OOOOOOOH the stresses of nursing school

[peaceful2100, BSN, RN]

Hi everyone! I am through week 2 of nursing school and it has been a really bad week for me. Thursday was our IV check offs on setting up an IV gravity and infusion pump. I did really well on the check offs and passed. However, we also had a drug calulation on IV drug calculations and I did really, really, really horrible. I score a 16/20 which is an 80% but we had to have a 18/20 a 90% to pass. I get to re-take the test but I knew the stuff. I studied and studied and studied my rear end off for that test and knew them in/out and pass every single practice test with a 100% before the real test and I got so upset. I have a problem with test anxiety and I need to get help with it and fast.

Pharmacolgy is a very interesting class but I can tell it is going to be my hardest class but I am going to work at it very hard. For those of you who had pharmacology what worked for you getting through pharmacology successfully. I am trying to figure out the best way to approach pharmacology. I already know that the obvious is to read and review notes.

I am almost fully, throughly organized. I am partially organized and I have never been an real organzied person but I am working on it right now because I know it is very critical to getting through my last two years of nursing school. I figure with labor day weekend I can use this weekend to become totally organized.

My little girl has been a little defiant as far as bedtime lately and has been cutting into my study time at night. I have been thinking of ways to get her to go to sleep at night. I plan to keep her at school until 430 or 500 and study at school for about 4 hours after class each day except Tuesday because we are at clinicals till 4 on those days. As far as nighttime studying I have thought about going to bed at 830 with her each and every night. Because my little girl will go to bed if I go right along with her and then waking up at 1130 and studying till 300 and go back to bed until 600 but then I do not know if that will be too disruptive and cause me to be really tired the next day. I have also thought about going to bed at 830 then waking up about 230 or 300 and studying but stay without going back to sleep. I am sure there is a way. I am going to keep working on my little girl and try to get her to go to sleep without me at 830.

On top of everything else my mom lost her job thursday they are laying off people big time at her company due to financial troubles so until my mom finds another job my dad is going to be the sole breadwinner. My mom said we should be thankful and it could be a lot worse because she said there were quite a few people who who are single moms who lost their jobs and quite a few married men whose wifes don't work because the wifes stay home with the kids who lost their job so my mom said we should be thankful. I know I need a job now myself because my parents were helping me out but now with my mom losing my job and my dad is going to have to take care of all the Bills. IT is going to be hard. I now need to figure out how I am going to juggle nursing school, a child and a job on top of everything else.

Well, Got to go my mom has my little girl for a little bit so I should get back to studying now.

Take care everyone.

[BrandyBSN]

wow, that is a lot to stress you out, and then pileing nursing on top of that stinks!

Yes, Organization is an absolute key~~

Its a good idea to try to get your little one to sleep early. I am not sure if the sleep-study-sleep-go to class thing will work, i know that it doesnt for me :) If I get in bed... there is NO way I can get out of bed to go study :) Not enough will power!

I hope everything works out. Pharm is a beast onto itself :) YOu might try the medical mneumonics page, that might have some helpful ways of helping you remember.

We are here if you need us!

BrandyBSN

Feel free to email me :) ((((HUGS))))

[ADN 2002]

Hi Peaceful,

I am really good at dosage calculations, so if you would like help with that, please feel free to email me. I may have a different way to do them than you were shown in class, and that helps if you don't understand a particular way of doing a problem. I don't even study for the calc. exams, and I always do fine.

As far as pharmacology goes, I had a difficult time too, but found the easiest way for me to study drugs was to make notecards from my notes and supplement them with stuff from the book. For instance, I would take a category of drugs we were studying and write that on the front. On the back, I would write the drug names in that category that we were studying - this helped me to learn what fit into what categories. For individual drugs, I would write the name on the front, and on the back write things I knew we'd be tested on, such as onset, peak, and duration, action, and side effects. It takes a lot of work, but once the cards are made you can just flip through the deck any time you have a couple of minutes to spare. I only got a B in the class (which is about what others made), but I have learned so much more since that class by being in contact with the really commonly prescribed drugs in the clinical setting. I was worried at the end of pharmacology that I had not learned enough to make it through the rest of the program, but I've had no trouble since then. So, I would not stress out too much over the actual class.

About your daughter and bedtime - I'm not a parent, but I would suggest going to bed early with her and then waking up early and stay up. Sleep is a little different with every individual, but I have found that getting up and going to sleep again just makes me really tired the next day.

I'm sorry to hear your mom has lost her job. That is a really stressful thing, and I know this sounds easier said than done, but have faith that everything will be okay, and it will. God never gives us more than we can handle.

Let me know if I can help you out!

Kristin

[essarge]

Peaceful,

A suggestion for your little one's bedtime, perhaps you could let her put her blankets and pillow on the couch or the floor where she could see you (you could call it a "special campout") That way she might fall asleep and you could study while she lies near you.

As far as finances go, I would go straight to financial aid. Colleges can "re-do" your financial aid, especially when circemstances change. They may be able to add scholarships, grants, and if need be there are loans out there that you could take out. Have you looked into the federal student nursing loan program? I got $2500 for the year with that!!

Let us know how things go!!

[nrsbaby2be]

Essarge. can you give more information about the federal student nursing loan? I've recently had to leave my job because they wouldn't let me continue with the hours I had been scheduled, and I was not about to quit school. I've had to take a part-time job just to take care of the basics. I'm only doing my prereqs right now but I'm hoping that next year when I start the ADN program, I can find loan and grants to get me through school.

[BrandyBSN]

I LOVE that special camp out idea... maybe I should try that one with my fiance

BrandyBSN

[peaceful2100, BSN, RN]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I am very well determined to get through nursing school no matter what. It is something that I very badly want and something the society very badly needs. I have gone through so much in this past two weeks of school alone that I have not had to deal with in the last 3 years that I was in school. I think my school is cheating people out on financial aid information. I am not for sure but I am not the only student that thinks what I think. We have been in school and we have not even received our loan refund checks for those of us who have credits and not balances. I told the school I have daycare expenses to pay for and they said they did not know that. It is bull that they say they do not know because I wrote them a letter when I turned in my financial aid application that I am a single mother with daycare expenses to pay for so I could get an extra loan. It is so frustrating. I have so many people who tells me I should apply for welfare I said I am not doing that. Not to knock anyone who is on welfare for GOOD reasons. I personally believe I should not be on welfare and there is just way too many sterotypes of people on welfare especially young minority mothers. I can not deal with that. I don't want welfare I want child support but that is nothing that I should be talking about here anyway. I just want to do my best so I can become a The best damn nurse I can be and so that I can go on to graduate school. I am learning and working very hard.

[giftedRN]

WOW!! I love that Camp-out idea. I am planning to do just that with my daughter. She does not want to go to her bed when I am awake.

Thanks guys, you are of great help. This Forum is like therapy for me and although I have not gotten my computer as yet, I spare some time to use it at the library just to read the posts and make my replies.

Thanks again!