Advise on Med-Surg & Psych Classes

[medgirlRN]

I will start my second semester of nursing school in August. I will be taking med-surg and psych. nursing. Anyone have any advise on how to study for these classes? What to expect? How to handle the new type of schedule?

I bought some test success books that helped me last semester, thinking it would help me. As far as I know, we study med-surg 3 weeks, switch to psych 3 weeks, then back to med-surg and so on and so on. Anyone experience this type of schedule?

Thanks!

[DLS_PMHNP, MSN, RN, NP]

I remember having the two classes simultaneously (15 weeks). That being said, it was the toughest semester.

Just make sure you keep up with the million pages of reading you will be assigned. Also, seek out additional learning opportunities in the clinical setting. This will help you master certain concepts common in med/surg nursing. I studied every day for med/surg and kept up with the reading assignments and I did just fine. Just remember, med/surg is the 'meat and potatoes' of nursing, and very common material tested on NCLEX.

Good luck, you will do just fine :) I enjoyed psych... both classes, really. But med/surg (for me) was much more challenging.

[medgirlRN]

I remember having the two classes simultaneously (15 weeks). That being said, it was the toughest semester.

Just make sure you keep up with the million pages of reading you will be assigned. Also, seek out additional learning opportunities in the clinical setting. This will help you master certain concepts common in med/surg nursing. I studied every day for med/surg and kept up with the reading assignments and I did just fine. Just remember, med/surg is the 'meat and potatoes' of nursing, and very common material tested on NCLEX.

Good luck, you will do just fine :) I enjoyed psych... both classes, really. But med/surg (for me) was much more challenging.

Thank you so much for that! I am nervous about this semester and appreciate your advise!

[Daytonite, BSN, RN]

other than the switching back and forth the basic way of studing any medical, psych, pediatric or ob subject is always the same. use the critical thinking flow sheet for nursing students to help organize your learning about the various diseases and conditions with these subject areas. the learning of new information never lets up. the monkey wrench in all this will always be the individual patients you are assigned to in your clinicals. sometimes you get a patient that will have medical conditions that you haven't had formal lectures about yet. if you have to write care plans you are forced to learn the material about them before the lectures.