Nursing School Survival Kit

[Brian]

Now that you have been accepted into nursing school, you need to set yourself up for success by arming yourself with the following tools. While they do not guarantee straight A's, they will help you to meet the challenges in a more organized manner, and see you through to graduation.

Planner

Time management is the key to surviving nursing school. Make sure you are equipped with a top of the line planner! Carry your planner with you at all times and make sure you update it. It might seem like a hassle at first, but in the end it will be a huge lifesaver!

Binder

Nursing school will require you to take a lot of notes. To help keep your notes organized, get a binder with multiple pockets. This will allow you to organize your notes by class.

Note Cards

Taking notes in your notebook is a given, but transferring those notes into flash cards is a must! Stock up on note cards ahead of time so you are not searching for them days before your big exam.

Highlighters

When it comes to studying for your big nursing exams, your highlighter is going to be your best friend. We recommend you get highlighters in a variety of colors so you can color code your notes.

Pens

While this is an obvious, it is vital to have an excess amount of pens. Once you run out of pens, you will understand why we are stressing their importance!

Coffee

For those late night study sessions and early morning classes, coffee will be your miracle drink! If you are not a coffee drinker, any caffeinated beverage will work. But remember, don't overdo it. You don't want to turn a quick "wake me up" into a habit.

Rolling Backpack

Nursing books are notorious for being very cumbersome. Even if you are only carrying two nursing books around all day, you will get a backache. Rolling backpacks aren't fashionable, but neither is sporting an enormous backpack, while wobbling to class from class. At least with a rolling backpack, you won't be sacrificing your back!

Tablet or Smartphone

If you can afford one of these smart devices, you will find that they will come in handy for all aspects of nursing school. Be sure to check what your professor's policy is. You do not want to have your device confiscated!

Moisturizer/Bubble Bath/Hot Shower

Whether your body is aching because you decided against a rolling backpack or you have just had a stressful day, using moisturizers or treating yourself to a bubble bath or extended hot shower are great ways to de-stress. Remember, it is important to de-stress, even if you don't think you have the time.

Dedication and Passion

This is the most important part of your "nursing school survival kit". Nursing school is a lot of work. But if you are dedicated and have a passion for nursing, your nursing school experience will be a good one!

Did we miss anything? Let us know by commenting below!

[jetergirl20]

I am applying for the fall semester! All of the books are offered electronically! I am excited about not having to drag all of those heavy books everywhere! I have an Ipad mini and plan on using it during school. I have not decided whether I will take notes with it or just take them the old fashioned way. Anyone have any suggestions?

[HappyWife77, BSN, RN]

I would add Tabers medical dictionary.

[amygarside]

All are nothing without the Dedication and Passion.

[Baubo516, RN]

I recommend taking notes on paper, by hand, as the action of writing things down helps them stick in your mind more than just typing them (at least for me.) I do not have a smart phone - my cell phone only does calling, texting and taking pics - but I am doing well in nursing school, so it is all in what you are used to. I like to look up meds in a med book (I have Lippincott's) and if I can't find it there, I search for it on the internet, using my laptop. When I am in class I am too absorbed in listening to the teacher to play with my phone, and we are not allowed to use cell phones at clinicals.

Self discipline is a must in nursing school. You will need to make yourself do all of the long readings and the assignments. The up-side is, it is all very interesting!

[rr8ch66]

Ditto on the laptop. I pay better attention if I take notes on paper and I like the aspect that you can draw out diagrams to make concepts easier to remember, but then I always ended up misplacing notes or not having room to store them at the end of the semester. I tried copying my paper notes to my computer but always ended up short and it became a timely hassle. Last semester I started taking notes solely on my laptop during class and I love how all my notes are together and easy to find. Having electronic notes also makes it easy to share with classmates or combining notes with peers. I'm hoping this helps prepare me for the NCLEX next year by having access to all of my notes in an organized fashion.

On pens - I'm in love with the Pilot frixion line. They make pens and highlighters in different colors and the best part is that they're erasable! Great for color coding notes and not having to worry about making a mistake.

