What to Expect The First Semester??!!??

AdiaA24 · Jun 17, 2012

Congrats on starting your first semester!! I can still remember my first day and the excitment I had. For me my first day consisted of lecture and then on to the skills lab. We didnt enter the hospital clinicals intil the 6th week of the program. We were checked off on basic skills such as doing vitals, changing beds and giving bed baths etc.

It will feel a bit overwhelming because of all the new nursing material that your not familiar with. But things will start to fall into place and make sense. Goodluck and you will do great :).

BloomNurseRN, ASN, BSN, RN · Jun 17, 2012

Someone posted this on my school's message board and I think it really applies for a lot of people. Congratulations and good luck! :-) Get a good planner, and write everything down. Sometimes the syllabi change and you have to adjust - don't try to keep it all in your brain! I have a big 8 1/2 x 11 inch planner, and I use it every day. Every week, make a study list. Before each week started, I would look at the upcoming assignments and make a list, class by class, of what I needed to do for each. And I looked ahead and broke the larger assignments into pieces. (Like if we had a paper due at the end of the month, I'd write, "Find two sources for paper.") Index cards are your friends! I found it helpful to do a lot of my studying from index cards: they're portable, and it makes me condense fown to the most relevant info. For some of the lab values that we had to memorize, I wrote out several copies of each card and taped one to my bathroom mirror, one to the inside cabinet in my kitchen, one on the dryer, etc. Frequent exposure to the material helped. Learn what you have to read, and what you can skim. This is especially true for Med Surg. I wouldn't ever say DON'T read for class, but you don't need to memorize the material in your first pass. If there is an online power point for the upcoming lecture, take a look at it (and the class objectives, if available) and use that as a guide to help you prepare for class. You will need a bigger binder than you think. Especially for Med Surg. Buy more than one calculator! We can't use anything fancier than an ordinary calculator -nothing programmable, nothing more than basic functions, like a little 99 cent one from Target. Get a couple of them and keep them in your bookbag. You'll be glad you did! That one you bought for 136 is useless to you now. And no, you can't use the one on your phone. Exchange phone numbers with your clinical group ASAP. These people will be family to you. A dysfunctional family, sure, but you'll love them anyway! Seriously, though, it's helpful to have some folks that you can text and ask questions of. There is a lot of info thrown at you those first couple of weeks, and it's a lifesaver to be able to ask someone else, "Did you hear the same thing I did? Do we have to do XYZ for class next week? Are we bringing our book?" You don't need a wickedly expensive stethoscope. Many nursing stores have a variety of stethoscopes that you can test out. Try several on, and listen through them. The earpieces can also be changed out. Find what works for you, then buy it cheaper online. The first few weeks of class are pretty overwhelming, but you will settle into a rhythm. There is a lot of info to cover, but have faith in yourself. Just take things one step at a time. Write things down. Be organized.

♑ Capricorn ♑ · Jun 18, 2012

First, congrats. I have no idea what these classes would entail. If you have a school handbook, look at that. Look for course descriptions in your handbook or ask someone at your school. I can't describe my first semester of school because I won't be attending until this September. From what I hear, it is basic nursing skills, communication, ADLs, nursing process, medications, patient safety, etc. Good luck in school.

brillohead, ADN, RN · Jun 18, 2012

Based on the names of the courses and knowing the natural progression of nursing school, I'd say that "intro to health care" is fundamentals and "health and illness" is Med-Surg I. Checking your book lists in the bookstore will probably confirm this.

Fundamentals includes all the basics, from doing a head-to-toe assessment, standard precautions (gloves and gowns), taking vital signs, basic "CNA" type work (bed baths, transfers, denture care), prevention of pressure ulcers, etc. Med-Surg I starts talking about the common illnesses / disease processes you'll see and the things you need to know about them -- cardiovascular issues, pulmonary issues, wound care, etc.

DisneyNurseGal, BSN, RN · Jun 19, 2012

Thank you brillohead! This is what I was looking for! The textbooks are bundled into one "kit" and you don't get them until orientation. Being someone who plans EVERYTHING it is killing me not knowing what is in store! I am so looking forward to taking the blue pill and falling down the rabbit hole that is nursing school!

Stephalump · Jun 19, 2012

Are you in an integrated program or block? I'm in an integrated program, and if ours are similar, obviously pharm is drugs, intro to health care (or whatever it is, can't see the post) is probably CNA stuff and Fundamentals combined, and the other is all of your specialities combined. Instead of taking Med/Surg, Peds, OBgyn, etc separately, the integrated system does it all in one class in a progressive kind of way. The first semester, the patients in all the specialities you're learning about won't be very ill. Preventative things, no comorbidities, relatively simple stuff. By the fourth semester, the patients will be extremely ill, multiple issues, extensive interventions, things like that.

And clinicals work the same way. Very basic CNA things to start, with more complicated procedures being added as the lecture/lab content gets more complicated.

That's just my best guess...don't hunt me down if I'm wrong :).

brillohead, ADN, RN · Jun 19, 2012

thank you brillohead! this is what i was looking for! the textbooks are bundled into one "kit" and you don't get them until orientation. being someone who plans everything it is killing me not knowing what is in store! i am so looking forward to taking the blue pill and falling down the rabbit hole that is nursing school!

if you're really wanting to get a "head start" on things, you could always get older-edition "fundamentals of nursing" and "med-surg nursing" books and flip through them. (you can get older editions for less than $5 at betterworldbooks.com. i recommend getting similar books by different authors to anyone who has difficulty in nursing school -- sometimes just reading the same thing from a different perspective makes it all fall into place.)

i wouldn't go so far as to actually start 'studying' them -- your program will want you to memorize their ways of doing things -- but it could give you a heads-up and ease your anxiety if you're the type who doesn't like being completely in the dark.