Organization for Nursing School

[Michaela, RN]

Hi everyone!

I have a somewhat general, and borderline dumb question; but, how did all of you organize your materials during school?

Do you suggest I have one binder with dividers per class, including clinical? etc, etc...

I just want to be prepared, and I know organization is going to be key to success during the next two years.

Just wondering what everyone's opinion is before I go out and buy supplies I don't need, or skimp on those that I do!

Thanks!

[Sorin]

Patho have a set guideline for every disease: pathophysiology... clinical manifestations... diagnostics... and evaluation/treatment.

Pharm you should organize by class... I would implore you to understand the class so you may understand the drug... use notecards if you want but they don't help me. So know what the drug is for and note any specific side effects and for example for antibiotics there are certain levels of the drug that need to be monitored (i.e. vancomycin). Digoxin requires monitoring: 0.5-2.0 for example. Basically, try to figure out how this drug is different from the next drug and core nursing considerations including patient teaching.

Health assessment and lab is basically just reading nothing too much to say about that.

Fundamentals is a difficult class especially if your teacher isn't up to par. My best advice is to utilize practice questions. This class is all about application of information. This is probably going to be your hardest class by far.

[Michaela, RN]

Thank you Sorin! I was thinking that Pharm sounded the most difficult, I guess I have my work cut out for me! I am so excited to get started. I just hope I succeed in the way I know I am capable of! :) Thanks for your suggestions!

[ENic]

Thanks Sorin! I had heard Pharm and Path were the hardest so now I'm a little nervous about Fundamentals but the information you provided is a great roadmap for how and what to study! For some reason I always seem to struggle with how to divide a course up by what information is critical (like when you mentioned what to concentrate on for Pharm and areas for Path) so I feel a step ahead in that respect now! Thanks again;)