Open to advice for new nursing student/visual learner

ellaballet · Mar 11, 2014

I'm a visual learner too - and what really helps me is to draw out concept maps!

Like my last test was on endocrine - I would draw out how the system works (like with little pictures of all of the organs), and then put arrows where the drugs come in to work. Im sure if you google it it'll make much more sense haha. I youtube stuff I have questions on too. Good luck!

runforme82 · Mar 11, 2014

Thanks ellaballet!

4boysmama · Mar 12, 2014

I'm a visual-kinesthetic as well, and I I have found it very helpful to write out flashcards for everything! Just the act of reading it, writing it, and then re-reading it (on the cards) really cements info into my brain

BusiestBSN · Mar 12, 2014

I am visual and like using "charts". With each powerpoint, especially in courses Med Surg, I make a nursing process chart for each disease. By seeing it in this "chart" format, I am able to recall the information & apply it to the test questions.

Marsha238612 · Mar 12, 2014

When reading, I read only 3 first sentences from every large paragraph, I also read the end of chapter summary and the power points if instructor provides them.

There's a lot of "fluff" in nursing books, IMO, so skimming through them and concentrating in the important concepts has been working for me so far.

HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD · Mar 12, 2014

Oh hon - hate to tell you, but there is actually no educational research that backs up these 'learning style' myths. You may prefer a specific method of absorbing new information, but it's probably because that is what you're used to. I want to assure you that you can actually learn by any method - so don't be discouraged if an instructor does not provide information the way you like it.

The key to learning is reflection... taking time to think about the new information and what it means in terms of everything else you already know. This is what makes it 'stick' and enables you to recall it when you need it. PPs who have success with making charts or outlines... this how they are reflecting/processing the information.

classicdame, MSN, EdD · Mar 12, 2014

I like to create grids on new information I have to memorize, like when I took a pharmacology course. At test time I could "see" the grid in my head. Highlighting, underlining --- all that is helpfull if it results in learning. Although you might prefer a certain method, the reality is, you REMEMBER more if more than one sense was stimulated. For instance, put a tune to a phrase, draw a picture. Believe me, when you SMELL blood, see the wound, hear the patient complain --- you will remember the situation!

runforme82 · Mar 12, 2014

Wow! Thank you so much for all of your feedback! I really appreciate it.

msygrnbw · Mar 12, 2014

I feel similarly to what you describe. I retain knowledge best when I have had the opportunity to actually apply it physically. I can memorize concepts but I have a harder time actually implementing care plans and interventions for things I have never seen/helped - but it's something I'm working on! Things I have found that help me:

- Creating scenarios and going through them/my reaction verbally with a friend/family member/so. Patience helps here! For example, I have really been working on emergency interventions, so almost every night I will focus on one that I haven't experienced and I will have him pretend to be suffering from it and I will go through a walkthrough of my interventions. Often I find that as I am walking through them I will have other thoughts about where something could go differently/other interventions that might be tied in. It really helps me apply my knowledge and while it does not necessarily tell me exactly what I'll do in that situation, it helps reinforce the foundation of my interventions for some important scenarios.

- Teaching people things. Again, it takes a patient friend/family member. The more I talk about it and go through it in my mind, the better I remember it. If I can teach it, I have it down! If they have any questions, that helps even more - gives you the chance to go through the critical thinking behind questions you might get from patients.

- I always had the idea of making a book that is a collection of drawings, one for each disease process. I would draw a person and color each system affected with a different color and lines out to explanations of how they are affected. I never got around to it while in school because I was really busy, but I still think it would have been a helpful reference for me to keep things straight (especially hypo/hyper in many disease states).

- Flash cards really helped me. I had an easier time remembering what the answers were because I could recall the card in my mind visually

- Youtube videos! You can Youtube just about anything nowadays. Again, reading the comments and practicing critical thinking behind whatever they are going through. For example, when I was learning about chest tubes I looked up a number of actual placement videos and would pause while I discussed with myself what kind of chest tube it was, why they picked that one, what symptoms the patient was having, and then I would continue the video and check myself against what I was actually seeing. It sounds kinda silly, but it helped me with a number of things I had read about but never had the opportunity to see.

- Get as MUCH practice as you possibly can in clinical. Ask around the floor for everything you can find - even if it's not the nurse you're assigned to. I wish that I'd really looked more for opportunities to experience things, because there are a number of skills I never was able to experience during school.