any cure for burnout before graduation?

[CeilingCat, ASN, RN]

I am in one of those less-organized, less-professional, less-sensible Nursing schools. We lose a good 10%+ students every semester. It's not that the material is impossible. It's that they don't seem to know how to teach it. Instructors read off their powerpoint all class, and if ANY questions are asked, the answer is always "read the book". Assignments change without warning, and half the time they don't post the changes on the class' online forum -- so if you somehow don't find out, you're screwed. Exams are so poorly written they have to throw out 2 questions out of 45 every time (not including a half dozen more we all contest, but they don't want to talk about). Our final grade is reduced if we don't do many hours of testing on a site called ATI, but the site does not work right and they know a dozen of us can't get on reliably, but they won't waive giving us zeros. (ATI even knows it doesn't work right with Mac's and some Windows browsers and was in to meet with us last week). This semester's instructors refuse to use the built-in microphones and they love to pace the aisles, so forget getting a recording to review later. I can do NCLEX questions and I have no problem understanding my textbook, but this semester I'm running a C- average in lecture exams (and I'm an honors student)?!

My Nursing adviser isn't a very nice lady. She's never in but won't post office hours in advance. She takes days to check emails, and sometimes don't reply to emails or phone calls. She forgets to tell me things, and then she gets snarky about it being "my responsibility" to have known to check on something I did not even know was a problem. In short, I can't get help from the department. I feel so helpless. Why are they content that 2/3rds of their carefully selected top students who enter the program will not finish?

Is there any hope for someone who has reached nursing-school burnout before graduation?

Are there any creative studying techniques when you're so sick of studying and the unnecessary stress that memorization has become impossible?

Any tips for dealing with bad stress headaches?

I have a big exam tomorrow. I've been sitting in front of my textbook all morning (all week, too). I read but I can't remember a word that I saw. All I can feel is frustration and stress headaches. Arrrugh! Someone please help before I melt down.

[Selene006, BSN, LPN]

CeilingCat, I'm so sorry that you're enduring this sort of struggle! I'm soon to graduate as well and I've come to accept that nursing school involves alot of self-teaching. I've had instructors (like you've mentioned) who read off the powerpoint and spend 30 minutes talking about what they did over the weekend. However, when I go home, I focus on what I NEED to know: testable material mentioned in the syllabus, points emphasized in the powerpoints, and topics my clinical instructors focus on.

Can you sign up for tutoring at your school? Sometimes the nursing tutors are able to better guide you in the right direction because they were in your shoes not too long ago.

But don't give up! Information that is browsed over in class that I don't understand completely is the same info that I spend hours working on when I get home. If an instructor can't explain something to me because she's too busy thinking about how she's going to spend next week's paycheck, then it's up to me to UNDERSTAND it for myself because she's already earned her degree...

When I felt stressed, I would go home and take a nap and rejuvinate myself. But as I near the end of completing the BSN curriculum, I'm experiencing migraines and increased anxiety! So now when I feel like I'm drowning in stress, I find a thoughtless activity to engage in so that I don't feel like my brain is going to explode from overload! I limit myself to sitting infront of the tv for an hour. Or I get on the treadmill and just walk off all of my complaints and miserable thoughts.

If I've been studying a particular topic and suddenly realize that I have not retained any of the info, I start doing something else--reviewing I.V. calculations, reviewing cardiac meds, reviewing side-effects--and then I eventually return to the original topic that caused me to mentally fade out in the first place.

You can get through this temporary mental fatigue! :)