I need help!!!

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Hello everyone,

I just would like to give you a shortcut about my story, before I started nursing school my GPA was 4.0, last semester I get accepted in nursing program and I took fundamental of nursing beside two nursing classes which is pharmacology and nursing concepts. I had to drop fundamentals after failing the first two exams and I postponed my fundamentals to this coming fall. I got B's in both pharmacology and the concepts class this spring but I am still terrified about fundamental class because when I started it I found it very easy but when the exams came it was totally confusing exams and I didn't even know what to answer. I have a bachelor degree in Engineering but nursing is my dream and I really don't want to fail it. I really don't know how to adjust for these kind of critical thinking questions but I am already practicing hard because failing is not an option now or even dropping this fall. I am taking fundamentals with pathophysiology class and I am already terrified not to pass I am an older student and work full time as Cna and English is not my first language I really need your advices guys,,, please provide me with any tips in how to do well in nursing classes.

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Hopefully, you did not just drop the class, without requesting assistance to pass.Your school should be made aware of your problem and assist you with your difficulty in Fundamentals.

Do you feel you have a language barrier? That is another reason to request guidance.

Please reach out to professors, counselors, tutors.. that are available to you.

Good luck, keep us posted.

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Hi, I really don't think so that I have a language barrier because I passed all the prerequisites with straight A's including Anatomy 1 and 2, and microbiology. I never had problem in passing pharmacology and I was in the top of my classes.

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Hi, I really don't think that I have a language barrier because I passed all the prerequisites with straight A's including Anatomy 1 and 2, and microbiology. I never had problem in passing pharmacology and I was in the top of my classes.

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Specializes in Hospital Education Coordinator.

Ask the school for a tutor or a contact with someone who speaks your first language who also knows either nursing or testing. A good educator can help you learn how to answer test questions. I would try again as there are many nurses in my hospital who did not speak English before they came to this country.

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Specializes in ICU.

Honestly, an engineers lines of work and education is very black and white and technical. ( I know many ). As you can see you are passing the very science -minded courses where the answers are either right or wrong.

your key is to switching to using your analytical mind. You need to learn to read between the lines and use out of the box thinking and see the gray area.

honestly, how to do this, I do not know . It comes naturally to me. But I would definitely consult an advisor at the school.

Are you able to place yourself in others shoes and situations ? I think being able to that helps a lot.

best of luck

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Hi and thanks for your replay,

Actually I agree with you engineering is totally different, about the nursing test questions I was totally confused but I kept pharmacology and concepts and at the end of these classes I was able to pull very high grades but it took me a while to get used to it, about fundamentals when I think about the test questions I feel that I should answer them all because I gain more confidence and I believe I am able to do great on it, but I am still stressed about it...

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Hi there-

Hope you are finding it a bit easier. It sounds like most of your difficulty is with test taking, probably multiple choice questions.

The thing to know is that in nursing tests, often the right choice is not what makes sense- you have to respond with a particular protocol, step by step, and not just jump to the solution, even if it is obvious. This is why the Fundamentals tests were so frustrating!

For tests:

Generally, look for the ABCs first- (Airway, breathing, circulation) if there is something there, stop, that is the choice.

Second think Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Work your way up, step by step. if there is something there, stop, that is the choice.

For prioritizing questions (where you have to order things) read all the choices first.

Questions that involve strategic words (best, initial, most likely) may have choices that are all correct, so look at the order.

Also, usually if there is a "caring/empathy" type answer or a proceedure answer, and the patient is not in distress, they want you to pick the caring/communicating/empathy answer.

The other thing I would say is don't be afraid to aggressively seek out resources (books, youtube videos, etc). The books our school required for some class were atrocious, and if I had depended on them, everything would have been clear as mud. But luckily there are thousands of nursing school videos on the internet. Some really great community colleges have excellent fundy skills videos. Also, use apps and podcasts.

How to study for fundamentals (youtube)

The other thing is that everyone is going to struggle with something in nursing school: an advisor, a clinical, or a class. But do not let this get you down. Your language and engineering skills will make you a wonderful asset to nursing- you can do this. Nursing school is in many ways a process of soldiering through. Eat, sleep, get it done, and get out and be awesome.

You can do this.

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Thank you for this wonderful replay and wonderful encouragement I feel inside me that I am smart enough to adopt nursing questions. And by the process of analyzing the question it make me feel more comfortable. Thank you again

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