[beckyboo1, BSN, RN]

No smartphone here! This starving college student can't afford the monthly charges for that. Great for all of you who can lol

[LoriRNCM, ADN, ASN, RN]

thanks for this great article! I just got accepted to nursing school a couple weeks ago and my excitement is through the roof BUT I will admit, the past few days it has really hit me that this is happening and I am starting to get pretty nervous. I haven't started nursing school yet so I can't really say for sure but just imo from other allied health classes I've taken- I agree that a tablet/smartphone would be HELPFUL, but not a necessity. You are in a classroom- if you have questions about something, ask your professor or other students. Start a group discussion about it. Maybe others are curious about the same thing you are. People are so quick to google something (which is fine, don't get me wrong, i'm all for technology- but at the right time!) but sometimes its best to unplug and try to learn AT SCHOOL. You are in the classroom for limited time, you have any other time to look up information on your tablet or smartphone. Just my 2 cents! :) Thanks again for this post! Very helpful.

For clinicals, if you don't have your drug book handy. Or even when you need to look up a diagnosis for clarification. I use it at least once every clinical.

[LoriRNCM, ADN, ASN, RN]

I cannot warm up to the idea of a rolling backpack!

Sent via my iPhone using allnurses.com ❤️

The Jansport Driver 8 is about as cool as a rolling back pack can possibly get, which isn't very cool at all. But it's saved my back since starting nursing school.

[RunBabyRN]

thanks for this great article! I just got accepted to nursing school a couple weeks ago and my excitement is through the roof BUT I will admit, the past few days it has really hit me that this is happening and I am starting to get pretty nervous. I haven't started nursing school yet so I can't really say for sure but just imo from other allied health classes I've taken- I agree that a tablet/smartphone would be HELPFUL, but not a necessity. You are in a classroom- if you have questions about something, ask your professor or other students. Start a group discussion about it. Maybe others are curious about the same thing you are. People are so quick to google something (which is fine, don't get me wrong, i'm all for technology- but at the right time!) but sometimes its best to unplug and try to learn AT SCHOOL. You are in the classroom for limited time, you have any other time to look up information on your tablet or smartphone. Just my 2 cents! :) Thanks again for this post! Very helpful.

I can't tell you how many times something has come up during lecture, and our instructor has had someone Google it on their laptop so we can all find out then and there. Instructors DON'T always have all the answers, so sometimes, having additional resources is nice.

We also have a FB page for our class, and if someone mentions something helpful during lecture, it'll get posted on FB by someone while it's still fresh in our minds. Or if someone mentioned some YouTube video or blog with good tips, it goes right up. It's very helpful to utilize technology.

As far as taking handwritten notes, I have horrible carpal tunnel, so being able to type mine is the lesser of two evils. It's also significantly faster, and I'm able to pull up the PowerPoints and write my notes directly into them and save them. I've really learned to maximize my laptop's functionality and make it work well for me. That said, I do turn around and make note cards where I need to, as, like you said, the act of physically writing this stuff down is part of the learning process, and having those cards for studying is very helpful for me.

In clinicals, our instructors and the nurses understand the need for pulling out a smartphone occasionally to look something up. They often do this as well! I've also managed to download our ATI books on my smartphone, so they're available to me anytime I want to access them, including when I find I have some random, unplanned downtime.

[Shelley.P.C]

I'm in school right now and use my smart phone for quick word searches, both medical terms and drugs. I am not a techno wiz and I think the smart phone is a must. I actually don't need a planner, that function is taken over by my phone. Stream lining so there isn't so many papers about is important to me as I have a TBI - the less clutter the better, and technology is making that possible through laptops and smart phones!

[wdwbobbie]

I never use my phone at school but I do use my nexus 7 tablet like crazy. Two of my books are digital and I wish they all were. I use a small Bluetooth keyboard and take all my notes on it. Works awesome if the teacher gives us a digital outline because u just type right on it in a different color font. I can type MUCH faster than I write so it works awesome for me. I also have an OGIO rolling backpack and am SO GLAD I'm not killing my back anymore! Wouldn't trade back if you paid me to.

[wdwbobbie]

OH and I use the study blu app for flashcards. It means I always have them even in my phone or home computer and I can do quizzes and stuff with them as well.