Pediatrics class

Nursing Students General Students

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I am doing horrible in this pediatrics class that i am in. Everyone says to read the text book because we are quetioned from things within the book, which is true, but the chapters are like 60 pages long --each! Its like I have to memorize every line to be able to answer the questions. Its kinda like being tested on things nobody would think would be asked and I am just so depressed and dont know what to do. Does anybody out there have any advice for me as to what to do. The last two test wereon growth and development and that killed my grade. Now we are on the renal system and cardiac systems. Any words of advice would be appriciated.

I recommend that you don't try to memorize everything in any textbook because doing that doesn't really help with application-type questions. Read through the chapter once or twice to get a general idea of what's going on then go back and do the following:

Review everything in the boxes (especially the case studies). These have helped me out a lot with critical thinking questions.

Become VERY familiar with the more common diseases/conditions that affect kids. Some of them are very common and its almost a given that you're going to see questions about them on your exams. I made up flash cards for each of them with the S&S, patho, and nursing interventions, and that helped me to remember them pretty well. Also, there is a short list of meds that are very commonly used on kids. Make up flash cards for these drugs because its also a given that you're going to see questions about them on your exams.

The peds rotation is also big on psych and the differences between adult A&P and child A&P so make up lots of index cards about G&D. I recommend using index cards because I personally find that its easier to study bits of information from them than to read a 2000-page textbook with a 9 point font. I've also noticed that the newer edition of some nursing textbooks are looking more and more like medical textbooks and these nursing texts contain far more details than even some physicians know (believe me, I've asked!) I say save the heavy duty stuff for grad school.

Its better if you get the blank cards and write out the stuff in your own words instead of copying things verbatim from the textbook. If you copy everything word for word you will end up with too many cards and thats gets too confusing. For example, if you do a patho card, all you need are:

the name of the disease, a brief bullet point description of what it is and what it does, a brief bullet point description of the cause, and one or two bullet points on priority nursing interventions. If you keep it clean and simple it will get easier to remember things each time you cycle through the cards.

Finally, remember Maslow. You're going to see a lot of very tricky critical thinking questions in peds. Just remember that in peds nursing interventions are based not only on the kid's healthcare needs but aslo on the kid's age and stage of development.

All the best with you next exam.

Thanks for the good advice! I am not making flash cards and it is helping me to remember things better. Thanks again. :)

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