What was your first semester like? Inspiring words?

[Dd04321]

Hi everyone,

I'm 2 weeks away from finishing my first semester of nursing school. The semester has flown by, and I'm doing really well, but I feel like I've been hit by a semi.

What was your first semester of nursing school like? Were future semesters harder/different?

During second semester, and future semesters from my understanding, we have less classroom time and more clinical time, which I don't mind (aside from care plans, but I know why they make us do them, even though they're not included in our grade). I'm sitting at a low A in my pharmacology and Intro classes right now, an 88 in Fundamentals, and an 86 in Physical Assessment. It has been ROUGH!

So, what was your first semester like?

Do you have any words of encouragement, ways to prevent burnout, etc.?

[springchick1, ADN, RN]

First semester for me was different. It's a different way of thinking, a different way of test taking, and just a different mindset all together. It took a while to get used to it. The other semester were harder, but the material is getting harder. You are building off what you learned in previous semesters plus there are clinicals, more projects, more papers etc. It can be done.

Whoops. Hit send too soon. You also need totes and take a little time for yourself. Yes, you will have to make sacrifices but you also need to think about you. If you get burned out, it will only make school that much more difficult.

[direw0lf, BSN]

I can't seem to get started on my school work today. I was up until 1am because I delved way too deep into neurology than I should have, for the scope of the class. That is a problem I have. I just want to understand everything until my brain hurts! So before I knew it I was into the biochemistry of neural pathways. Like way into it. Now I'm behind and need to start the GU chapter but I'm not done with abnormal findings for neuro yet. But normally this semester I've stayed on top of everything and tried to be ahead as much as I could get.

A lot of times this semester I've asked myself "Am I really going to do this as a nurse?" because we are learning all about assessment and physical exam. A lot of times I've asked "This took me 1 hour to gather the health history for 1 patient. Am I going to have that much time as a bed side nurse to do that?"

We had a lot of A&P in class and the areas I was weak in my A&P were back to haunt me and the areas I really liked and did good in went very smooth. Forming the connections is amazing, like putting the pieces together between A&P and nursing.

I practiced nclex style questions before I started the nursing program, so I was a little ready for the exams, if anyone has time I'd recommend that before you start nursing school. You don't need to memorize the right answers or info for it, just learn what the questions are like and what to look for in them and in the answers.

I can't say this semester flew by. It felt like it dragged due to the non-nursing classes I'm in.

I struggled with the wrong things this semester. I care too much about how I look to others.

Next semester is going to be hard. My first medsurg, peds, weekly clinicals, and pharmacology. I hope by putting in as much time as I do this semester that will help for next semester because this has been time consuming now, I just hope I can find all the time next sem too!!

Words of encouragement are..stay one step ahead always. Remember take at least one day out of the week to do something for yourself! And something that might seem to matter so much, like stressing about one exam, really may not matter at all next semesters, so just stay ahead so you don't need to stress.

[chris21sn, BSN, RN]

I'm in a traditional 4-yr BSN program.

So I went straight into a nursing program from highschool.

My first classes consisted of prereqs of A&P I, Chem, Eng Writing, Nutrition, Freshmen Seminar etc.

First semester was incredibly easy for me.

Regarding your second question: Advice for burn out --

1.) Organization - recognize your study habits. Do you study best with paper/pen or on a computer? Have you looked at your classes' syllabus? Have you written them down in your planner? When are certain things dued? How long do you think it will take you to write that paper vs read that chapter?

2.) Eating healthy - veggies and fruits and water. provides so much energy and brain power.

3.) Scheduling time for gradual study over a course of weeks - don't procrastinate just don't. just study an hour every day for two weeks before that test.

In other words, try to make life as a nursing student as easy on yourself as possible. Don't "create" more problems for yourself. Nursing school is already itself difficult!

:) Hope I could help

[Dd04321]

Thanks guys! I have been using my planner all semester and it has saved me tons of stress. It's my lifeline.