. In addition to labs, you’ll work clinical rotation shifts at a local healthcare facility, where you’ll learn to provide direct patient care in various specialties and care styles.

How Long Does Nursing School Take?

Every student is a little different, and so is every nursing program. A Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree traditionally takes four years of full-time study. How does nursing school work at Xavier? Here, we’ve designed our accelerated BSN to leverage your past college education, allowing students to graduate in as few as 16 months.

Although, this timeline doesn’t account for any nursing prerequisites you might need to take before enrollment. You can talk to your admissions adviser to determine your incomplete prerequisites.

The Challenges of Nursing School

What is nursing school like in terms of its challenges? There is no question that it’s rigorous. Our staff recommend treating it like a full-time job. Between coursework, labs and clinicals, you might find the curriculum to be time-consuming. It takes a certain level of dedication to succeed in nursing school, but our faculty is an excellent resource to ensure you’re prepared for every curriculum component.

What Do You Learn in Nursing School?

Nursing care requires a great deal of knowledge in order to provide the best possible care for their patients. You’ll learn everything from medical terminology and diseases processes and appropriate interventions to pharmacology (how drugs affect the body and how to use them properly).

At Xavier, you’ll take courses in topics such as:

• Women’s health
• Adult health
• Mental health
• Pediatrics
• Community health
• Nursing research

Nursing can be an excellent field for individuals who love learning and consider themselves lifelong learners. The learning process certainly doesn’t end after graduation. Throughout your nursing career, you’ll need to continue to develop your knowledge and skills and stay on top of the latest nursing research.

Develop Self-Discipline to Master Online Nursing Coursework

Many people think learning online is easier or lesser quality than learning in the classroom, but this isn’t the case. ABSN graduates meet the same terminal program objectives as students in a traditional four-year program. This course delivery option involves a significant amount of independent study, requiring good self-discipline and time management skills to succeed.

While instructor, assignments and exam deadlines still apply, online learning allows you to attend class anytime. Delivered through a learning management system, each of our online nursing courses features modules enabling you to absorb course materials.

Prepare for Online Learning: Create a Study Group

Online courses shouldn’t feel overwhelming, but if they do, consider creating an online study group or scheduling dedicated study time to review the concepts and study guides. Even though you’re learning online, having a support system is crucial. Connect with your classmates via discussion boards, chat rooms and email to share study tips and lean on one another. You can also meet your peers at the ABSN Learning Center for study time.

Take ABSN Prerequisites Through Xavier

If you’re unfamiliar with online learning, it might be a good idea to complete your ABSN prerequisite courses online through Xavier and get acquainted with the course delivery system. While some ABSN programs require as many as 15 prerequisites, we only have four: anatomy and physiology I and II, microbiology, and statistics.

Develop Strong Nursing Skills in Labs

At Xavier, our state-of-the-art nursing skills lab features hospital equipment, medical supplies, clinical task trainers and full-body manikins. Skills labs provide a safe, contextual learning environment for developing basic nursing skills, such as head-to-toe assessments, nasogastric tube insertion and wound care — the skills that every nurse must have, no matter the area of practice.

What Do You Do in Nursing School Simulation Labs?

With the help of a computerized medical simulator or an augmented virtual reality experience, our nursing simulation lab takes your nursing competency to the next level. Getting you as close as possible to real-life clinical situations, these labs help develop your clinical judgment and problem-solving skills, preparing you to think on your feet and act on evidence while working in the profession.

Learn From Your Mistakes

We record your simulation experiences so you and the faculty can debrief on your clinical performance. Education is about turning mistakes into learning opportunities and debriefs during simulations, or clinical rotations are critical to nursing education.

Experience Lifelike Patient Care

Our simulation manikin lets you actively engage in patient assessment and treatment without the fear of putting an individual’s safety at risk. Under faculty control, the simulator can ask questions and replicate bodily responses to procedures such as intubation and catheterization.

Another benefit of our simulation exercises is that they allow you to be placed in patient care situations that you might not be exposed to during clinicals.

Gain Practical Experience in Clinicals

Unlike many nursing programs, we start you on your clinical practicum (a.k.a. clinical rotations) during the first semester. Like nursing labs, clinical practicums start simple, but we gradually place you in more complex patient care units within hospitals, rehabilitation centers and long term care facilities.

Learn About Ohio Hospitals

While we can’t guarantee where your clinical practicums will occur, many of our students gain hands-on experience in top healthcare facilities, such as the Cleveland Clinic, Ohio Health Mercy Health, TriHealth, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.

Supplement Your Clinical Learning

During your first clinical rotations, you perform the skills your learned in the nursing laboratory which includes providing personal care, performing treatments, taking vitals and completing head-to-toe assessments. From there, you progress into more complex nursing skills, starting intravenous lines, and administering medications. By the fourth semester students provide total care for their assigned patients.

Xavier nurses are unique because they are taught to be empowered at the bedside to provide the best possible patient care.

Additional Tips for Success for Nursing Students

You’ll be given everything you need to be successful at Xavier, but you’ll need to be prepared to put in long hours of hard work. The following tips can help you excel as a nursing student:

Develop Effective Study Habits

If it’s been a while since you were in school, refresh your study habits. If you have time before your enrollment date, check out some free online math, biology or chemistry tutorials.

You might also consider trying new study techniques. If you previously studied by rereading material and highlighting important parts, you could try active study techniques instead. For example, instead of just reading the material, pause to write down questions as they occur and consider ways of relating the material to real-life scenarios.

Build Relationships With Peers and Instructors

Nursing education doesn’t happen in a vacuum. At Xavier, you’ll be surrounded by peers facing the same challenges. Connect with your peers to build a network of emotional or academic support.

In addition, it’s essential to let your instructors know when you’re struggling with a particular concept or skill. At Xavier, our instructors put in the extra effort to help our students master the material.

Manage Your Time and Workload

You’ll need to fit a lot of responsibilities into each day, so it’s critical to manage your time wisely. Focus on maximizing your time, especially avoiding distractions during study time. Create a schedule heading into each week that allows time for classes, labs, clinicals, study time, and NCLEX prep.

Prepare for Your Future in Nursing at Xavier

Xavier University is known for graduating highly competent and compassionate practice-ready nurses. Thanks to the relationships they build during their clinical experiences, local healthcare facilities frequently seek out our students for employment post-graduation.

If you’re ready to leverage your past college education to earn your nursing degree in as few as 16 months, then Xavier is here to make your future in nursing possible. One of our dedicated admissions advisers will walk you through the application process step-by-step and create a personalized enrollment plan for you. As we’re the only ABSN program in Ohio to offer three enrollment locations and three start dates each year, you can get started far sooner than you’d think.

Contact our admissions team today and learn about the following steps to take.